The labrynth calls to me…..beckons me into its maze of bound backs and spines filled with stories from centuries long past and ones yet to be told.
Fantastic imaginative yarns weaved with words that speak louder with each page that is turned.
The labrynth allows journeys to the farthest corners of the earth and beyond. The only barrier being the limits of the imagination of the one who breaches it’s hallowed corridors.
One does not seek the labrynth. The labrynth seeks for the one.
Calling out in dreams that begs to seek the reality.
The labrynth has no address, no sign to announce it’s existence.
It is only found when the one seeks to follow it’s call.
The whispers begin at the back of my memory. A distant calling back to a time when when audible letters became words. Pieced together, they became sentences. Transcribed on paper and repeated through the eyes they became magic. Unleashing worlds and creatures that beg for existence beyond paper and ink.
Those whispers beckon the search for the location where imagination lies in print.
The Labrynth.
The whispers called to me.
The only rule of the labrynth is this-
To satisfy my hunger for the labrynth, the labrynth must be fed in return.
To keep the delicate balance of the mysterious labrynth in check, I must give my words in order to take someone elses.
I left my home as day was turning to night. Dark clouds began to roll in and shielded the blood moon from illuminating my way.
The whispers as my only guide. Leather satchel flung over my shoulder containing a bound portfolio of my minds work.
My imagination.
My sweat.
My cramped hands.
My soul.
Stories created on this blog, casually listed under the menu section, transcribed from screen to paper using ink that flowed like blood once the process began.
My words.
My sentences.
My stories.
My soul.
About to be turned over to a place that I have never been to and will probably never find again.
In order to be fed…..I must feed.
The whispers grew louder as my journey wore on.
Beckoning.
Begging.
Pleading.
My head was ringing with interconnecting voices, accents, and language I could not decipher.
My eyes began to water and blur from the decibels the arose within my mind. I closed them tight to regain my focus.
As I turned a bend in the road and nearly collapsed from the weight of the drawing force within me……
Everything stopped.
Silence.
I gripped my leather satchel with both hands until they became numb and then opened my eyes.
A single building with a single light stood before me in the darkness.
I walked up the few steps and cautiously rapped on the metal door.
Knock…..
Knock….
Knock….
The door opened.
A man who stood easily over 7 feet, looked me up and down and said,
“Welcome to the Labrynth…..we have been waiting for you.”
I walked past him and into the entryway of the labrynth. My first thought was he smelled of dust…..and time.
“I trust you have brought something of yourself to leave behind….” he asked.
I opened up my satchel and reached in to grab my portfolio.
The tall man stopped me and shook his head.
“You dont give to me, young man. You give to the labrynth. Leave it in place of the one you take.”
I quizzingly asked,
“How will I know which one to take?”
He smiled and replied,
“The labrynth knows…..the labrynth knows. Come. It is time.”
He walked over to 2 large oak doors that stood taller than he. He pulled them open revealing as many stories of books above as there were stories below.
Walkways.
Hallways.
A virtual skyscraper of books that reached into the heavens and to the depths of the underworld.
I tried to take in the massive inventory of bound words.
All I could manage was a gulp.
The man led me in and said,
“Take all the time you need. Find what has been waiting for you. Leave what will be sought. Exit through the door from which you came.”
I began walking through the catacombs. Brushing my hand against books that could very well be older than time itself.
Every language.
Every genre.
Every type of script ever imagined.
Shelves upon shelves lined with books, manuscripts, stories, lives waiting to be awoken and explored.
I searched up.
I searched down.
I lost track of time and place.
Mesmerized by the centuries of print.
As I glided down a certain corridor lit only by candlelight, I was strangely drawn to a spine that seem to illuminate the closer I got.
My heart rate quickened, my fingers seemed to tingle as I brought the book out from the chorus line of the adventures that surrounded it.
Upon releasing the novel from its libraric prison, a soft but quite audible
“yeeeeeeesssss.”
was heard from somewhere deep in the labrynth.
I turned the cover toward me and shuddered when I saw the title-
With shaking hands I placed the book into my satchel and pulled out my portfolio to put in its place.
As I pushed it onto the shelf and released my fingers from my written soul another soft yet audible sound was heard-
“aahhhhh”
Then all went silent.
The only sound was my footsteps as they were strangely led directly to the door from which I entered at the other end of the very corridor from which the feeding took place.
I walked out of the labrynth into the sunlight, which was overtaking the west and illuminating toward the other horizons.
I felt exhausted…..yet light on my feet. With my prize under my arm, I began to walk back to where my reality resided.
Stopping once to smell the bluebonnets, whose sight and smell were much brighter than I had ever imagined.
I stood up and opened my satchel. In the darkness of the case, the book that lay within, which bore the chosen name of my blog, seemed to tell me-
“We have such sights to show you……”
But that…..
Is another story all together.
________________________________________
All photos taken by good2begone or Mr. B Gone, if you will.
Story created as a tribute to the ‘Cemetery of Forgotten Books‘ found within the pages of “The Shadow of the Wind” series written by Carlos Ruiz Zafon.
The “We have such sights to show you” Quote taken from “Hellraiser” by Clive Barker.
GET YOUR READ ON
Good2begone 