15. Creepy Clown Park

  (Ballad) *

  Part 1

  Blasted is the day,

  And blasted is the night;

  Even though you pray,

  Who will bring the light?

  1

  Now Leer was walking home one night,

  Conversing with his friend;

  The two kept up their conversation

  As they turned 'round the bend

  Into a detour crossing through

  A field within a park,

  Which they could barely comprehend

  When evening gets too dark.

  And so they stood upon the entrance

  Of that foreboding place,

  Each wondering with masks of courage

  To hide his fear-filled face.

  So Ember (that is Leer's good friend)

  Observed the park and said,

  "I've heard that there's a creepy clown

  Who buried someone's head

  "Somewhere inside this park about

  A month or two ago."

  So said the weirdly thoughtful Ember

  Before the two would go

  Along the creepy path right through

  A creepy field at night—

  So thought the creepy-storied Leer

  Upon so dark a site.

  For Leer had heard about the clown

  That Ember spoke about;

  So when the two moved on their steps

  Along the fabled route,

  Leer said, "I know. I've heard that, too,

  But here is something more

  I've heard that even you don't know:

  That killer clown would bore

  "A hole inside that person's skull

  And scoop out all his brains,

  Before proceeding to devour

  The rest of his remains."

  And so the curious Ember said,

  "What did he use to bore

  His skull? An auger? Or a file?"

  Leer, walking as before,

  Began to walk a little faster,

  Saying, "I'm not too keen

  On how he bores a skull right through,

  Since I have never seen

  "Directly how he's done all that,

  But only heard in rumor;

  And as to why, I'll just assume

  That he's in some bad humor."

  Bad humor was the least of it,

  If all of that was true,

  So thought the creepy-storied Leer

  In his expansive purview.

  Ember had nothing left to say

  Of Leer's tremendous knowledge

  Of creepy tales and creepy hearsay

  That Leer would not acknowledge.

  And so the two tread homeward-bound

  Through creepy path and park

  In silence, for the night was young,

  Still westering the dark

  Completely t'wards the Western edge

  Of such a far-off ambit, *

  Where just a half an hour since

  The sun had set upon it.

  Now almost all the sky was black

  Towards the western edge

  Of that far-off horizon where

  It levels on a straightedge,

  But in the darkness of the park,

  Embowered by the trees,

  It now took on the creepy cast

  Of something on the breeze

  That rustles through the dying leaves

  Of autumn's fading glory,

  And so the weary Ember told

  Another creepy story.

  He said, "I've heard another clown

  Has come into this place,

  But this one doesn't wear a mask

  Or even have a face.

  "He's not a clown that wears the mask

  Or makeup of a clown,

  But hides the trace of something more

  That few have ever known."

  "How do you know, then?" Leer now said.

  "Have you seen it yourself?"

  A smile crept up on Ember's face,

  So full of his own self.

  And so Leer called off Ember's bluff,

  Continuing to walk

  A little faster on the path

  Towards the other block—

  Continuing to walk along

  The creepy path at night—

  Continuing to walk among

  The shadows in the moonlight—

  Continuing to share their tales

  Of ever-gruesome horrors,

  Both adding to the gruesomeness

  Of their reported rumors—

  Continuing to walk and walk,

  Until both boys perceived

  That something supernatural

  Had both of them deceived.

  So Ember looked looked upon his watch

  And cried out, "Holy shit,

  It's almost nearing midnight now!"

  He nearly had a fit.

  So Leer now tried to calm his friend

  And said, "Don't think about it!

  I think we've entered something strange;

  On this, I cannot doubt it."

  Leer then directed Ember's gaze

  Towards the path in front,

  Their hopes now drifting far behind,

  Their fears now on the forefront.

  They saw the path stretch on and on

  Into the gloom ahead,

  As though there was no end in sight,

  Filling them both with dread.

  So both boys turned around and saw

  That they had walked so far

  Beyond the entrance of the park;

  It's such a sight bizarre;

  They knew not where they are.

  2

  The two kept looking on in fear

  As if the world had gone

  So wrong or just moved out of kilter;

  Something was going on.

  The two looked at each other now,

  Both Leer and Ember thinking

  Such thoughts as only crazies thought,

  Except in silent drinking

  Over the cause of something felt

  But never truly seen.

  The two decided to retrace

  The path where they had been

  Walking along in foolishness,

  So heedless of the dangers

  As they conversed on creepypastas **

  Surrounding clowns and strangers.

  The topic of much stranger clowns

  Now popped inside their heads,

  As if the ghost of Pennywise ***

  Would tear them both to shreds.

  If such a monster could exist

  Outside of Stephen King,

  Were all these killer clowns the henchmen

  Of some God-awful thing

  Beyond the comprehension of

  Mere rational adults,

  Accessible through childhood fears

  With horrible results?

