Carl si demonii

Pădurea era dintotdeauna casa spiridușilor, spiritele protectoare ale pădurilor, care întotdeauna au reprezentat o fortăreața puternica în fata nestăvilitelor puteri malefice ale demonilor. Si aceste spirite benefice simțeau imediat prezenta unor astfel de demoni si imediat se alarmau cu toții sa se lupte cu ele și sa le izgonească cat mai repede, înainte ca vreun suflet nevinovat sa le cada victima. Din păcate, spiridușii nu-i puteau proteja și pe ceilalți, care nu se aflau la adăpostul pădurii, de aceea demonii se plimbau nestingheriți.
Pe lângă una dintre pădurile astea au trecut odată doi demoni, fără sa știe ca acolo trăiau spiridușii. Cum s-au apropiat de poalele pădurii, pădurea a început imediat sa forfotească, sa vuiască și, într-un final, din desișuri a ieșit o armata de spiriduși. Spiridușii arătau ca niște oameni ca statura, dar aveau, fata de aceștia, niște aripi transparente care păreau foarte firave, dar care puteau sa reziste la multe încercări. Asa ca, atunci când demonii i-au văzut întâia oara, au crezut ca sunt oameni. Demonii, în schimb, sunt de asemenea cat oamenii ca statura, dar și ei au aripi, iar aripile lor sunt întunecate, precum gândurile care ii conduc. Iar acești demoni se hrăneau cu sufletele oamenilor nevinovați, care le cădeau în mreje fără nici o speranță.
Când demonii s-au îndreptat spre primii spiriduși, pe care ii crezuseră oameni, erau foarte slăbiți și aveau nevoie sa devoreze sufletul cuiva, pentru a prinde iar puteri. Atacul neprevazut al duhurilor pădurii baga frica în ei și o luară la fuga imediat. Dar nu fu nevoie sa se depărteze prea mult, pentru ca spiridușii nu mai reprezentau o forță de temut când nu mai erau sub proctectia pădurii. Magia spiridușilor, care ii vătăma pe demoni în desișurile pădurii, nu mai avea nici un efect în afara ei.
Demonii aveau și ei puteri magice, dar magia lor era malefica, la fel ca ei. Prin magia lor neagra, cei doi demoni creară o casa frumoasa, care mirosea a mâncare și care ademenea orice trecător. Si iată ca nu trecu mult timp pana când trecu primul suflet nevinovat pe lângă casa demonilor. Era un tânăr pe la vreo 25 de ani, înalt, blond, cu ochi albaștri, îmbrăcat cu o tunica albastra si cu pantaloni albi de cavalerie, iar demonii când văzură se si preschimbară în doua femei frumoase, ca sa il ademenească înauntru.
Folosindu-și puterile, femeile il si convinseră pe tânăr sa le treacă pragul si sa il cinstească cu mâncărurile si băuturile lor. Si e si greu sa refuzi doua femei frumoase, când sunt atât de primitoare.
Cum trecuse tânărul pragul casei cu un etaj, cele doua femei se si înțeleseră din priviri care dintre ele avea sa il lovească pe tânărul ofițer de cavalerie. Cea care făcu semn ca ii va face ea felul, clipi o data din ochi si casa se preschimba. In camerele pe care el nu le văzuse încă, apărură fotografii și picturi care-și avea menirea de a-l impresiona pe tânăr si a-l face sa se simtă cat mai bine primit. Dar femeia merse pana într-atât încât ii afla numele si ii atârna un șirag cu numele lui, din litere de aur, deasupra usii: Carl. Tânărul fu sedus de ideea ca aceste doamne superbe sa fi auzit de faima lui si se lăsă prada dezmierdărilor acestora.
Femeia il invita, in cele din urma, sus, in dormitor. Tanarul nu se lasa rugat a doua oara si urca in spatele ei, in timp ce cealalta femeie ii privea satisfacuta, cu o ura pe care parca abia si-o stapanea. Femeia care il chemase pe tanar sus, in schimb, urca alene, lasandu-i prilejul sa se bucure de formele ei atragatoare, dar nu putu, la randul ei, sa nu schiteze un ranjet satisfacut, unul care ii si arata, dealtfel, figura demonica pe care o avea de fapt. Pret de o clipa, buzele rosii si dintii albi, sclipitori, fura inlocuiti de niste buze uscate si negre si niste colti ascutiti, pe care o limba serpeasca, despartita in doua, ii stergea in semn de pofta nestavilita. Dar cand se intoarse languroasa din nou spre tanar, aceste trasaturi odioase disparusera ca prin farmec, iar ceea ce putea sa vada el era doar un zambet seducator ce il ademenea sus, in dormitor.
A doua femeie nu mai urca, atunci cand vazu usa trantindu-se in spatele tanarului. Ramase in asteptare pe o canapea si nici nu avu mult de asteptat, caci se si auzi un tipat din camera respectiva. Un tipat puternic, de sfarseala, ce venise din toata fiinta tanarului care-si simtise viata pe sfarsite. Cand femeia urcase sus in camera, il vazu pe tanar in ghearele demonului, care nu-si mai pastrase forma femeiasca. Si demonul isi cascase gura grozava catre tanar, dar, spre uimirea acestuia, nu isi infinse coltii in el, ci incepu sa traga aer in el. La inceput, tanarul nu isi dadu seama ce se intampla, dar apoi simti cum isi pierde puterile si paru sa-si dea duhul.
Ce se intamplase fusese ceea ce demonii le faceau oamenilor ca sa se hraneasca: le scoteau sufletele pe care, mai apoi, le devorau. Dar, daca, de obicei, sufletul omului prins de demon trece imediat in fiinta demonului, intarindu-l pe acesta, de data asta sufletul tanarului ramasese suspendat in aer, intre corpul sau si demon. Sufletul tanarului privea acum uimit la corpul sau si la demonul ce incerca sa il devoreze si parea sa nu inteleaga nimic.
Femeia care ramasese in prag, fiind martora la aceasta intamplare, era si ea foarte uimita de prezenta sufletului intre ei, dar isi veni rapid in fire. Ii facu semn demonului ca nu trebuie sa il lase sa-si recupereze trupul, asa ca demonul deschise o gaura in podea ce parea sa dea direct in iad si vru sa arunce trupul inautru.
Dar se petrecu ceva neasteptat: sufletul tanarului se razvrati. Vazand ca nu putea fi atins de demoni, ii puse la pamant pe amandoi si apoi isi recupera trupul. Tanarul, revenindu-si in simtiri ca dintr-un cosmar, vazu ca fusese de fapt real, asa ca se ridica si o lua la fuga pe usa afara, inspre padure. Si alergand asa, fu nevoit sa sara peste un sant dar, in zbor peste el se petrecu ceva ce il uimi pana si pe tanar: doua aripi mari puternice, transparente, iesisera de sub hainele sale. Nu le mai vazuse niciodata, dar se bucura, fara sa stie, ca aparusera. Si atunci o porni spre padurea care parea sa-l cheme prin mii si mii de glasuri...

