Monday, March 24, 2008

[teeny fiction] The Library of Statues

The statues talk to me. The statues sing to me.

The room is tall and tall and tall. The hallway runs for miles. I cannot see the ceiling; it all fades away into blue. It is not the sky, for it never changes. Always blue, never gray. Never white. Just blue. Cerulean blue.

The hall. And stairs, leading to the next level up... and up... and up. Balconies overlooking balconies over looking balconies, on up into the cerulean blue, on down into the abyssal black. And the endless, endless alcoves.

And the statues.

The statues talk to me. The statues sing to me.

There are a billion of them, or more. I cannot remember when I came here, or how I got here, or from whence I came. I have wandered until my feet bled, and sat until they stopped, and wandered again. The hall. The stairs. The statues.

I need not eat. I need not drink. Sleep brings no respite because the statues speak when I draw near, and I am always near to them.

Each hall has rows of alcove, each alcove holds a statue, each statue unique. The world's population, writ permanently in marble, in granite, in bronze and wood and clay and diamond. Each has a story to tell, but I do not always know the words. Some tell fables. Some sing ballads. Some teach lessons in mathematics, or science, or theology. They speak a thousand languages, and when I hear one I recognize, I stay awhile and listen.

Sometimes I learn.

I do not know this place, but I know that I am welcome.

The statues talk to me. The statues sing to me.

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Something I wrote two years ago for the Libraries of Faerie on RPG.net's Tangency forum. Registration is required to view Tangency, unfortunately, but I would highly recommend it to... well, pretty much anyone. It's one of the friendliest, freakiest, most intelligent (and yet, most inane) forums I've seen on this great world wide Interweb.

If for no other reason, the thread linked has some of the best teenyfic I've read, and it's well worth a read.

Life continues much the same as before, standing watches, drinking too much coffee, and trying to keep up with my writing. Did the family dinner thing for Easter; it was fun. Nothing new, really.

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