  If clowns were clowns and jokers jokers,

  Who was this Pennywise?

  Was he the Devil's avatar,

  A monster in disguise?

  Such horrid thoughts preoccupied

  The minds of both these boys,

  For something worse than Pennywise

  Treated these two like toys.

  A distant chime resounded through

  The distance just ahead,

  And then some moments now elapsed

  When something reared its head

  Within the distant darkness just

  Beyond the wall of sight;

  A faceless head with tufts of hair

  Gave both these boys a fright,

  Making them jump and take steps back

  And stifle back their screams.

  It had to be a trick of light;

  It had to be a dream.

  Now both boys bolted back in terror,

  Running the other way

  Along the path where they had been

  Talking themselves astray

  Into the park when it got dark,

  Whiling the minutes by—

  Running their way towards the entrance,

  Spending their strength thereby—

  Panicking all the while they ran,

  Wasting their breath away—

  Running their way towards a trap

  In headlong getaway—

  Running until they saw and halted

  Inside the gloomy park.

  Something else was there ahead of them

  Amidst the shadows dark.

  Closer and closer did they come,

  These fiends without their faces,

  Until they saw their phantom shapes

  Walking in shambling paces,

  As if they were just strolling through

  A sunny park in spring,

  If only they had something else

  Besides the grizzly thing

  That hung about their faceless heads—

  Two bloody nooses 'round

  Their shriveled necks of skin and bone

  That made a creaking sound

  Whenever they turned 'round their heads.

  Now both boys screamed in fright

  And ran right off the lighted path

  Into the wooded night.

  And like two phantoms made of breath,

  Both fiends now disappeared,

  Two figments of imagination

  Thought up by something weird—

  Something far weirder than a clown

  That kills without a knife—

  Something far weirder than two fiends

  That lived a faceless life—

  Something both boys would have to face

  Before this night is done—

  Something that has the upper hand

  On everyone—but one,

  Whose name is Allison.

  Part 2

  Everyone that lives

  Must someday have to die;

  Fate never really gives

  A damn for you or I!

  1

  Our Allison had dreamed a dream

  About two stranded boys,

  Running and screaming for their lives,

  Making a lot of noise.

  So when she woke, she found herself

  Inside that very park,

  Although she hadn't any clue

  Why everything was dark.

  You see, she took some medication

  To quell the horrid dreams

  Of those who die of fright at night,

  Dying in all their screams,

  Yet when she checked her cabinet,

  She found there wasn't any;

  And so she tossed and turned tonight

  And heard those screams a-plenty.

  She picked herself right off the ground

  And thought she saw two fiends

  That had no faces on their heads,

  Two fiends that scared two friends

  Right off into the darkened woods

  That lined the darkened path;

  The phantom fiends then disappeared

  Before they faced her wrath.

  And so she went right off the path

  In search of those two boys,

  Who ran into the wooded park

  And made a lot of noise.

  She called for them, although she did

  Not know their names just yet;

  She only knew that they were scared,

  Which made her quite upset.

  And so she stalked into the woods

  To search the poor boys out;

  She had to find them ere those fiends do

  In this ungodly hideout.

  For in her heart, a kind of thump

  Resounded with a clang,

  As if she stood beneath the bells

  That ever coldly rang

  The dreaded knell that tells the time

  When someone somewhere dies;

  Ah, such becomes the fugitive

  When corpses shall arise

  To trap the weary soul within

  The confines of the park,

  Wherein all screams will fade away

  Unheeded in the dark.

  And so she kept on looking for

  Those fugitives a-missing,

  When something sinister began

  To rear its head a-hissing

  A few feet just ahead of her,

  Wrapping around a tree—

  A giant centipede of such

  Immense enormity

  That Allison stood still in shock

  To see it there at all;

  It had large pinchers, legs and fangs,

  All big enough to maul.

  But then she saw some smaller ones,

  Still bigger than her arms,

  Come out from every hiding place,

  Which caused her much alarm;

  From trees and underneath the scrub

  Came all these centipedes;

  From hidden dens beneath the earth

  They came in one stampede.

  So in her hand appeared the blade,

  The Vorpal blade of death;

  She stood her guard and waited for

  Th' attack with bated breath.

  She'd slice them up if they came near

  Enough to threaten her

  With pinching legs and venomed fangs,

  Should such a charge occur!

  And yet, the smaller centipedes

  Kept well off from her stance,

  As if the big one warned them off

  With barely but a glance,

  Invisible as it may seem

  As Allison could see;

  But then the bigger centipede

  Alighted from the tree

  And lowered its enormous length

  On pinchers to the ground,

  Remaining there in silence as

  She looked it all around.