Come, dream, and take me away...!

'What if the dream is the reality? What if we're only sent here till we find our soulmate and then, at that very great moment, we both realize this and say the magic words that would take us back?' This was Tom's firm belief and he'd always say it, to anyone he'd ever met:
'Come, dream, and take me away...!' but no one had the reaction he's been expecting for so long.
Up until a moment when he stopped believing too, but he would still say the words, more as a joke than what it was at first. Or at least that's how his spouse, Jane, felt it and sometimes she would say the words together with him, hoping and believing that his dreamland would actually be true and they would both return 'home'.
But the world is a great and mysterious place and we never know what lies ahead. So it happens that Tom's best friend, Chris, was married to Jane's best friend, Amelia. And it could have been coincidence, it could have been destiny, but Tom and Amelia had never met, though fate has given them several opportunities. And one day, Jane went to Amelia's house and Chris came to see Tom.
And they start talking their usual topics, till Jane gets to the story of Tom's eternal dreamland. And at the very moment she was about to tell Amelia the famous words, Chris was telling Tom this:
'She's sometimes acting strangely. She's looking at me like she's about to say something, but then she blocks, uses a lame excuse and walks away. So one day I go to her and ask her what's she been trying to tell me. Guess what she answers: <> and then she starts mumbling something about some dreams...'
Coincidence or not, Tom had never told Chris about the dreamland he's been talking about years back, because, as time passed by, he'd become embarrassed to talk about it with a guy.
'Come, dream, and take me away...!' told Jane to Amelia, at the end of the story.
'Come, dream, and take me away...!' is what both Tom and Amelia said at the same time. And then they've realized...
Storming out the door, they've both tried to run to each other, before it was too late. Before that very last moment, when they would leave the world, they begged divinity and destiny and everything for a glimpse at each other so they could know who was their soulmate in this world.
But they didn't meet. And no one has ever seen them since. And Amelia's regret was that they might not know each other in the dreamland either...

