Mondo Bungle

The Witch Doctor: Excerpt from my novel Abstractions

I stood for a moment with my hands in the pockets of my jacket, simply looking forward down the track. Cleary was right, I stand now on one track while the other is down a hill at my side. The train didn't just start back up and continue the same path, obviously, I was standing in front of it. Well, where it would be. It's gone nonetheless and I guess that's all there is to it. I can't even begin to describe how bizarre the days are getting. Okay, I decided to start walking the same way I assume Cleary had. As soon as I turned around, I fell back with a fright, a brooding man like form before me. It stepped forward as I looked up from the ground. Glaring down at me was a grotesque and oddly spiritual portrait of an inhumane face painted onto a large and wide mask. Deep red irises centered within eyes of dark green. A mouth perpetually ajar and intimidating, and intricate tribal designs surrounding the usual components of a face. Below the terrifyingly awesome mask was a simple black robe extending to the ground. A stark contrast to the striking expression housed upon the mask, the robe was just one hue. Behind the figure it extended even further, like an elaborate wedding dress. Its limbs were concealed inside.

"Your fear lies not within me." It spoke and extended a hand. Alright, I thought, grabbing the hand. I was lifted to my feet swiftly and strongly. Never mind what he said, I stood before the figure nervously."You have walked with the devil." it spoke again. I was not nearly as fluent.

"Um, what?"

"You have met with the demon, or you are the demon. I would not be here before you otherwise.

"I'm sorry, I can't say I've met with any demons lately."

"You saw her on the train, did you not?"

"Oh..." The peculiar man (judging by his voice) stepped to the side and made a motion for me to follow.

"Please, come with me to my lair." I looked around the unfamiliar woods, lost as ever. Seems I'm lost somewhere new every day.

"Alright, I'll come to your, um, lair." He led me off the tracks and deeper within the forest. The air was quiet, broken occasionally by an odd bird call like I'd never heard before. The plant life seemed to sparkle like the sun's reflection upon a body of water. Everything had an underlying glitter to it, and exerted a radiant atmosphere of blue-Ish green, almost turquoise but perhaps not blue enough. The two of us didn't speak another word until we reached a modest looking grass hut.

"Welcome." The man said as he placed his hand on the makeshift tree bark door, pushing it open. He held it open as I entered.

"Thanks." I said

"Please, sit down." I looked around the single room.

"There isn't any furniture." My host came inside and promptly sat cross legged on the floor. I think he wanted me to do the same.

"So you cannot sit?" Alright, I thought, and sat down. "The demon has presented itself to you, oh weary one. You must be curious of what I say.

"Fairly." I said.

"I am Keet, the doctor of my tribe, the last that remains."

"Keet." I repeated perplexedly.

"I am a doctor as well as protector. I have been drawn to you now, to be your guardian, for you have been introduced to the demon."

"I still don't understand." I said.

"You have me," Keet paused. "'Her' on the train."

"Cleary?"

"Yes, I do believe that is the name she had chosen."

"And... She's the demon?"

"She," he emphasized. "Is not the demon. The demon is bound within." It was strange watching him speak' these words filtered through an unmoving mask. I don't think there was even any opening to see through, or breathe. Just a solid face of painted wood. "She is on the train every night, it is the gateway to true abandonment. You are lost, alone, and you are prey."

"I am lost." I agreed. "Where are we, actually? The train was on its way to Astoria but broke down here. I don't know how far we went."

"You may not know, but you are the only one who can know."

"Oh." I sighed.

"You are in danger here."

"Here?"

"Here."

"Right here?"

"You are already caught in the demon's hunt. You are weak."

"Is that right" I said.

"Yes, spiritually. You have wandered the infinite for ages without reason. An unsleeping traveler that has gone off course, uncovering alien lands unknown to you. You are powerless within these worlds, at the mercy of everything that surrounds you. And that is where the demon lurks. She has found you, now, drained of all energy and ability, a victim."

"Well I thought she was nice."

"Did you not see it?" Keet asked. "The true form? The demon within, beating an appearance akin to my own?" I'd completely forgot, but he was right. Just before the train stopped, that abominable presence.

"How did you know that?"

"My powers weaken every day, every moment. The demon shone through my veil, just briefly. Soon I will not be able to contain it. Even in the past, at the full extent of my power, I was not strong enough to destroy the demon. But I could still subdue it. It is conjured from within the anxious mind, stalking the exhausted souls lost in the darkness. You have trouble sleeping, I believe?"

"Yeah."

"You've been led here, into the clutches of the demon, by your own self. Every night, horrible things, reflections of your weakened mind, growing worse each passing second. Now you are trapped, she has already found you. Though I can only mask the evil, its target can conquer it. The only one with the ability, is you."

"If all that is true, why did she let me go?"

"It would have been to easy."

"I don't know, I really liked her. Demons? Forgive me for being skeptical."

"Did she speak to you of her sight?" Keet inquired. "The sight of a demon, premonitions of evil, indeterminate architected of darkness."

"She did bring it up. I thought she was just playing around."

"The unfamiliar lands where you find yourself most vulnerable, they are constructed by the demon's will. It is not night that the train travels through, but the primordial void of abstractions." Keet rose to his feet and approached the door through which we entered. He pulled it toward himself. Behind it was no shimmering forest, no trees or plants, no bird calls. Behind it was nothing, no, it was not simply black. That you can see. Behind the door extended an ineffable gap of existence. Behind the door, it was truly empty.

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