  Ah, not the least deterrence made he,

  But kept obeisance there;

  When Allison made not a move,

  His voice came through the air

  And said, "Fear not this centipede

  With Vorpal blade in hand,

  But trust me with your golden heart

  And try to understand.

  "I'm only but a messenger,

  A guide to all lost souls;

  There are two souls lost in these woods,

  Two souls who are but fools."

  Now Allison had dropped her guard

  And listened to this spirit,

  For this one had no trace of malice

  Or foul intentions in it.

  She said, "Do you know where they are,

  Those two lost in these woods?"

  The spirit said, "Indeed, I do,

  As any spirit should,

  "For in these woods lurks something vile,

  A murderer whose kind

  I've never yet beheld before

  Or held inside my mind.

  "He masquerades in many forms

  To lure his victims in,

  And sometimes alters space and time,

  Or uses mannequins

  "To scare his victims off the path

  Towards his hidden lair,

  Wherein he tends to taunt his victims

  In one collective nightmare.

  "And should you choose to go that route,

  I'll take you there this minute,

  But not inside that Borderland

  Wherein he rules within it."

  So said the giant centipede;

  Now Allison had sense

  To heed the spirit's warning thus,

  Inquiring, "How long since

  "Had he resided in these woods?

  A week? A month? A year?"

  The centipede replied in full,

  "He came within our sphere

  "Two months ago when all was dark

  Before the blood moon broke

  Over the trees, a ghastly sight,

  Amidst a spectral smoke.

  "Since then, a spectral haze would cloak

  These woods at certain hours

  When sleepless sleepers stayed awake

  In fear of dreadful powers

  "That lie beyond my spectral ken,

  Beyond the sight of death;

  All those who stayed awake by then

  Would breathe their final breath

  Upon this shibboleth:

  "'Blasted is the day,

  And blasted is the night;

  Even though I pray,

  Who will bring me light?

  "'Everyone that lives

  Must someday have to die;

  Fate never really gives

  A damn for you or I!'"

  2

  So spoke the centipede his warning,

  A-waft upon the air;

  Now Allison had better gist

  Of what went on o'er there

  Beyond the Borderlands whereon

  This monster would extinguish

  The lives of all the lost and lonely,

  Who die in bitter anguish.

  She felt a chill run up her spine

  To heed that shibboleth,

  As though it threw a subtle curse

  Upon her fearful breath,

  For she remembered in her dreams

  Those very lines that stirred

  The storms within her beating heart

  Of hearts, as if each word

  Caressed her to complacency,

  Then turned her waking dreams

  Into the stuff of nightmares filled

  With many silent screams.

  She shook it off the best she could

  And recomposed herself,

  Then gathered up the shreds of courage

  Now scattered on the shelf

  Of hasty misinterpretation

  And niggardly assessment;

  She climbed up on the centipede

  And sat without a comment.

  And then the giant centipede

  Crawled quickly through the wood

  O'er fallen trees and breaking twigs,

  Much quicker than it should,

  Forcing poor Allison to hug

  Her straddling legs around

  The bony undulating segments,

  Bare feet above the ground.

  And when she chanced to look around,

  She saw the woods a-blur;

  Each overhanging branch and log

  Whizzed past her in a stir

  Of roller-coaster jolts and turns

  That wore her body out,

  And yet she clung with hands and legs,

  Her hair blown all about

  Through stirring streams of nighttime air;

  And Allison this way

  Clung on for minutes at a time

  Into the the crazy fray.

  She clung and clung with all her strength,

  Clung tight with gripping hands,

  Until the centipede slowed down;

  They've reached the Borderland,

  Where stalked that entity of death

  That lures lost souls away,

  Where strayed those lost and weary youngsters

  From the light of night and day.

  No wind caressed her supple skin,

  And yet a heaviness

  Of air weighed down this Borderland

  With something of distress,

  The stress of souls and dark emotions

  A-whirling through her spirit,

  As if their screams churned up a sea

  That ravaged her upon it.

  She raised herself and saw the staircase,

  A staircase in the woods,

  So harmless anywhere but here

  Wherein the object stood

  Without a house attached to it—

  Without a bannister

  To grasp when one ascends the steps—

  With nothing but a door

  Upon that topmost landing where

  It beckons one to come

  And knock upon the knocker there,

  Where all our nightmares come from.

  After alighting from its back,

  She said, "Is this the place?"

  The centipede then said, "Indeed,

  The house without a trace

  "Of life within its walls of darkness,

  Where nothing's as it seems;

  Most humans can't go further hence,

  Except inside their dreams.

  "But you are different from the rest,

  For you have walked the path

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  That leads through black infinity

  From fearfulness to wrath."