The Multiverse

Exhausted, John got out of bed with the same lack of will to live as he has been for the last ten years. Though a ghost of the man he used to be, he was still the head of the Investigation Department of the Multiverse. And for the first time, in the last ten years, he had the chance to get his life back.

He went into the office not saying a word. The secretary saw him and instantly jumped out of her seat to meet him, speaking continuously and agitated:

'Sir, you are not allowed to enter here! We have strict orders not to let you come inside...! I will have to call Security in case you...'

John silenced her with the back of his hand and kept going silently, eyes wide open and set to a door in front of him. He took a small gun from his jacket, which created a panic in the room and everybody started to run terrified, but John payed no attention to any of them and carried on to the door.

He enter the big office, which had few furniture in it, which, together with the light colors of the walls and decorations, created the illusion of being even wider. In that vast space, right in the middle, there was a big white desk where a woman sat and wrote something, quite unimpressed by the frenzy outside her office.

'Ah, John!', she said kindly. 'I’ve been expecting you for quite a while, now. You sure did take your time!'

He didn’t say anything, just kept staring at her and loading his gun. At the sight of this, the woman gently stood up and hid behind a wall, without being scared or even impressed of his standing.

'Why did you do it?' he asked her and went by a shelf full with metal pieces. The metal flew out of the shelf and pierced his leg skin and he felt a burn with every piece of it. After a few more piercings, his legs and whole chest was covered with metal.

'Well, I guess it’s time you knew the truth why our son died, John!', his wife said, coming out from behind the wall. 'THAT is why, John! I wouldn’t want him to end up like us!'

'Like what?', he shouted. 'Alive?'

'Oh, John, how many things you don’t remember! But I guess it’s time you find out all of them... It’s been years since I’ve started hating the Multiverse. I’ve discovered it and it brought me fame and this big white office that makes me feel the loneliest person in the world. But that’s not the only thing that brought me... us... isn’t it? The technology, the machines, the medicines, all those things we love to have that made us all-powerful and immortals. I hate them all...!'

'How can you say that...?'

'Of course, they’ve also brought me you, she said, when you’ve been appointed as the new head of the Investigation Department of the Multiverse. Crimes were being committed and this new division of yours asked that all the people should be given that damned technology of mine to save us all from death...'

'But our son...? Why did you...?'

'Our son died because I didn’t want to put those things in him, I wanted him to enjoy life as we used to, before the Multiverse and immortality, when life was worth living because it was the only one we had. It’s what we both wanted for our child...'

John was shocked, he couldn’t say anything. So she kept going:

'You couldn’t endure the pain, so I’ve altered your memory to think that he was murdered and you would have something to pursue. But something went wrong, because we do this every ten years, John! You busting in my office, scaring the employees, waving guns at people and wanting to shoot me...'

John stood there, eyes wide open, without blinking, staring at something in front of him.

'It’s the seventh time, John!', his wife continued to tell him. 'Every time you leave this office, it’s like the moment after his death to you, John! I don’t know how long I can take it any more...!'

John didn’t say a word. Eyes wide open, he turn around and went for the door, while his wife was shouting at him to never come back. Careless to her yelling, he got out of the office. The secretary came to meet him and he told her smiling, still eyes wide open:

'Hello, Mr. Berstein! Great game last night, right? I bet you didn’t see that one coming! Those beers are still on for tonight, right?'

