Butterfly on a Broomstick: Mayhem in March: Twisted by Vanessa Wright

Thursday, 6 March 2014

Mayhem in March: Twisted by Vanessa Wright

Synopsis

A collection of 22 short stories from the bizarre to the truly chilling as the author takes you along for a roller coaster ride, welcoming you to the darker side of humanity. She delves into the shadowy world of obsessions, addictions, death and the loss of innocence and imagination. She takes an

honest, in depth look at things that happen all around us, yet we tend to ignore.

Here we are forced to look at the pain of what it means to be human in all its various facets and to truly explore the face that looks back at us in the mirror. No one is truly good or truly evil; nothing is exclusively beautiful or ugly, we are a sublime mix of the two, walking the tightrope median between the two opposites. The author expects the reader to think about what he has just read and to question the so called normalcy of everyday life. She peels back the layers to reveal the hidden skeletons in the closet. Fear, doubt, depression, loneliness, bulimia are only some of the elements which are open for discussion.

As a society we have shied away from the darker aspects that are certainly part and parcel of who we are. Surely the path to true wisdom and resolution of these issues is in the enlightenment thereof, the dusting off of the cobwebs in the cupboard.

Excerpt:

2. Bright Lines

The pain was so excruciating that the primitive, instinctual mind swept in and strangled her hold on the cold, metal object in her hand; survival being paramount. She endured a few agonizing seconds before euphoria washed her away and out to a sea of peace.

She could feel her mind escaping the confines of her body; the binding chains were thrown off, liberating her imprisoned soul. With a sigh of relief she became a light, downy feather abreast the rising air currents. She bobbed rhythmically to the deep internal breathing of the earth. She held her own breath, afraid of disturbing the feeling of inner peace and warmth that suffused her body. It broke through barriers and walls that were cemented into her soul by time; shattered her strongholds and allayed age old fears of insecurity and worthlessness. In this second, now, she was more than worthy.

Colours appeared brighter as if life had been washed back into them. The bleach had leeched out and leaves on the elm trees outside ran green with the sap of life. The sky seemed to bleed blue into the day. She exhaled slowly, carefully and watched her breath become kaleidoscopic reds, greens, yellows and shiny purples. Tentatively she reached out and touched the brittle clouds of vapour and dissipated them into slithering ribbons of light. Their beautiful reflections made her eyes hurt and her heart contract with sadness and loss.

Her body became weightless, tethered to the earth by a gossamer spider’s thread. Threadbare she had come into this earth and threadbare she would escape its confines. Her thoughts scattered and twisted, undulating lazily around the idea of living and surviving. Perhaps and perhaps not she thought, giggling giddily. Control was hers to keep or to release. How easy it would be to allow her life to slip silently away. Allow it to be carried away on sea breezes and on the white feathers of barn owls.

Her outer shell could then become one with the earth, decomposed and nutrient rich. Her bits and pieces gnawed at, secreted away by chipmunks and field mice; becoming part of a shelter here and the lining of a cosy nest there. Scattered and mindlessly free she would roam the earth, and her life’s circle would close, ending where it had begun…..dust to dust. At this thought a lazy self-indulgent smile curled at the corners of her wide mouth.

Author Bio