  Yet even with such words of courage

  Filtering through her ears,

  She felt a chill run up her spine,

  Confirming all her fears;

  She said, "I'm not sure what might happen

  When I go up those stairs."

  The centipede replied, "Ah, courage

  Comes from the stew of fears,

  "For only in the blackest night

  Shall courage light its flame—

  For only 'midst the storm of fear

  Shall strength find its true name.

  "Have courage, child, as you had once

  When your own grandpa died;

  He's watching over you right now—"

  She turned and slowly eyed

  The centipede before her there,

  Then said, "Tell him I love him."

  Then tears filled up her eyes, then trailed

  Her cheeks in night's fair dim,

  Whereat the centipede replied,

  "He knows already, child."

  And so her candled flame renewed,

  Her courage undefiled—

  And so she ventured t'wards the stairs

  And climbed up all the steps,

  Watching the door grow every closer,

  Approaching dream-filled depths

  Where something hidden from the mind

  Holds sway on weaker souls;

  She reached the landing, reached the door

  Wherein lurked ghosts and ghouls,

  Then crept towards the door to knock,

  Then turned around and saw

  That centipede had disappeared;

  She turned around in awe.

  She raised her hand to touch the knocker,

  But paused before the knock;

  The night was silent, chill and dead,

  As if time stopped the clock—

  The calm before the shock.

  Part 3

  Blasted is the day,

  And blasted is the night;

  Even though we pray,

  Who will bring the light?

  1

  Metallic knocks shook through the dungeon

  And woke both youngsters up;

  They found themselves in man-sized cages,

  A-hanging from the top

  Of some abysmal underground

  Where prisoners are kept—

  Where teenagers have screamed in vain—

  Where many children wept.

  Ah, in this Hidden Realm of pain

  Lie tortures manifold:

  The heavy chains and manacles

  (Feeling so metal-cold)

  Kept both their arms and legs in place

  That offered no succor,

  Restricting movement to their cages,

  Keeping them where they were.

  So Ember said, "Are we now dead?

  Or are we still alive?"

  So Leer replied, "We have not died,

  So we might still survive."

  Then Ember, struggling in his cage

  A-hanging from the ceiling,

  Felt every motion of each sway

  That sent his senses reeling

  From side to side, a pendulum

  Making him want to puke,

  As though the world's gone topsy-turvy

  And crazy like a kook.

  So Ember said, "This motion sickness

  Will be the death of me,

  And more than that (and worst of all),

  I really need to pee!"

  "Then tinkle somewhere else," said Leer,

  Averting from the view.

  "For God's sake, not in front of me!"

  So Ember took the cue.

  He turned around, unzipped his fly,

  And tinkled down the deep

  Abyss that echoed back each drop,

  As though aroused from sleep,

  For in those depths lurked something there

  Beyond his mortal ken,

  Wherein a darkness more than night

  Roused every now and then.

  Yet for these two, they did not know

  The peril they were in,

  For they were sacrificial kids

  Predestined to be eaten.

  When Ember zipped his open fly,

  He looked towards his friend

  And said, "My God, what is this place?

  Who sent us to this end?"

  "Beats me," said Leer, who now stood up

  And looked beyond the bars

  Around their cavernous abode.

  "I cannot see the stars,

  "So we might be inside a dungeon

  Or even underground.

  Do you remember anything

  When we were in the playground?"

  "I do not know for sure," said Ember,

  Wracking his weary brain.

  "Those things with nooses 'round their necks,

  They're all I ascertain.

  "Can you remember anything

  Beyond that wicked pair?

  Can you remember what we did

  Before we woke up here?"

  And for a time, Leer wracked his brain

  For something else he saw

  Or did, but soon he shook his head.

  "I can't. It's blah, blah, blah

  "For me. I have no other clue,"

  And then he banged his fist

  Against the bars of his own cage,

  For he was getting pissed

  At something he had missed.

  2

  Now Allison, she thought she heard

  The echo of a bang

  Resounding somewhere far below,

  Giving her heart a pang,

  Of something she had never felt

  And made her so surprised,

  A sense of kindred helplessness

  To courage galvanized.

  The echoes ceased upon the threshold

  Of half-heard silences,

  And as she pushed the door aside,

  She spied the differences

  Between the chilly breeze outside

  And the cozy warmth within,

  Where someone said in stirring echoes,

  "It's cold outside; come in!"

  She ventured forth and let the door

  Shut out the world of night,

  Thudding against the stalwart jamb;

  Now every hallway light

  Lit up before her, one by one,

  Beckoning her to follow;

  And so she followed down the hall

  Towards that haunted hollow

  Where countless teens and children went

  Before her. Then a thread

  Of something cold ran up her spine.

  "What is this place?" she said.