Episode 2

'I will blow your mind...' he whispered in her ear, then sat back and took a deep breath, inhaling all the fumes of his cigarette, while waiting for her reaction. She listened curiously to his words, then giggled and took an amused look at his stance.
'And how exactly are you gonna' do that?' she asked him, hardly stopping herself from laughing.
'I will read your mind.' he replied and gave her a mysterious look that made her giggle again. She then took another look at this guy in front of her that was trying to impress her and thought for a little while if he was even worth the next question she was about to ask. But she decided to play along, at least for the fun...
'And how will you do this?' she asked, this time more serious and curious about his reply.
'I won't tell you how', said he, 'but I will show you. Think of something interesting and I will tell you what that was...'
She suddenly became more interested in this little game he was playing. She gazed into his eyes and saw that he was serious in every word, so she decided to beat him at his own game. She started rolling her eyes mumbling nonsense words whose meanings she barely knew, waiting for him to be truth to his words and say what she was thinking about.
'No! Don't ruin it, by thinking of random words I might never have heard about!', he told her, interrupting her sabotage. 'That's not how it works. Think of something interesting, something worth thinking about...'
She stopped in amazement. Even though he wasn't specific about, he did said what she was thinking about. But then again, she was mumbling, so he must have read her lips. That was too easy, she needed something challenging.
She stopped smiling and began to think about something he couldn't have known about. She lowered her face in concentration and looked at that small glass table that was separating them and saw in it the diminishing light of the sunset. A small breeze blew away some fallen leaves, somewhere in front of them, and she began staring in a far, admiring the sight, with a glimpse of a smile on her face.
He watched her quietly for a few minutes, letting her fall deep into her own memory. He analyzed every move she made, everything she did, without her even realizing it. After a little while, he said briefly:
'That's lovely... Where was that?'
She stopped and stared at him in full amazement, not blinking and almost jaw-dropping. 'He couldn't have... could he?!' After a few seconds of trying to decide, she asked: 'What was what?'
'That beautiful memory of you and your father, on that lovely alley, in that lovely afternoon...'
She stopped breathing. She threw a scared look at him as she could barely believe what he just said. 'You were just a little girl', he continued troubling her, 'and your dad took you out, in a lovely autumn afternoon...'
She became pale and couldn't say a word. She stared for a few seconds at this guy that had just blown her mind so bad she could barely speak. She was trying to understand how that was possible, but that last sentence, you were just a little girl, blew her over. There was no one else, except her or father, that could've known about it. But still...
'How...?' - that was everything she could say, but it was enough for him to understand what she meant.
'Oh, darling! Relax!', he told her comforting, 'I'm not a telepath! I didn't get into mind and looked at your secrets, I've just read you and I knew what you where thinking about...'
Not surprisingly, that wasn't too much of a comfort for her, though. She still couldn't understand what really happened a few moments ago and she was just as confused as before. She took a deep breath and asked him: 'How did you do it?'
He looked at her in disappointment, but saw exactly how troubled she was, so he decided to unveil his secret to her.
'I didn't have to go inside your mind to understand what you were thinking about, I've just used my reasoning. I saw you looking at the sunset and then at the blown leaves. I then saw that smile on your face and the way you were caught by your memory. I understood it was a memory, because you were looking downwards. That's what we do when we think of something that is stuck to our memory. So I followed your look to the fallen leaves and they gave me the clue that it was autumn in your memory. And then the smile told me it was a beautiful old memory, from your childhood, because those memories remain with us the longest and they are the ones who shape us...'
'But how did you know is was about my father?' she asked him, with a tear running down her cheek.
'I didn't. I guessed. I knew you only live with your mother so I presumed your dearest childhood memory would be one with your father. I guess I was right.'
He stopped talking and saw her eyes full of tears. Maybe it was too much, maybe he had gone too far this time. He had a burst of apologizing, but she interrupted:
'I was 6, back then. My father took me to the park. He bought me some candy floss and took me to those small trains... I don't remember much about it, but it's my strongest memory of him. It was before...' and stopped. She just looked away and didn't say anything.
They stayed like this for a few minutes, her staring at the far and him not knowing what to say next. He smoked another cigarette while she was trying to pull herself together. She wiped the tears from her eyes and took a look at him as he was calmly smoking and said:
'Boy! You do know how to impress a girl, don't you?'

