Chapter 8 - Begin to Doubt My State of Mind
The despairing and heartsick creature ended another mournful cry as it went to go look into the pond again, vaguely hoping it would look different this time. But the face that peered back at it was no different then how it had looked the last dozen times it had checked.
The creature studied its face, noting the black feathers, the longish beak and the blue-grey eyes. But it was its eyes that told it that something was wrong with its appearance. This was not how it was supposed to look! It had looked different before...
But it couldn’t quite remember!
Shaking its feathers in frustration, the creature turned away from its own tormenting image. It feebly tried to make some sense of the few memory shards it could find, sorting through them slowly.
...”And the ARIA goes to-”....
...shouldn’t stay up so late, but it’s Interview with the Vampire!....
...”The next song we’re gonna play is-”....
...mmm Toblerone....
...a women with a tender look on her face “I love you, Darren.”....
The creature blinked.
Darren. That was its name! His name. The creature kept a tight hold on this bit of identity like it was a life preserver in a sea of dark ignorance, hoping for more enlightenment.
But nothing else surfaced. Nothing.
He didn’t even have a face to go with his own name.
The creature closed his eyes and cried his sorrow to the uncaring stars.
Daniel was all the way at Central Park when the call was replaced by silence.
For the love of God, don’t let Darren stop now!
At least he thought it was Darren. The sudden quiet made it easy to doubt the conviction he’d had a moment ago. Why would Darren be at Central Park? And how could it be Darren? Human beings don’t make sounds like that.
But Darren had; right before he disappeared. Daniel sighed, feeling out of his depth. Humans may not make noises like that but Darren’s humanness was coming into question more and more. Daniel, after all, had noticed Darren’s pointed ears, even if he wasn’t sure what they meant. And his newly-discovered fear of this very city.
And this whole concert incident. Daniel had kept silent when asked about what happened, for he felt responsible for not knowing what had really happened. He should have let Darren speak up before the concert, should have been keeping watch of him. So Daniel hadn’t told anyone about Darren’s shimmering, let alone that as the lights went out he seemed to be shimmering into something else.
Daniel suddenly felt a little uneasy, vaguely remembering the werewolf dream Darren had told him about.
But this call doesn’t sound wolf-like at all. It’s not a howl, it’s like the crying of a bird, no a person, oh I just don’t know...
Daniel also hadn’t told anyone what he had found when he’d searched the amphitheater perimeter fence, hoping he would discover Darren. The guitarist remembered vividly the shiny black feathers he had found, feathers that looked much to big to have come from any bird he knew of.
Daniel hesitantly stood at the edge of Central Park, uncertain where to go next. Suddenly the noise came again, causing the guitarist to jump in startlement. His resolve strengthened as he heard the sadness in it that went straight to his heart. Even if it wasn’t Darren, whoever, whatever was calling out needed to be found.
No one deserved to bear such despair alone.
Daniel sighed again and began walking into the shadowed park.