  "This is a world of my creation,"

  The voice replied again,

  "For I have built a home of comfort

  From a world of bitter pain,

  "A world more fraught with agonies

  Than you can understand."

  So said the voice within the halls

  Inside this Borderland.

  But Alice, she was full of pluck

  And walked ahead in thought,

  Thinking about her grandpapa

  Wherein her dreams she sought

  The comfort of his final words:

  "I'm always with you, child,

  And always will forever stay

  Within you reconciled."

  Upon these words she often dwelled

  To keep her spirits up,

  And as she walked the winding length

  Of hallway, she saw a cup

  Sitting upon the floor before

  Her feet. She crouched to grab

  The vessel off the ground, when in

  Her heart she felt a stab

  Of panic flooding through her body;

  She screamed an oath of doom,

  But when she stood, she found herself

  Inside a dining room.

  A row of hanging chandeliers

  Lit up the gloomy ceiling,

  Casting dark shades and shadows there,

  Sending her gaze a-reeling,

  Until her sense of balance faltered

  And felled her in a swoon,

  Wherein she lingered for a spell

  Ere waking to the tune

  Of something sounding far away

  And dissipating there;

  She thought she heard a rattling cage,

  Then turned her thoughts elsewhere.

  She found herself upon a chair,

  A-sitting like a princess

  Dressed in a pinafore of white

  Over a sky-blue dress.

  Beside her was a table full

  Of victual and drink

  To quench her hunger and her thirst,

  But all this made her think

  About the words the centipede

  Imparted ere departing:

  Something about the day and night

  Was creeping in and starting

  To knock the doors of her queer heart

  With ever-lurking terror;

  She raised her gaze along the table

  And spied the fiend in horror!

  For there beyond the candelabra

  Lighting the table 'tween them,

  There in the flicker of its light

  Lighting the gloom around them,

  There in the chair with glass in hand

  Was someone sitting, raising

  His glass of human blood to her,

  Saying the same odd phrasing,

  "'Blasted is the day,

  And blasted is the night;

  Even though I pray,

  Who will bring me light?

  "'Everyone that lives

  Must someday have to die;

  Fate never really gives

  A damn for you or I!'"

  Now Allison, she gulped her qualms

  And spied her ghastly host,

  Noticing through his plasmic body

  The substance of a ghost.

  He had a top hat on his head

  And wore a suit in white,

  His eyes like lamplights made of fire

  Shrouded in faceless night;

  He took his glass and took a sip,

  Relished the ghastly taste,

  Then set his glass back on the table

  And looked where fear had traced

  The worry lines upon her face

  And said, "It's rare to have

  A visitor as young as you

  To be so bold and brave,

  "To venture to these hidden parts

  Where not a soul before

  Has dared to place a wayward foot

  Beyond my entrance door.

  "So I acknowledge you, fair knight!"

  He raised his glass to her

  Again as he had done before

  And said, "Now let me enter-

  Tain you with something truly grand,

  A spectacle of wonder

  Before your wayward-glancing eyes!"

  And booming sounds of thunder

  Rumbled the chamber all around them,

  And lightning flashed the room,

  And winds blew out the candlelights

  And cast her world in gloom

  Like the darkness of the tomb.

  3

  Now plunged into another swoon

  That took her underground,

  She oped her eyes into the chasm ****

  Below her, where she found

  The two lost boys in hanging cages,

  A-hanging from long chains;

  She had a God's-eye-view of them

  And saw their dead remains.

  Her astral body flew towards

  These two unfortunates,

  There skeletons encaged in death's

  Repulsive shroud, their fates

  Unknown to all but Allison,

  Who saw in her mind's eye

  The way they died their starving deaths,

  Which made her question: "Why?"

  And so her vision in her swoon

  Began to dissipate

  Into the stuff of all our nightmares,

  The portents of our fate;

  And now she found herself back here

  Inside the dining room,

  Finding her host approaching her

  Wherein she sat in gloom;

  And so she stood up from her chair

  And stood her ground in fear,

  Looking upon his face in shadow

  With fiery eyes that leer

  Upon the form of Allison,

  Making her heart to quake;

  She saw a boneyard in those eyes

  With but a single look,

  So she repeated her one question

  And said unto this ghost,

  "By God, hy must you be so cruel?

  What is it that you've lost?"

  "Because," he said, "the world's a cruel

  And godless place of pain,

  Wherein the only ones who rule

  Are the ones that still remain

  "Alive to kill before they're killed

  By stronger enemies:

  This is the reason why I'm here—

  To stave off my demise

  "By killing teens and children here

  T' extend my very life,

  Shedding the blood of those who wander

  Here with this very knife!"

