Summer is dragging on for me and I don't know about you fine folks, but I'm so over it. Fall always invokes the Goblin King for me and I find he is sneaking around in my head again. (Even though I've yet to finish my other work in progress, he's no help there at the moment). So, here's an early nod to the Holly King and our favorite Goblin King AND Of Monsters and Men whose lyrics can always pull a Laby short from me. The following story was inspired by it's namesake song 'Yellow Light.'
I'm looking for a place to start and everything feels so different now
Just grab a hold of my hand I will lead you through this wonderland
Water up to my knees but sharks are swimming in the sea
Just follow my yellow light and ignore all those big warning signs
It was one of those once in a lifetime do or die moments. The air had turned bitterly cold. Summer was retreating quickly before the oncoming threat of autumn and I was hurrying out of the theatre's front entrance into the darkening twilight. Somehow I was the last cast member out that night, I'd spent too much time washing off my makeup and re-braiding my hair. The theatre was a lovely, mysterious, place at night- especially when it was empty-but there was something frightening about the lonely space. It had a fierce kind of loneliness.
A yellow light glowed from the elderly streetlamps that guarded the pathway to my part of town. The walk was deserted—only starlight and the weeping wind were witnesses to my passing. Leaves caught fire in the fading light of day as they swayed and fell. I tried to keep my watering eyes on my feet. I knew the path through the park like the back of my hand, I'd walked it a trillion times so there was no need to watch where I was going. Perhaps if I'd been more observant I'd have realized that it had grown dark and I was no closer to home.
Somewhere deep in the dark a howling beast hears us talk
I dare you to close your eyes and see all the colours in disguise
Running into the night the earth is shaking and I see a light
The light is blinding my eyes as the soft walls eat us alive
The ticking alerted me to the danger. Tick. The sound echoed across the night striking a cold fear into my heart. My head snapped up at the sound. Wildly, my eyes took in the strange scene. Trees still towered above me and the night wind continued to snatch at my hair, but the sky was full of blazing stars—unknown constellations—and music danced in the air. Or maybe it was magic. Dancing magic.
Ignore all those big warning signs.