A Blanket of Smoke
by B.J. Garcia
Vervicia, the goddess of life, created a sphere
of laughter and delight. She gave birth to all animation. Vervicia
was responsible for rapture and gave everyone the ability to smile.
When a person laughed he was to say, "Vervicia" as a symbol of your gratitude
towards the woman who shaped your spirit. If you didn’t say this Vervicia
felt that no penalty was necessary. She believed that the countless
smiles that people displayed each day were enough recognition for her
lifetime.
Vervicia looked down upon
all the unhappy and desperate people in the world. Being the goddess
of laughter she fought with Poutines. Poutines was the god of sadness
and depression. He urged that all people were to be dishearten and
weighed down by burdens. Vervicia always seemed to win but a few
individuals took the gloomy path of following Poutines’ downhearted lifestyle.
His challenge was to wipe all the smiles off of Vervicia’s noble people.
He harmed people by damaging their body. He thought that if their
bodies were internally bruised with disease than their offspring would
be infected as well. His theory was that the cycle of harm would
continue until he end of time. He chose to first infect a woman because
they were responsible for baring children.
Hannah, an old woman, was
Poutines chosen one. At age five Hannah was diagnosed with Raven, being
the disease of black. She didn’t know that Poutines had inflicted
such evil upon her but she knew inside she was rotting and always thought
it was her heart failing from the tragic loss of her only true love but
. . . she was mistaken. Instead, the pain she was feeling was darkness
covering the inside of her entire body. She believed that she was unusual
because of her condition. And she decided that it would be best if
she never gave birth to any children. Hannah’s decision was carved
in stone on top of Mount Yippernies. Mount Yippernies was sacred
and individuals climbed to top to let secrets out in the open. For
the wind had ears and was willing to listen. Hannah carved "A child
will never be brought in the world by me. Never would I want them
to lead a life of misery." Hannah knew that her life was not normal
and her sadness grew.
Poutines cycle of harm never
planned out however another disaster came about. Shallow and cold hearted
Hannah hobbled down the street smoking one cigarette after the other. Her
coal lungs ornamented her stomach with obscure shadows. She gasped
for breath every now and then. Coughing, her impure breath lingered motionless
in the air. Fabricating into a dusky ball of smoke. Eventually
the sky became filled with billowing clouds to where seeing was a challenge.
Hannah extended her arms, only wanting to stretch, but was unable to see
her hands. The soiled cotton was thick making Hannah’s hands disappear.
She had no idea what she was doing to the universe and to those around
her.
While forming overblown,
lofty ashes that gathered into one colossal pellet Hannah sighed.
A blanket of embers warmed the earth and all its creatures. Oceans
began to evaporate leaving large craters in the earth’s loam. Animals
coats became parched causing piles of fleece to stack up. Youth being
endowed with disfigured bodies and with hesitant thoughts. Fairly
close to Hannah her two brothers had been born joined as one individual.
As if not knowing where to go or what to do. Those who were disabled
and handicapped were always protected by Hannah's two brothers who were
the gods of the different and unique.
To some mammals born
with a hindrance were inferior and unable to speak their mind. For
their comfort Pathos and Orthos (Hannah’s brothers) existed.
They knew and understood the way the disabled felt for they were
setback as well. Evolving from the head of their unfortunate father,
Choasic, who was defeated in a one on one fight with a vicious man.
Choasic was beheaded with the sharpness of the corrupt man’s sword.
His vital fluid of life was placed into a metal basin that was plugged
with a thick pewter lid. Pathos and Orthos had never met their father
for they were still in their mother’s womb. Pathos and Orthos were born
as one man, both together. They were joined at the shoulder.
By this they each had only one limb, meaning they shared a body with two
heads. When the odd couple was three days old the basin of
their father’s blood was opened and was used at their baptismal or the
welcoming of them into the world. Their mother was ashamed because
no woman had ever brought a creature such as them into the world.
Her heart throbbed with pain and she cried each night. She whimpered
and sobbed.
Hannah had been empty-headed.
She had not even slightly thought that by her smoking she was creating
people like her disabled siblings. Intervening her index finger and
middle finger a cigarette lay exhaling dense sable fumes. Like a
life preserver that bobs on the water, the thick haze floated in the air.
A life preserver saves ones life but a cigarette ends all dreams.
Hannah feels a sign of relief when breathing in the impure air as
it pollutes the earth and Hannah’s body. Her body struggles to breath
and she gasps for breath. Hannah’s breast bone is weighed down with
unbearable weight as she tries to use her most prized operation.
The operation of breathing fails and Hannah stumbles. Her face meets
with the dirt and a large thump follows.
Hannah lays in a lethal
slumber hoping that someone may come to her aid. Her body aches as
she lays stretched out on the earth’s grime for three days. From
up above her brothers Pathos and Orthos watch over her with discouragement.
They believed in their sister and always thought that she would think before
acting. They were wrong. Hannah had done bad for not only herself
but others as well. She was killing human kind and polluting their
home. They let their sister suffer but only for her own good.
They expected her to understand that she did wrong and that smoking benefited
no one even if you were hurting deep down inside.
Internally Hannah’s lungs
created a blood bath. The two brothers loved their sister dearly
but in order to do good for their world they had to watch in silence as
their sister shuddered with pain. Hannah’s body was so weak that
it collapsed. The crimson juices hit her body like a dozen stones
and it shattered her frame. The pain rushed through her entire body
until she disappeared and left behind a pool of blood. The scarlet
liquid shifted and lathered as the sun’s heat beat on it. Beginning
to have motion the blood formed an immense hand.
Seeing the world from it’s
finger tips the hand was created by Hannah’s brothers. The hand travels
the mother earth seizing every cigarette in addition to beginning a massacre
of the natural source from which cigarettes are manufactured. By
doing this Pathos and Orthos’ creation had saved the lives of many and
killing the temptation of anyone who would turn to smoking as and answer
to their problems.
If you have comments or suggestions, email me at BeeGeers@yahoo.com
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