Eye of Providence, Pencil on paper, Artwork size: 27 x 37 cm, 20 May 2014

List of chapters in 2014 “A walk on the dark side”:
Jan – Dark Night, Feb 2014 – The Tunnel, Mar 2014 – The Invitation, Apr 2014 – Underground Palace, May 2014 – Foxy Gentleman, Jun 2014 – Crystal Lizard, Jul 2014 – Three Little Mice, Aug 2014 – Mr. Mad, Sep 2014 – Chess Game, Oct 2014 – Lost Children, Nov 2014 – The Garden

The Invitation

I wasn’t sure how long I had been sleeping when I woke up. The bathroom didn’t look like it had windows, the octopus like creature was gone, he left the bathtub full of black liquid and mess all around.

The light was still bright in the bathroom. I felt well rested, so I thought it must have been a while since I fell asleep. I slowly crawled back towards the other side, and I could see a string of light shining through the gap of the cupboard doors. I placed my eyes next to the gap, and tried to see what was out there. The room was empty, and I could only see bright sunlight shining in from the top of the room.

I pushed the door a little more to make sure no one was around. It was dead quiet so I came out of the cupboard. None of those standing furnitures were there anymore, as if the party was over and everyone just left. I came out of the cupboard and the first thing caught my eye was the glass jars I saw last night in the dark. They looked like samples of insect like creatures, combined with some flesh looking lumps. Not something you’d see everyday. I wondered if they were stitched together by a pair of dedicated hands. I was glad that I didn’t see these seemly creepy creatures before climbing into that cabinet. I doubted I would have wanted to climb in the dark horror of unknown modifications.

So now I was in this bright place, with plenty of light shining down on me, everything looked a little dusty, but still beautiful. I might have allowed myself to love this place a little more if I have entered during the daylight with permission. It was wonderfully decorated with colonial style deco. The wall was full of details and art works.

There was this painting of a man, it looked like he was mourning over his lover, he was holding her portrait in his hand and you could smell his loneliness. Strangely, the wife looked extremely familiar. She had long black hair. she stared right back at me, as if she could see through me. That was all fine with me, except she looked just like me. I wasn’t sure if I saw it correctly, so i walked closer to the painting, attempted to focus a little more and find out if my eyes were playing tricks on me.

But there she was, as if I was looking into a mirror, into the past, many many years ago. It had almost made me believe that I had a past life that I had forgotten.

I didn’t even notice that the floor underneath me was moving, but before I knew, the floor cracked open, revealing a space with stairs leads deep into the ground. Now that I think about it, it was probably unwise to walk into an invitation like that. But at that time, I felt like I wasn’t ready to go, my feet just led me into the deep end, as if I had been waiting for this since a long time ago.

My eyes couldn’t adjust to the darkness immediately, and there were some warm lights coming from the underground. I followed the light and walked down carefully until I saw a man standing at a front a door. As soon as he saw me walking down he said, “Sorry about last night, I wasn’t being a very good host.” His voice was vulnerable but precise.
“No I should be sorry. A creature led me here. I didn’t know anyone lived here.” I said.

I could only see his silhouette since the light came from behind him. He wasn’t very tall, but he was slim, which gave him the illusion of being tall. He looked like a joker who just came out of a glam rock band, or someone from a Tim Burton’s movie. I walked a little closer toward him, into a soft spotlight between him and myself to repay him for my intrusion. The man came forward, and offered his hand to me. “Welcome to the underground palace.”

As he approached me, he appeared into the spotlight. I could see a little more of his face now, he had sharp features and he seemed content. He looked like someone who belonged to a strange place like this. He was wearing a pair of leather gloves, in fact, he had leather all over. There were also feathers and glitters. He looked like a man from a circus, yes, a circus. You know, the wicked and charming host whose job is to introduce the next performer for the next dangerous performance.

I wanted to explain my intrusion, but the moment I gave him my hand, it all became unnecessary. It was like a smooth transaction. He invited me, and I was in.

List of chapters in 2014 “A walk on the dark side”:
Jan – Dark Night, Feb 2014 – The Tunnel, Mar 2014 – The Invitation, Apr 2014 – Underground Palace, May 2014 – Foxy Gentleman, Jun 2014 – Crystal Lizard, Jul 2014 – Three Little Mice, Aug 2014 – Mr. Mad, Sep 2014 – Chess Game, Oct 2014 – Lost Children, Nov 2014 – The Garden

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