The corridor, again? How many times must I walk this dreadful path? Always the same. An old dark hallway. Rotten walls and floorboards. Walking slowly step-by-step. So dark only lit periodically by flashes of lightning through old broken windows that line one wall. Rotted curtains, moth-eaten, flap in the breeze although no wind blows from outside. Outside? There is no outside, this is all there is. The only sound, an old nursery rhyme, but the words are changed “Daddy” instead of “Mommy
Hush little baby don’t say a word.
Now something new is added.
Daddy’s gonna buy you a mocking-bird.
The walls, horrific and rotten, begin bleeding.
If that mocking-bird don’t sing.
The blood runs down from the ceiling and walls pooling in the floor
Daddy’s gonna buy you a diamond ring
Another flash of lightning through the broken windows shows the flesh, rotted flesh that used to be curtains on the windows
If that diamond ring turns brass.
Blowing without wind.
Daddy’s gonna buy you a looking glass.
Ripples begin forming in the pool of blood and a form begins rising from it. A boy, covered in blood.
If that looking glass gets broke.
His eyes open, filed with pain “Daddy?” The only spoken word. I am awake, sitting up in bed screaming silently, the last line fading from my ears.
Daddy’s gonna buy you a billy goat.
I sit and sob into my knees, knowing that when I close my eyes, the corridor will be there again.