  And suiting actions to his words,

  He manifested there

  Within his hand a vorpal blade

  Making Allison stare

  In shock upon another wielder

  Of fate within his hand;

  Now Allison knew why she felt

  Such dread within this land,

  For here within these walls of death

  Resides her host in prison,

  And such became her foolish quest

  When corpses have arisen

  To trap these weary souls within

  The confines of this room,

  Where teens' and children's screams fade out

  Unheeded in this tomb!

  Within her hand was manifest

  The very vorpal blade

  She used to free her grandpapa

  From a ghastly soul-trade.

  She stood her guard on tenuous feet,

  Conscious of her own heart

  Beating the tune of death against

  Her ribs and said with a start,

  "That monstrous self's not who you are!

  You're just an innocent

  Whose deeds have trapped you in this place,

  But if you now repent—"

  "Don't talk to me," he said in rage,

  "Of such vain falsity,

  For when I peered in that abyss,

  Th' abyss peered back at me

  "And found me guilty of these crimes

  And took me over here;

  I've shed more blood than you could know

  And shed so many a tear

  "That all of my compassion now

  Lies dead within this place;

  I'm dead to everyone I knew,

  A fiend without a face!"

  And with those words, he took his blade

  And charged at Allison,

  And swung his blade across her waist,

  But ere the deed was done,

  Our heroine had her own blade

  And parried best she could,

  Blocking th' attack with all her strength

  And all her boiling blood!

  And yet the force of his attack

  Was much too great for her,

  Sending her smashing 'gainst the wall

  Amidst a ghastly stir

  Of nightmares echoing inside

  Her head like ringing bells,

  Her mind a-stir with teens and children

  Filling her ears with yells,

  Till everything turned black as night

  Like a swoon within a swoon,

  Wherein was nought but starless sky

  Behind a blood-red moon;

  And here she stayed in dreamless sleep

  With eyes of night, whose spell

  Was cast upon her like the others

  From out a common well,

  Wherein the dead now dwell.

  Part 4

  

  He who fights with monsters might take care, lest he thereby become a monster. And when you gaze long into an abyss, the abyss also gazes into you.

  —Friedrich Nietzsche,

  Beyond Good and Evil, Chapter IV: Maxims and Interludes, Aphorism 146

  1

  Ember and Leer sat petrified

  Within their hanging cages,

  For both of them had seen a ghost girl

  Visiting from past ages,

  As if to frighten them in their

  Distressing circumstances;

  And if she came to terrify them

  With unforeseen advances,

  Leer thought that maybe she knew where

  He and his friend are at,

  But fearful Ember had misgivings

  And stayed silent as a cat,

  And only gazed upon this specter

  Before she disappeared

  From view, and only then did he

  Acknowledge such a weird

  And eerie visitation. After

  He found his wits again,

  He said, "If that was an illusion,

  Then maybe we're insane,

  "And all this place around us is

  Just a nightmare waiting

  For both of us to wake up from

  As we're here contemplating—"

  "Enough!" Leer said, a-standing in

  His cage. "We have t' accept

  The fact that everything we've seen

  Is real," and here he stepped

  Towards the edge of his own cage

  And looked around the cavern

  (Looking below and looking up),

  Then spied a glowing lantern

  A-floating through the air before him,

  Until it stopped just so,

  And through its light there floated up

  A chain from down below

  That went its way towards the ceiling

  Unseen above his head.

  So stared and gaped the awestruck

  With superstitious dread,

  While Ember turned his gaze away

  But looked on still, despite

  The brilliance of the spectacle

  A-blinding his own sight.

  The lantern then transformed into

  Another hanging cage,

  Wherein there slept in deep repose

  A girl about their age.

  Then Ember said, a-pointing, "That's

  The ghost girl we just saw!"

  And Leer, he looked and saw her, too,

  Gazing at her in awe.

  Leer said, "Do you believe me now?"

  And Ember said he did,

  So Leer now said, "We have to wake her

  And ask her where we're hid—"

  "But do you think she knows," said Ember,

  "Wherein this place we are?

  And do you think she'll still remember

  Her ghostly visit here?"

  "I do not know for sure," Leer said,

  "Until we wake her up."

  And so they called and clapped their hands and

  Rattled their jailbird setup

  Into a noisy buildup.

  2

  When Allison roused from her sleep,

  She woke to such a clamor

  That she at first began to scream

  And then to outright stammer

  Such words of gibberish that she

  Can't understand their meaning.

  After a time, she rose and oped

  Her eyes and rubbed them, gleaning

  One glance towards the noisy source,

  And found the two lost boys;

  She said, "I thought you two were dead!

  That bastard's ghastly ploys

  "Have cheated me enough, and now

  I'm here inside this horrid place!"

  She looked again towards the boys

  And sighed in her disgrace.

