Shadow Hunters

Desires

How long?

The pain bled through her skin. The needles and pipes and the nausea by the second, the spinning head and its heaviness. How long?

The world up here was surreal and deluded. It contained no atmosphere no force of existence. The blurry wave and the liquefied visions. Sometimes words are heard- like screams and cries. And the continuous babbles in the background. The fog will not cease and the scent of narcottics. Maybe, it was meant to last forever.

*********
She draped the bed sheet over the lining, clipping two cloth clips on it and lifted the empty bucket. All done. Her eyes winced away from the flicker of an arrogant Sun. She sighed. Ukio bred its own Sun she felt. A sunless day is a rarity. She heard of the mighty storm that hauled onto the city she left and the village's and farmlands further on the edge. Ukio however, just experienced a rash of it. No thunder growled, no lightning dared. But there was the wind-aggressive and entertaining and cool as spring. The wind played along with her hair, making them fly into the air and fall down again. She wondered if the children were out that storm. What were they doing? How many of them were there? She wondered about the cafe she left- Cherry Coffee Cafe. We're the girls doing fine? Did it shut down because of the storm? Who knows? She doesn't call them. Neither do they. It was too early for contact anyway.
Besides, she thought they really didn't care.

**********
"Would you check inmate 53's blood pressure nurse". The doctor wore glasses with his blue eyes looking at inmate 53 and scribbling away. He was the doctor with the permanent frown. No rather it was concentrated inquisition. He watched inmate 53 in his CC tv and made frequent visits to his room. He would be often alone seldom bringing a nurse but when the nurses do arrive, they also bring him doses of varieties.

Some of those doses made him heavy sleeper-sleeping for eternity. Some made him active and euphoric. Most didn't help. He didn't really have any mental sickness. It was impossible to explain it to others. He devised a plan. He will act perfectly fine and get his pass out of this mental assylum.
"How are you doing?" The doctor asked.
"Fine" he answered grumpily.
"Look at me" the doctor commanded. He turned his head to look into his ridiculous glasses. "I know you love your beers but we can't allow you any. This is a hospital after all. You have been a heavy drinker weren't you?"

He grunted in reply. He didn't know how much drinking one needs to be a heavy drinker. "You need some pacifism in your life." The doctor stated. "Your kind of violent with high level of adrenaline in your blood. You can easily dent the peaks by relaxing and meditating."

He stared into the doctors eyes.

"And about your hallucinations...its not quite what it is, is it?" The question lingered. "Tell me... when did you start seeing them?"

**********
He slammed the papers on the table. The other man on his chair looked up from the phone. He put it down and took the papers in hand. "Whats this?" The man inquired. "I asked you for a juicy story did you get one?"

"Yes. I have something from the storm"

The editor sighed his exasperation. He pushed the paper's away with a finger. "Anything other than the storm?"

The twenty three year old journalist took a seat. "Its a true story. Teenagers and drunk youths would love it." He assured. His editor took the papers and read it through.

"Is this a true story?" His eyes surprised. "But anything printed on our magazine is always a scam..." The editor regretted.

"It certainly is." He chimed. "I even mentioned the witness. And here's some photos." He slid some photos in the editors direction. He looked at them. "Its just a white rose."
"Yes" he assured. "A white rose that survived the avalanche-unscathed"