So, I took some time to write a teaser of a fantasy concept that I plan to write sooner rather than later. However, I probably won't get to it until after I'm done with some of my others projects. I suppose this teaser was just as much for me as it was for anyone else. It allows me to keep working on what I'm doing. Anyway, below is the teaser (with a cool title if I might add), and I hope you peeps like it!
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The Gift of Infinity
Teaser
“Winter hides the dead just like summer ends too soon. Springing forth
with the new knowing autumn is the tomb. And I will wait for you. Living hides
the dead just like suns, and earth, and moon. Waiting for the new knowing flowers
need to bloom. And I will wait for you.”
“He just seems like a stranger
anymore,” Kathy Brooker said to the therapist, Frank Kirkland. He wore a brown
vest over a collared white shirt, a black tie tucked into the vest. Black,
thick horn rimmed glasses covered his hazel eyes and his black hair was combed
back. He nodded as he looked over to Daniel. The boy sat in a chair away from
the other kids who were playing with the cheap toys left in the lobby. His head
swiveled like a bobble-head doll and his eyes looked distant. Kathy looked at
her son with a frown on her face. She bunched the knitted scarf around her
neck, the knuckles of her hands bulging. Her brown eyes were partially
concealed by her dark brown wavy hair. She turned back to the therapist.
“Won’t you
see what’s wrong with him?” she asked. Kirkland looked at her with small
bewilderment.
“Ma’am,
your son has autism, that doesn’t mean there is something wrong with him.”
She frowned
again, the lines around her mouth doubling. “That’s not what I mean. There’s
something else about him. After he had his epileptic fit, I could still see my
boy in there, but now, he’s different…” Kirkland opened the manila folder of
hospital information Kathy had given him.
“That’s
what caused the brain damage that made him the way he is now correct?” he
asked, adjusting his glasses.
“Yes,” she
said, and looked at Daniel again. His head had stopped bobbing. Now it was off
to the side as he stared at the dots in the carpet. Kirkland watched Kathy as
she studied her son. He produced a pen and notepad from his khaki pants and
jotted down a note.
Potential disconnection between mother and
son.
He replaced the pad and pen
before Kathy returned her gaze to him.
“Can you
help him?” she asked.
Kirkland
gave a slight nod. “Let me have a talk with him.”
Kirkland’s
office was spacious and roomy. Clad with gentle amber lighting that cast orange
luminescence against the wood walls. Windows lined the south wall with dark red
curtains that had been draped over them, in front sat a large cherry desk with
a fat cushioned chair. But it was unoccupied as Kirkland sat down in his black
recliner and Daniel sat across from him. His little legs hung in the air, his
eyes on the floor. The room was quiet save for a clock ticking on the north
wall. Kirkland took out his notepad and pen then looked at Daniel who sat with
his hand held up by his face, his index finger slightly stuck out. Kirkland
watched as Daniel eyes shifted about, his finger tapping the air.
“Hello
Daniel,” Kirkland began. Daniel didn’t respond. Kirkland watched him for a
moment longer then looked to the brown striped carpet. “What are you doing?”
“Counting,”
Daniel said.
“What are
you counting?”
“The
stripes…” Kirkland looked to the floor again, then Daniel.
“I can’t
imagine there are many to count.”
“Each
stripe has stripe crossing,” he said, moving his hand away from his face,
making it flat as if he was about to chop something. “Darker, thinner, stripes
crossing others.” Daniel never broke his sight from the floor. Kirkland didn’t
look, knowing he was right. He wrote in his notepad.
Excellent visual acuity, likes to count.
When he looked up, Daniel was
looking at the wall behind him. Kirkland raised his eyebrows. “I’m Dr. Frank
Kirkland, but you can call me Frank if you like. Your mother has requested that
you speak with me for a little while. Are you okay with this?”
Daniel’s
head swiveled, eyes wandering. “Suppose, don’t have choice though did I?”
Kirkland
cocked his head at the question. “Why would you say that?”
“Mommy
don’t love me no more.”
“That must
be very frustrating.”
Daniel gave
a nonchalant shrug. His eyes continued to wander the room. “You have many
things to count.”
“Do you
like to count?”
Daniel
nodded.
“Why do you
count?”
Daniel
shrugged again. “Didn’t until last year.”
“What
happened last year Daniel?”
The boy’s
head stopped moving and faced the floor again, cocked to the side. His eyes
stared and didn’t move. The room was blanketed in silence. Kirkland scribbled
in his notepad.
Possibly unresponsive to certain questions
pertaining to incident. Apprehensive?
Just as Kirkland was going to
write more, Daniel spoke.
“Liked
climb trees.”
Kirkland
looked up. “Do you?”