  "Do you know where we are?" Leer said,

  But Allison was mute

  And only shook her head and said,

  "Within a single minute,

  "I would have gotten both of you

  Out of this place if I

  Knew exactly where we are right now

  And how t' escape and fly."

  But just as she had given up,

  One of the boy then said,

  "We saw you floating by our cages,

  But I don't think you're dead."

  Now Allison looked at that boy

  Beyond her prison cell

  And said, "When I had peered your

  Your cages where you dwell,

  "I only saw two skeletons

  And though you both had died,

  But that was just the bastard's spell!

  God, why should he have lied?"

  "Who is this 'bastard' that you speak of?"

  Leer said; then Ember asked,

  "When Leer and I were in the park,

  Did he send out those masked

  "A-shambling phantoms after us?

  We took our wayward flight

  Into the woods and got ourselves

  Lost in our hast and fright."

  She said, "I don't know who he is,

  But he's much stronger than

  I am and wields the blade I have

  Far better than I can.

  "And as for those two shambling things,

  I saw them disappear

  Just as you said, but I got lost

  Along the way in fear . . . ."

  And so she told them her adventure,

  And both boys heard her out,

  The listeners and storyteller

  Linked in th' exchange throughout,

  But when she neared her story's end

  About her ghostly visit,

  Our Allison cut off her words.

  Then Ember said, "What is it?"

  "We might be able to escape,"

  She said after a time,

  "But you two have to let me sleep

  Upon it in the meantime,"

  And with those words, she manifested

  Her vorpal blade in hand

  And swung with all her might across

  The cage bars with a backhand

  Swing and destroyed them right in front

  Of both her watchers with

  Their mouths agape in shock and awe,

  Both witness to a myth

  Becoming true before their eyes;

  Now Allison, she laid

  Herself down on her back and went

  To sleep beside her blade.

  Both boys then waited for a time,

  Exchanging looks between them,

  And saw the ghost of Allison

  Rise up and reconvene them

  By floating out across the span

  Between her cage and theirs;

  She floated to them, blade in hand,

  Ignoring both their stares,

  Then raised her blade across Leer's cage

  And broke the bars away,

  Then did the same for Ember who

  Broke down in tears the way

  A babe that doesn't see its mother

  Cries out to reach her hand;

  Our Allison reached out to him,

  For she could understand

  The plight of reaching for the grasp

  Of a long-vanished parent,

  And led both boys a-floating with her

  Back to her cage. Apparent

  Was the enchantment in their eyes

  As both boys now beheld

  Her spirit entering her body,

  A sight unparalleled

  In all their life, awake or dreaming;

  And so they waited for her

  To open up her eyes, awaiting

  The tell-tale twinkle o'er her

  Eyelids of sleep that bore her.

  3

  When Allison roused from her sleep

  The second time, she said,

  "You better not have kissed me, boys,

  Or else you'll both be dead!"

  Right then the blushing Leer and Ember

  Backed off away from her,

  Edging themselves against the bars

  When she began to stir,

  So Ember said, "We never did that!

  I promise on my life!"

  And Leer, he added, "Please, don't kill us,"

  And looked upon her knife.

  When Allison looked at those boys,

  Both looking at her blade,

  She said, "There is no need for killing,

  So please don't be afraid,"

  And up she rose upon her feet

  And bade them to get up,

  For they had better things to do

  Than dwell on such a holdup;

  So Leer and Ember rose and stood,

  And to their own surprise,

  They witnessed Allison dispel

  Her blade before their eyes.

  "I've entered here within a swoon,"

  She said, "so this whole space

  Must be a dream for dreamers who

  Wander and lose their place;

  "You've lost yourselves amongst the dead

  Who've wandered here and died;

  You've let those spirits lead you on,

  So let me be your guide,"

  And here she reached her hands to them,

  And they both took each hand;

  She said, "Take courage, both of you,

  For I know not where we'll land;

  "Just know that it's a falling dream

  That gets us out of here;

  Like Alice down the rabbit hole,

  You've nothing left the fear,

  "Except what you in your own minds

  Create for your own selves,

  For you know not that you are gods

  Amidst mere shades and elves;

  "In both of you's a knight at heart

  That lies asleep, unseen,

  But come with me, the both of you,

  And you'll see what I mean."

  And so they followed her example

  And walked towards the brink,

  The three of them now looking down,

  And ere their second blink,

  They all went down the sink!

  4

  So down and down and down they went

  In free-fall like three stones,

  Falling and falling till they landed

  Inside a field of bones,

  Where many teens and children there

  Have died within their sleep,

  Dying in nightmares manifold

  In death's embracing reap.