The "F" words...

F**k everything that should've been and wasn't, f**k false hopes and dreams that never came through, f**k every smile that wasn't returned with a smile, f**k every missed call and every unanswered SMS, f**k every greeting that wasn't replied...
F**k all the dates that didn't took place, f**k all the stars that weren't counted, f**k all the poetry and all the lyrics and all the speeches that were never spoken outloud, f**k all the beaches all around the world, that were walked on alone, f**k every night and every day alone, every breakfast not taken in bed and every dinner not taken with candle lights...
F**k one-way roads, empty houses and taxi cabs, f**k burned photos, favourite songs and soaps, f**k sunrises and sunsets by the beach all alone, f**k promises, f**k space, f**k heart-shaped pillows and chocolate boxes...
F**k Valentine's Day, f**k romantic movies, f**k Harlequin novels and every other liar...
F**k anxiety, f**k fear, f**k prejudices, f**k pride, f**k rules on behavior...
F**k exes, parents that would enterfere, friends who won't tell and friends who did, f**k everyone from everywhere who stood in the way of ever expressing how you truely feel.

Povestea cailor fermecati...

Se facea ca traiau odata, intr-un tinut indepartat, niste cai fermecati care cutreierau campiile si codri nestingheriti si erau lasati in pace de oameni, pentru ca acesti cai erau spiritele care faceau sa vina si sa treaca anotimpurile. Astfel, caii de vara erau roscovani, cei de toamna erau negri ca pana corbului, cei de iarna erau albi ca zapada, iar cei de primavara erau cafeniu deschis. Si fiecare dintre ei nu puteau sa ramana decat in anotimpul lor, iar cand acesta se incheia, se faceau nevazuti pana anul urmator.

Dintre toti caii, cei mai frumosi si mai puri erau caii albi, ai zapezii, iar caii negri, de toamna, le purtau o ura groaznica. Si dintre toti, regele cailor negri era cel mai mare dusman al lor. Si zi de zi, regele intunecat planuia cum sa faca sa scape de caii zapezilor. Si intr-o zi, ii veni in minte un plan ingenios…

Caii acestia fermecati purtau cu ei mereu niste clopotei de cristal care scoteau un clinchet fermecat, dar care mai aveau si o alta indeletnicire, numai de ei stiuta: atunci cand venea vremea, acesti clopotei cresteau tot mai mult pana cand erau destul de mari sa inca un cal inauntrul lor. Si acesta era locul unde se odihneau caii pana la venirea urmatorului an. Si nimeni nu ii putea vedea, caci clopoteii erau fermecati si nu se lasau vazuti de oameni cand isi protejau stapanii.

Si intr-un an, regele intunecat nu s-a mai odihnit sub clopotul sau, ca in fiecare an, ci s-a ascuns de toata lumea si a asteptat sa treaca iarna, sa ii prinda pe caii zapezii in timp ce dorm in clopoturile lor. Si era chiar in momentul in care regele cailor zapezii isi ducea regina si copiii la odihna, cand a aparut temutul rege intunecat.

Si-atunci a inceput o lupta ca-n povesti, de s-au cutreierat cerurile. Si vremea a luat-o razna, caci nu stia ce anotimp sa mai fie. Si cei doi regi zburau ca sagetile prin aer – caci erau cai fermecati, cum am zis – si cand se loveau faceau sa rasune tunete si mii de raze straluceau pe cer mai puternic decat soarele. Si lupta dura mult, pana cand regele zapezilor isi lovi naprasnic dusmanul si il arunca din inaltul cerurilor.

Si atunci lumea isi reveni si toate lucrurile revenira la normal si intreaga natura isi relua cursul obisnuit…

Cam asta am visat eu azi-dimineata. Pretty cool, huh? :D