Featured Review on this writing by hullabaloo22
"Wow! Full on with the Gothic imagery in this one, Dexter. The writing is superbly surreal... made even more so with the appearance of the cue cards.
Fantastic story!"
Feb 13
The sky is red when the romance of winter is tomorrow, the volcanic ocean when the sky itself is a mirror. The sky dark, even the night sleeps with her eyes closed. A pavement to walk on to get to
the corridor, needing a dead end to reach the handle so that it can be unlocked. Past the dark painting of the sky and the darker forest, the abyss is ready to kill a boy on the first date.
Footsteps pass each sign where light is meant to shine, a dark palette painted the night black from the paint brush of where the light will stand. Underneath it all in the darkness is the ocean, in
daylight it is blue, but at night it is black oil. The wind blows cold, people of old age choking on their wind pipe, their death will become a one hundred year old cold case.
So much beauty in the night, no curtains on the rail to end the play from snow. The night is the darkest it has been in a while, a shark can kill in the ocean, with a passport photo free from a
smile. It begins to snow, people upstairs are abusing drugs again. Tears from the white clouds, crying emotion when they are really crying out for drugs. This time of year, it has begun to snow
quite late. The seasons are always changing, so the months are not set for certain seasons anymore. The night will always be remembered for being the darkest, and also the coldest. The snow falling
is a beautiful sight, and people sometimes prefer it to rain.
An intrinsic dense fog covering all around, and from the ground the stars are choking on a poisonous gas. As silent as the picture says, a different world when the darkness decides to change the
landscape. Hope just a few steps further, a light at the end of the tunnel before the train comes. A shadow appears in the sight of hope, the movement has stopped when hope the flight of birds
flying away. It is the night before Valentine’s Day, and a lonesome man stands under the only lamppost where light will need a lamp shade. His shadow revealing his presence, one push out of the
circle and he becomes a triangle. No flickering from the light, he is the ship that was guided safely on seas to his destination under the watchful eye of a lighthouse.
He is standing like he is lost. And under the only light he is now find. He is the self charging battery that keeps the light shining on a torch. Standing alone in the cold like a snowman trying to
tan on a sunbed. Looking in all directions and the fog is looking at him like a spider ready to kill after mating. It seems he does not recognise this place, judging by the wrong turn on his
face.
His shadow not alone, taking to the dance, the shadow of a beautiful monster. Inside the light stands the reason he stopped. A beautiful woman beautifully angelic with gothic eyes, without the
snakes of Medusa, not able to turn him into stone. Directly high above them stars entwine, two souls found forever when their light burnt out. Replacement light bulbs will not work because the
night is afraid of using electricity. The fog afraid of her aura, instead it adds to the orchestra. Their eyes melt into each other, like wax melting at Madame Tussauds. Only eyes gaze for the
night, the romance of the darkness, the colours of their pupils revealed, their theatre of tragedy.
The girl points to her mouth, the answer to her clue rides south. The man is not understanding, his failure too demanding, how is he standing? The girl points to her mouth again, where her tongue
is causing her pain. The man with hands shaking as he doesn’t understand what his own eyes are seeing. Not understanding the girl, he is stuck by her beauty. She is trying to communicate, but the
man remains clueless. The smile on her face becoming fragile, but she still reveals a cheeky grin. The man has his eyes in a trance looking at the most perfect sight, gaining a blush from the
girl.
He does not understand what she is trying to say so it leaves him a dictionary short on a first date. She is smiling but the darkness is great at camouflaging emotion. It’s like this is the first
time he is meeting a girl. He is clearly a google search short of asking a girl out. The wind is blowing colder, he is about to be given the cold shoulder.
Into reality the man picks up his briefcase from the ground, his umbrella that will kill him if the snow becomes struck by lightning. He goes to open it but delays, his own aeroplane flight delayed
by several hours. The girl teasing him as her cheeks blush red, wearing blood for harrowing red lipstick. The man forgetting what he was about to do, gaining amnesia when he loses his IQ on the
final question. The girl points to her eyes like a gun, the pupils in his eyes the bullets that made him become blind. She is trying to say that she is a little sad, unspoken words on a letter that
left the bottle that sailed.
The man opens his briefcase, revealing no flowers in a vase. The contents spoken, the ways of communication broken, The man has a cue card and a piece of chalk, writing words that have the same
meaning as people who stalk. The briefcase crashing to the ground, the curse of bad luck will find him. Writing his words on the cue card, he doesn’t show her when he has finished. He wants to see
the freedom in her eyes, and they reveal a connection. A few moments more he will hide what he wrote, so the girl reveals her hands all over the place. Innocently she is being frustrated, so the
man will reveal what he wrote for her eyes.