Daniel
shook his head. “Liked,” he repeated.
“I fell.”
“Is that
when you started counting?”
Daniel
shook his head.
“When did
you?”
Daniel was
quiet for a long time, his eyesight dead set on the carpet. Kirkland thought he
could burn a hole through it if he wanted.
“I had
dream,” Daniel finally said in a quiet voice.
Kirkland
scribbled in his notebook. “You dream?”
Daniel
nodded emphatically, legs swinging with him.
“What did
you dream?”
“I saw sun,
smelled water, felt grass in toes, liked it.”
Kirkland
furrowed his eyebrows, unsure what to say, so he waited.
“Sky blue,
white cotton floated. I heard them. They flew.”
Kirkland
scribbled more in his notepad.
“Powerful
they are, like great positive.”
“Positive?”
Kirkland asked.
Daniel
pinched his eyes shut for a moment. “Good,” he said, and opened his eyes.
Kirkland
set the pen down. “Does it hurt to carry a conversation?”
Daniel
shook his head. “Words can’t find, can be hard to…” He gestured his hands in a
circular motion as he tried to think.
Kirkland
lent a hand. “Think of the right words?”
Daniel
nodded. Kirkland leaned forward.
“Tell me
Daniel, in your dream, who are they?”
The boy
raised his head and looked to the ceiling. “The Mighty.”
“Who are The Mighty?”
“Protectors.”
“What do
they protect?”
Daniel
pinched his eyes shut and tried to think. Kirkland waited until the boy’s face
slowly turned red.
“Relax,
Daniel, relax, you don’t have to answer.”
“No…no…no!”
Daniel shouted and stood. He walked behind the chair, head cocked to the side,
and paced back and forth. Kirkland watched him. Daniel walked in a small circle,
mumbling quickly to himself.
“Daniel,”
Kirkland said. The boy continued to mumble incoherently. “Daniel,” Kirkland
tried again but the child didn’t respond. Kirkland set his notepad on the table
next to the table and began to stand.
“Land!”
Daniel shouted, pointing his finger at the therapist.
Kirkland froze,
half standing, then slowly sat back down.
“What
land?” Kirkland asked.
“Land,”
Daniel said. “I dreamed of land.”
“Where the
sky was blue?”
Daniel
nodded. “Always blue.”
“These…Mighty,
do they—”
“The
Mighty.” Daniel corrected, standing behind the chair and staring down.
“The Mighty, they occupy the sky?”
Daniel
furrowed his eyebrows in confusion.
“They fly?”
The boy
nodded.
“You
started counting after your dream?”
“Yes,” Daniel
said, and looked to the wall behind Kirkland. “They help count.”
“The
Mighty?”
Daniel
nodded.
“Do you see
them often?”
Daniel
nodded. Kirkland grabbed his notepad and scribbled in it.
Possibly disconnected from reality.
“Do you see them here?” Kirkland
asked.
Daniel
furrowed his eyebrows, and walked around the chair and sat down. “Not here,
don’t live here, live in land.”
“The land
you dream?”
Daniel
nodded. Kirkland leaned back in his chair and rubbed his smooth chin. He
listened to the ticking of the clock.
“How often
do you go to this land, Daniel?”
“Everyday,”
he said.
“Have you
gone today?”
Daniel
frowned and shook his head from side to side. “Mommy don’t like me spending
time in room. She say not healthy. Haven’t gone today.”
“Do you
plan to?”
Daniel
didn’t respond. Once again, they sat in silence. Kirkland let his mind process
what he had been told. He set the notepad on the table with the pen on top and
leaned forward.
“I want to
play a game Daniel. Do you like games?”
Daniel nodded.
“Can you
tell me about the land you visit?”
He shook
his head.
“Why not?”
The boy
made that same circular gesture when he couldn’t get the right words. Kirkland
rubbed his chin, then adjusted his glasses.
“Can you show me?”
The boy
looked at him. Kirkland saw they were deep blue, like wet stones. They carried
a presence that made the hair on his arms stand up and a chill run down his
spine. He dared not look away, but he felt a twinge of nervousness trickle
through his body.
“You want
to see land?”
Kirkland
opened his mouth, closed it, thought for a moment, then nodded. “Yes.” He began
to feel off, as if he was asking for something that could happen. But that
couldn’t be, he was just humoring the boy. Hoping to show Daniel that the world
he thought was real was make-believe. Daniel stood from the chair and
approached him. Kirkland sat upright and looked at the boy as he stood before
him. His blue eyes did not blink as he held out his little hand. Kirkland
looked at it and then the boy.
“Want to see?”
Daniel asked.