  And here they groaned on aching backs

  And sides and necks and heads,

  All three of them now waking up

  From three revolting beds

  Made from the bones of teens and children

  That cut them on their landing;

  Now picking themselves up, they saw

  A lonely staircase standing

  Forlorn above their heads like some

  Sentinel of the grave,

  When Allison discerned the place,

  She had another brain wave

  And said, "We have to keep on moving

  Away from these odd parts,"

  And here she led them both away

  With beating heart of hearts

  Beating with all the dread of death

  Lurking with subtle creep,

  For now's that time of night again

  When all the world's asleep,

  Except for two foul entities

  A-shambling in the park,

  Two fiends that Allison had glimpsed

  But had Leer and Ember mark

  The horrors they remembered well

  When running for their lives;

  But Allison, she said, "Take heart

  And arm yourselves with knives!"

  And here she stretched out her own hand

  And formed her vorpal blade there,

  So Leer and Ember followed suit

  And in their fingers laid there

  Not vorpal knives of steely metal

  But pistols made to shoot;

  She turned around and looked at them

  And said, "Don't fire en route

  "Haphazardly at all the shades

  Within these woody parts,

  For there are things that can't be killed

  With your ballistic arts."

  And so they walked on through the woods,

  Two pistoleers and one

  Girl with her vorpal blade aglow

  Leading the way when someone

  Or something up ahead of them

  Caught all three by surprise:

  It was the giant centipede

  To Allison's dear eyes.

  She said, "Is that you, Centipede,

  A-lurking over there?"

  And so the centipede replied,

  "There's danger everywhere,

  "Dear children! Follow all my kin

  Away from these odd parts;

  That godless man I told you of

  Is trained in ghoulish arts,"

  And with his words, a thousand smaller

  Centipedes led the way,

  Emerging from the grounds beneath

  Their feet; so making headway,

  The trio followed all these small ones

  Beyond the wooded grounds

  Into the open field wherein

  A thousand cricket-sounds

  Were chirping tunes that filled their ears,

  Till all at once, they all

  Fell silent on the dread approach

  Of two fiends walking tall!

  Before the boys ran off, she said,

  "You stay yourselves and face

  Your fears! We're in this for the fight

  Within this godless place!"

  The boys looked back at her in horror

  And saw the worry lines

  Tracing themselves upon her face

  At something in the confines

  Behind them on the pathway there

  Within the blood moon's light.

  "I'll keep him off as long's I can,"

  She said, "but you must fight!

  We all must fight tonight!"

  5

  Before another word was said,

  The three took up their stances

  And eyed their foes with desperate glares

  Midst desperate circumstances.

  While Allison kept watch upon

  The unseen shade behind them,

  Ember and Leer looked on in horror

  At their two fiends assigned them,

  For they had nooses 'round the necks

  With lolling heads and eyes,

  With gaping mouths that formed foul grins

  And breathed out hideous cries;

  Then those two fiends detached their heads

  Off of their shoulders bare,

  And 'round their necks their nooses twined

  Like chains with balls that glare;

  The boys' two shambling fiends took off

  And charged the trembling group,

  Swinging their heads over their bodies

  From nooses in a loop,

  So Leer and Ember aimed and fired

  Rounds at the ghastly duo,

  But when they split in shambling sprints

  And charged the weary trio,

  The two boys cursed and turned and ran,

  Both running in defeat,

  While Allison, she leaped and rolled

  And wheeled upon her feet

  With outstretched arm and hand and blade

  And clave the fiends in two

  In the middle of their bodies there,

  Cutting through bone and sinew,

  Till both of them fell down like trees

  Within this silent park,

  That's when the third fiend made his move,

  Charging her in the dark,

  Lunging with vorpal blade in hand

  To stab her in the back;

  Ere Allison had turned around

  To see the sly attack,

  Before the third fiend struck his blow

  And murdered Allison,

  Both Leer and Ember aimed their guns

  And shot that shadow-spawn

  In the middle of his shoulder blades,

  Whereon he screamed in pain

  And filed the night with horrid screeches—

  Such was the bitter strain.

  So Allison, she wheeled around

  With blade arrayed for slaughter,

  And charged him, cutting at the fiend

  As if she cut through water,

  But that third fiend just dissipated

  And filled the night with laughter,

  Then said, "Whoever fights with monsters

  Becomes a monster after,

  "For when you look into th' abyss,

  Th' abyss looks into you!

  And you, my dear, will turn a monster

  Before your life is through!"

  With all their strength to run and turn

  And aim and shoot now low,

  The boys now stared at her in awe;

  Leer said, "We need to know—"

  "What your name is," Ember continued,

  "For we have never seen

  Anyone move and strike like that

  Outside the TV screen."

  So just before the sun arose

  Upon the east horizon,

  She turned to both of them and said

  (Before the night was done),

  "My name is Allison."

  FINISH