MAN WITH CUE CARD
Were you trying to tell me that you cannot speak...? Cannot hear? This night already has sky departing clouds above this light.... can you understand what I
write?
The girl nods her head, a head knocking toy in a limited colour. She points at the cue card and chalk, wanting to write her lines on the black board when in school detention. The man wipes away
what he wrote, leaving Juliet to write her suicide letter to Romeo. Writing with the red chalk, her lyrics sung by zombies and vampires.
GIRL WITH CUE CARD
I was trying to tell you that I cannot hear you.... I cannot speak, for I do not have any answers physically for you. The best thing is that I can fully understand
you!
The man watches the girl as she points to her mouth and shakes her head, the refusal of a kiss when the lips of the sky belong to a rapist. The girl points to her ears and shakes her head, and
while her language is silent, she still didn’t obtain the sixth sense of hearing. The girl now points to her eyes and nods, her eyes the only colour in a silent film. The night getting so late, the
fog is getting scarier when romance is still out after curfew. The girl pointing to the lamppost and to the ground, the fruit that grows from the tree is a poisonous apple of love. Already too late
for a date, leaving this one person to be abducted by aliens. The man believing he understands, wiping away the previous message to write a suicide note when he is still alive.
Not showing what he wrote again to please, the fucking parasite that writes a song lyric as a disease. The girl communicating with him to hurry up or she will murder his children instead. A rainbow
smile on his face becoming the sad makeup of a clown. The girl thinking about this night, she will forget about the day tomorrow. The man shows the girl what he wrote, and it will make her smile.
Writing in red chalk to write in when the paper is black, her eyes can see it clearly. The night is coming to the end, and he will end it politely.
MAN WITH CUE CARD
You would like to meet here again tomorrow night?
The girl points to the lamppost one more time, standing under the light a poetic crime. The man not wiping away the message he wrote, smiling when the haunting beauty won’t help him row the boat.
He wipes away his previous message with one of dark gothic romance, gaining her trust in advance, seeing the smile of a silent passionate dance. The man has never revealed if he is a husband or
father. The darkness will sense if he is hiding something, a faithful lie detector.
MAN WITH CUE CARD
The only light is on because you stand near it....
The girl has the biggest smile in the world on her face, cheeks blooming like rose that remain artificial. The man reaches to touch her face with his fingertips, stopping before he can touch washed
velvet skin. Without a message he walks away from the girl, the fog consuming him as its meal was seven minutes late. No shadows to enter the light outside, hope faded away with her smile, the
puppet with the wooden face, crying without human tears.
Valentine’s Day
The night returns to bring with it Valentine’s Day, the night where people see as the most romantic. It is not romantic because the day is forced. It’s like love has been turned into rape. The same
presence and the same footsteps arrive, looking into the night of the moon an enemy. He cannot see the compass, sailing in a pond of piranhas, rather than the glass bowl of water with a goldfish.
The girl has arrived behind him where he is blind, and not attracting his attention. She blows the back of his hair, the cold presence of the air. The man turns around, the girl found, happiness
shining in the light above ground. He gives her some flowers, and she takes them as the water that gives them life. Receiving the flowers, complete bliss. She places them warm to her heart, and
they look beautiful. She is happy that he made the effort, and he may have a chance. The man takes the cue card and chalk from his briefcase, and writes a message.
MAN WITH CUE CARD
I wanted to get you something that will complete your beauty.... do you find them beautiful?
The girl is blushing, smelling the scent into the air that is crushing. Smelling the flowers again, she nods her head unanimously, winning the fight. The darkness feeling abusive as it is roaring
with thunder. It can sense that the man is hiding something under his sleeve, cheating at a game of poker. The darkness is right because before this meeting, the man laid a undressed and naked
needle of heroin into the bed of his veins. She turns around to tell the thunder to hush, because she is in the middle of another blush. The man will write another message that is disturbing even
for Valentine’s Day. He only has eyes for the girl that are yet to be seen.
MAN WITH CUE CARD
The flowers aren’t as beautiful as you.... I hope you can be the light I only need to find my way home tonight.... will you be the lamppost that takes me home
tonight, making me lose the sense of light?