Kirkland
nodded. Daniel nodded to his hand. Kirkland reached out his hands to realize
they were shaking. The air inside the office suddenly felt cold, as if all the
heat had been sucked out of the room. The ticking of the clock stopped. The
lamp lights on the walls flickered. Kirkland stopped and observed this. He
looked back to the boy, unsure. The boy didn’t move or blink, he stood waiting.
Kirkland took the boy’s hand.
He felt
pressure through his mid section and let out a cry of pain. But it was brief as
he noticed his surroundings were bending, curving inward, the fabric of reality
tearing. The cold air melted as heat flushed over his body. The scent of
flowers floated to his nostrils and a warm breeze blew over his face. The world
he knew as his office disappeared in a sea of blue, green, and brown. Sparkles
glittered in his vision like electrical sparks and he closed his eyes. Loud
popping, like fireworks, filled his ears.
“Daniel!”
Kirkland called. But the popping was too loud. Then it stopped. Chirping filled
his ears; a scent of some of the freshest air he had ever smelled entered his nose.
Light beamed his closed eyes, and he slowly opened them. The sun hung high in
the sky, tall grass with flowers blooming stood around his polished shoes. His
mouth dropped open as he beheld the sight before him. His glasses adjusted to
the sunlight, transitioning to sunglasses. Bugs buzzed before him, the air was
soothingly warm. The breeze was so gentle it kissed his face like a lover.
He stood on
a grassy cliff. The sky was a pretty deep blue. A planet tilted to its side
with rings surrounding it was visible in the haze of the blue heavens. Below
was a giant valley filled with trees that seemed to go on forever. Few clouds
rolled by below, casting shadows over the tree tops. A long running river
divided the trees and ran into a massive body of water that went to the left
and into the valley walls. He saw something flying in the distance. It was
small, and hardly noticeable. At first he thought it was a bird. But an echoed
call traveled to his ears and he furrowed his eyebrows. It sounded like a whale
singing.
“That’s
them,” Daniel said. Kirkland jumped at his voice with a small scream. Daniel
looked at him funny then pointed to the small black figure in the far distance.
“Do you see it?”
Kirkland
looked at the boy for a moment, noticing something different about him, but unable
to put a finger on it. He looked back to the massive valley.
“Yes,” he said. “I see it.”
“That’s one of The Mighty.”
“A protector?” Kirkland asked.
“Actually, they are guardians. They
watch over the land. They’re the law keepers, making sure evil stays out and
all the villagers are safe.”
Kirkland
slowly turned to the boy and stared. Daniel looked back at him.
“What?”
“You,
you’re…you’re…”
“Not
handicapped?”
Kirkland’s
mouth hung wide open. He turned to the valley. “This? You made this up?”
“No,”
Daniel said. “I just see it. Then I’m here. It didn’t happen until I hit my
head falling out of the tree.”
“B-b-b-but,
you’re autistic,” Kirkland said in a feeble voice.
“Not here,”
he said.
Kirkland
fell to his knees. It was too much, too much to process. He dropped his hands
into the lush grass. It was extremely soft, like a freshly washed blanket. He
shook his head. He heard the distant call of The Mighty carry to his ears by
the calm breeze.
“This is
where I go,” Daniel said. “It’s where I forget the problems of the world I
reside, and live in harmony with the villagers here.”
Kirkland
felt as if he could pass out. A gray butterfly danced in his vision, and began
flapping its wings. He slapped himself hard across the face. Daniel looked at
him.
“You okay?”
“Oh, just
peachy,” Kirkland replied.
“Do you
want to meet the villagers?”
Kirkland
looked at Daniel and nodded without even knowing how he did. Daniel looked over
the valley and the flying figure singing in the distance. He placed his thumb
and forefinger in his mouth and let out a long, shrilling whistle. Kirkland
winced at the sound. When Daniel stopped, and waited, Kirkland heard a call
come back. The therapist raised his head. The flying figure was growing larger
as it approached them.
“What did
you do?” He asked the boy.
“I called
him over,” Daniel said with a smile. He gestured to the flying figure coming
towards them.
“The
Mighty?”
Daniel
nodded.
“What are they?”
“I already
to—”
“No, no.
What do The Mighty look like?”
Daniel
smiled, and looked at the approaching figure. Kirkland looked too. The wingspan
was massive, at least fifty feet. Its body was thick, the underbelly white
while the skin was light blue. Its tail whipped and lashed about in the open
air. Its neck was long, spikes lining the back. Two massive horns curved from
its head like a ram’s. It let out a roar that shook the ground. Kirkland began
to cry in astonishment. This couldn’t be real. This was all a dream. He was
sleeping in bed with his wife snuggled next to him. Because only in dreams and
children’s books did dragons exist…
Good writing. I like the detail you put into the environment of both the office and the dream world or whatever it might be.
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