The Unbounded

The Unbounded

By Sindy Fitz

Falling, tumbling, violently grasping, a precipitous void, an absence of reality prior to a great unmasking. 

Steady yourself. 

You have arrived at the crux of a simple doorway, an onslaught of an unknowing paradigm. Startled, you reach out to gain your composure grasping the worn brittle creviced wood at the frame. Desperately drinking in the air, a dithering and faltering attempt to calm yourself brings lingering scents of forgotten books, musty pages devoid of nurturance lacking any sense of guardianship. Stones metallic dampness mimicking blood enveloping your very bated breath. 

Where have you wound up this time? 

Your eyes endeavor to adapt to the light which is barely even perceivable whilst your skin draws in the air's dampness; its heaviness brings on an overwhelming dread. Sounds are scurrying throughout  the abysmal depths of this domain. All that is visible to you is within the grasp of your outstretched fingertips; except for a shred of light down a foreboding, meandering corridor. 

I guess you will have to make yourself appear brave for a few moments while you allow yourself time to come to the realization that it has happened again.

Stuttering breaths with each timorous step after the other; determined to keep moving forward until alas, a large room barely visible aside from a small area where a melting candle obliged to stand guard over a small worn desk, at the corner a chair sit askew nothing especially odd or descript nothing to allow you any faint clue. Standing in the shadows that are as menacing as your imagination allows. Intently listening to sounds of water dripping into puddles then softly streaming over the cobbled stone floors, crafty shuffling of some small creatures burrowing and gnawing all the while each passing moment with its lack of certainty overflow as your eagerness to escape is causing the panic in your chest to deepen.

Finally a scent, eluding the dank oppression of unbearable confinement. It  feels oddly light;  heartily so, almost sweet, a small breeze has found you and what a relief it is to feel that there is an outside somewhere close by. An unfettered release, a liberation of these quarters.

Its origins must be descried before you are found out, make haste so the mystery of where you are can become more apparent. Decisions need to be made promptly. This situation is becoming exasperating, vexing, even maddening.

Bravery is not something you have in spades, is it? 

Gathering courage is not for the meek so dig deep and follow your senses to escape this rather precarious situation you have created. This is completely your own doing as such you must fathom a way out of it quickly, if possible. 

That's it, keep going! 

The struggles of this damnation are an eternity of chaos. Staunch obstacles, misery of loss and loneliness creating one's own hell a pivotal atrocity for a being to exist. A game that must be played, naught ever to find completion. Thoughts that must be subdued in requiem if you are to find a meager amount of peace.

You have nearly uncovered a way out. Unnoticed and quietly invisible, an outside door poorly hung and ladened with gaps. Mastering this darkened chamber step lively, finding certainty in your bravery as the dread turns to fluttering adrenaline. Every step with purposely stealth-like precision. Never have you been so attuned to so focused, shadows are moving in steady synchrony with you.  

Stop! 

Stillness is your cloak, do not breathe, not one singular movement. 

Reassess, calculate everything.

Feel the breeze grow stronger, listen intently, remain diligent in your quest, being fallible is not a luxury you have. This is a distinctly egregious plight. Remains of this night, this unremitting quagmire of a life, just which one? That is still to be ascertained.

Salvation finally!  

Grasping the cold rusted handle, trying desperately forcibly to open without a sound. A loud click of the unlatching breaking loose from its confines, scurf flashes in all directions, disrupting the flame met with an echo then stillness and sinking silence. With one swoosh a movement, in one step a swivel to escape as if never having even been. A quick gander at the surroundings outside in the sweet freshness of the air that had been calling to you, guiding you, now protects you in its darkness. Empty of people or animals the time must be late in the evening, maybe even early morning hours before dawn. 

Before the sun will give you away,  find a safe ambiguous shelter to work this all out. 

Untangling the web, in hopes of weaving a narrative that is copious with a fortuitous existence in this time, whenever that may be. Then finding how you slot in here, in this place, your name, your identity. Time is of the essence so you can mold fate with gratitude into this new form. When actually you despise the imperious domineering nature of an interminable presence.

Over there in a field not far from what you can now see is a dilapidated manor house, much less terrifying looking from the outside in. Still no movement within just as incessant flickering light from the candle which is dulling into final peace. So many questions you must have, the same you always have the answers you always find and the repetitive nature of it all.

A thicket you will be safe there close enough to eavesdrop and spy this will give you the necessary time needed to acclimate and adapt. Starting with the most accessible clue, What kind of garments are you adorned with? A quick assessment should gather much of the information required to elucidate what manifestation you have been thrust into, with little time to mourn your previous incarnation. 

Perpetual experiences, lessons, dauntingly grandiose ambition coupled with slothfulness. No matter what you learn, how deeply you feel every moment. Trying to find an escape unequivocally leads you to another body. Another life to live or not, all your free-will allows you to try anything and everything with agonizing repetition. Death to new life, never forgetting each lifetime is a curse anchored to an endless eternity. Never alone, take solace in that you are instructed and mentored, guided throughout all your lifetimes. A curse shared is halved so they say. Exhausting to say the least on the subject, you will find that this lifetime is going to be one of exactly what you had hoped for minus the opulence and great fortune based on the state of your home and clothing. But who knows, put your clever schooling to use and perhaps fate will allow it, not without some struggle. 

Clearly you know how these things work. 

The voices are calling you, it appears, your name is Emily this time you're no longer unbound. You have been bound as an Emily in what has it been, 153 times now, it's a lovely name.  

Are you ready to proceed? Shall you resume?