The girl points to the sky, dark with a shade of dye. The moon has broken through the fog. The butterfly and the frog. Disturbing that he never gives her a chance to answer, he will undo one
message to write another one, the wind of the night has gone. Last night he was the gentleman with the girl and the moon. Tonight, he is the stalker who is acting like the creep who hides in a dark
alley. The thunder is roaring like a warning, the lion threatening the hyena.
MAN WITH CUE CARD
You stand at your most beautiful.... would you allow me to kiss you under this beautiful dark moon?
GIRL WITH CUE CARD
I have to leave you now.... now that I have found something. I will be under the light of this lamppost on the night of Valentine’s Day next year. I hope you can
return to me then.... this time it will be worth it....
The man takes his cue card and chalk, his love letter for nobody. He walks out of the light, steering his ship into the rocks, every passenger killed. He doesn’t look behind him, the mirror in
front contains no reflection. The light from the lamppost goes out, the world is now without power.
Silent as a shadow, the man walks back to underneath the lamppost, and the light comes on again. Walking up right behind her haunting presence, making sure that his shadow will capture her essence.
She will look to the ground and only see the blindness of concrete. Turning around to see him, the light fatigues dim. He takes the cue card and chalk, and before he writes anything, he will point
to her eyes. It looks like she has been crying, not sure if the man would come back into the light to be with her. She also points to her eyes and nods her head, revealing that she was sad because
he left the light, and the light from the lamppost went out, a candle leaving her birthday.
MAN WITH CUE CARD
It looks like you have been crying.... I’m sorry if I left the light and covered you in darkness. I just want you, and to see your fucking beautiful face again....
Smile the most on Valentine’s Day when you are at your most beautiful. Under this light I have found this love, will you allow me to kiss you?
The girl puts a hand over her mouth, a mountain high barrier so the vomited water from inside her throat cannot spew the city of his heart. The man goes to put his arms around her and moves forward
for the kiss, the lust of a ghost is cold. Opening his eyes, he wants to see her face as he kisses her; sending an envelope through her letterbox lips containing anthrax. He walks through her like
she isn’t air, blood or water. When he turns around the flowers are floating away like a balloon in dead air. She enters his body; through marriage they now share the same surname. In total control
of him she extends out his left hand, and a knife appears, the kiss that he craved.
She uses her power to first stab him in his stomach. Streaming into the golden colour of red, the blood has fled. She will stab him in his back so that he is paralyzed. He is standing on both feet
and his arms are spread out like he is a scarecrow that has come home for harvest season. A lot of his blood is leaving his body, the air inside a balloon. He cannot move any part of his body
because the girl has possessed him. His eyes looking scared looking into the end of the dark night, thunder is clapping when showing her delight.
The girl uses the knife to cut out his intestines in glorious detail. Like food being cooked ready to come out of the oven, it makes the correct portion as they dangle onto the ground like unused
spaghetti. His body is bleeding magnificently, building him as a deranged sinister Christmas tree.
He is stood like a paralyzed tree waiting for a coma to pronounce him dead. The other lampposts that are close keep their light off because this is a crime when you do not turn the lights on. Like
a surgeon she will cleanly cut off his arms and legs, the thorns removed from the rose. Cutting off his head cleanly, the rose dies without water.
The blade disappears, and the girl is standing in the disease of sex that everyone fears. His mutilation is everywhere, and the girl has a smile on her face. Luckily the man lives locally, so he
doesn’t have to take the long way home. The girl takes the cue card and the chalk, and leaves a message to thank him for a romantic night.
GIRL WITH CUE CARD
You muted my voice and silenced my hearing. You left me all of those years ago. You left me under this lamppost all of those years ago. I only ever wanted your
silent passion. You are the one responsible for what happened to me....
Dropping the cue card and chalk, the girl notices that the flowers have flown away. She pushes the body parts and intestines of the man into the sea, and his blood has disappeared as he kindly
donated his to mother earth. Waiting for someone else before the night and she will disappear, she will cry tears from the sky. Breaking aeroplane windows, her tears will fall like razorblades. She
is crying and a shadow will enter the light, a chance of love tonight.
STRANGER WITH CUE CARD
It looks like you have been stood up miss. Let me look at your face. So beautiful, yet you cry because some fucking bastard left you standing because his heart was
for someone else. Your beauty flies like a kite, and if it were to rain, I would be your umbrella....
