Cog Chapter Four
We consumed the soup
the Earthly recipe combined
We thought it was a sign of times
the dead now arising like a modern era dark age
Are we banished for our gluttony?
Rick arose around midnight to the sound of creaking footsteps. A gray wolf let out a howl in search of its mate as Rick looked for his. Lori was gone.
The family's hall hung its shadows like a distorted play. Its actors hidden in darkness as they spoke midnight elegies. The silent film of a mystery. Rick squinted his eyes as a figure walked down the hall. The figure was now running at him, but their was no way to avoid it. The asphalt figure lunged at Rick. It was Lori. A doppelganger?
The shadow fiddled through the walls and faded into the darkness as Rick brought himself back to his feet.
A striking calamity Rick now felt this was an omen his wife had been taken from him too, but he wanted to see for himself and continued further down the hall. The hall hung paintings by French artists, they were turned upside down with the world "Help" watermarked across them.
The cog machines came to a stop.
The head of the murderer dangling
from his own creation.
Rick entered his son's room. The unfinished room smelled of paint and carcass. In the center of the room, a body appeared buried within the carpet. Lori was submerged with pristine placement as her body was decomposing by the flooring. Her neck was dislocated and messages on her hands read,
"You are the face, the hands, the body in the water of God. Drink well."
The message baffled Rick as it was complete nonsense. Rick stood over his wife weeping. He was ready to meet his nemesis, he wanted him dead. Lori's eyes jolted to stare deep into Rick's feelings as she spoke,
"Rick, darling. I miss you dearly but my murderer is yourself. You are the epitome of this world. Your dreams killed us, you need to the end these dreams. Yourself."
He stands over the lake of dreams
holding the noose as he watches it fall into the water.
The setting changes as he blinks.
Cogs surround him as the cheerful concoction
fails their final spin. Jabbing the hook through his head, slowly.
The dream ends as he dangles from his creation.
Christmas morning arrived as did St. Nicholas. The Grimes embraced in a tightening hug as the cogs came to a stop.