A kind stranger writing on the cue card, and the girl will make words imitate art. Lifting her hand up, the stranger will fly like a kite in the air. The knife appears and slices him from throat to
sternum. She will make an umbrella appear over her head to keep her dry from his pouring blood and body organs. His body will float into the sea and his blood and body organs will disappear. The
umbrella she uses, once belonged to Mary Poppins. The night of Valentine will disappear along with the girl. Carrie is the prom queen and her date was telekinesis.
Valentine’s Day The Following Year
The next year comes and a young boy is in the front room alone, watching a horror film that is on TV. The screen is showing the lamppost with the light on, the fog and the darkened black skies have
come back also. The girl appears, but she is about the same age as the young boy, and this time she is not crying. Silent moments pass, and her eyes become blacker. She places both hands out of the
TV screen, and onto the side of the TV. She is like a spider that has become the stuck prey in her own web.
She is stuck trying to crawl out, so the boy will try to help her escape, being scripted in a TV show. As he grabs the girl’s hands, she squeezes them so that it hurts when he gives a handshake.
The girl has crawled out of the TV, opening her mouth, which show teeth that are a nail bed when children sleep on them. A fog consuming the room, living inside a gas chamber without a gas mask.
The bedrooms upstairs are empty, a bad comedian gaining no ideas from his brain. The kitchen and all the other rooms are empty, the fridge’s stomach containing no food. Only the glasshouse outside
has people that are paying rent, and they are called flowers.
The fog has disappeared with the girl and boy. The TV is turned off so no channel is on. The walls and wallpaper remaining with scratched, the evidence pointing to the truth, that the boy tried to
fight back. The spirit of Valentine’s Day gone for this year, for people don’t cherish it anymore. No sinister music or a heart thumping in fear, the living room left only with a cue card.
BOYS WRITING ON CUE CARD
I’ve gone out with a friend to go on a date....
Later in the night the boy’s parents come in the front room, switch on the TV as they promised each other their love while a horror film was premiering tonight. The scene shows the lamppost with
the light on, and the young boy is turning around to see the girl. The parents not taking notice of the film, the boy is banging on the screen, only to give the mirror a broken reflection of
himself. The girl continues to taunt him by staring at him, and he cannot run out of the light, because the moon will give him nightmares. The fog surrounds, a whirlwind dance of smoke, the
benefits of smoking cigarettes.
He cannot escape, and the girl is getting him into shape. The fog will lighten and it shows that the boy cannot move. He is wooden still as the girl has paralyzed his body, a failed exorcism.
Giving him a kiss, his heart is turning to stone, and his breathing has become venomous. Venom stolen from a snake; the bite non venomous. The girl enters his body, and the lamppost light goes out.
The light out forever, the darkness and all shadows are bound. The fog has gone, so a normal night is the only survivor. The parents of the boy, missing the movie so that they can have sex instead.
If she becomes pregnant, maybe in several years’ time, the sequel will be released on Valentine’s Day....
The Silent Passion © 2021 Dexter Angelus Draven. All rights reserved.
Submitted: February 14, 2021
© Copyright 2021 TheGothicUndying. All rights reserved.
Comments
The dark theme is definitely on full display in this piece! A dark story for Valentine's Day is quite a unique idea and a lot different than the popular cutesy stories haha. I loved how their romance seemed mysterious in the beginning and twisted into something so dark at the end! The woman definitely has scary qualities and her coming out of the TV at the end reminded me of something I'd see in a horror movie. Very well written as always :)
Thu, February 18th, 2021 12:19am
Author
Reply
Valentine's Day needed a bit of darkness. None of this cutesy crap from me :) My stories will always try to be unique. I write dark because I believe that is the only way to keep them unique. The romance was an issue because I don't write it, and even if I did, it wouldn't be the normal mushy cutesy crap, so keeping it mysterious and gothic meant I could keep it dark. I class this story as dark fantasy, but the added themes of horror were a nice touch at the end. Thank you for reading :)
Fri, February 19th, 2021 1:53pmFacebook Comments
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hullabaloo22
Wow! Full on with the Gothic imagery in this one, Dexter. The writing is superbly surreal... made even more so with the appearance of the cue cards.
Sun, February 14th, 2021 6:46pmFantastic story!
Author
Reply
This is one of my favourites. Valentine's Day wasa the perfect day to write and post a dark fantasy piece with hints of gothic romance and horror. The writing was different but is made surreal because of the genre and its themes. I love using cue cards because they are something different. I love silent film, so they are my biggest inspiration. I will be reading a few pieces of your work tomorrow - my tablet died so had to get a new one, and I refuse to read on my phone.
Sun, February 14th, 2021 3:20pmThanks for the great review Hully :)