Suddenly Seeking Stringer: My Darling Bride

I had just lost the love of my life, my darling bride, my elixir of spiritus sanctus and crooked proclivities to the fates. All I could do to keep from going insane was to sleep the sleep of no-awakening, as though in a coma I would lay in my vegetative state under the haze of slumber pills, hoping she would come to me in my dreams. And she did. Usually, she was cloaked in white with doves flying above her. But not on this night.

She was spectre-like from a bright orbish light, and sheathed in black. I could her the ruffle ruffle of her petticoats underneath her Lolita frock. Her velvet gloved hands beckoning to me. It wasn't the sirenesque melodies that I was accustomed to, my beloved had such a beautiful singing voice. No, this was more of a screeching cackling with a gurgle of sorts from deep within her throat. And I could smell decay all around me as she came closer still.

Her dance was snake-like, almost as though her body were only of fluid. It reminded me of those tribal fusion dancers we had seen together when we visited the Moravian coasts. She still held a power over me, even though something deep inside me told me to keep my arm's length.

With each rippling of her torso, she slithered closer still. Throwing her head back in reckless abandon, licking her lips, and smiling ever so sinisterly. I always loved the way her neck blushed when I looked upon her with my wanton eyes. And yet, it was not her neck that intrigued me. It was the incessant hissing that belabored my ears. It was then that I noticed the snakes, curling around her reddened locks. Slithering and rippling this way and that, and keeping their vigilant beady eyes upon me.

As paralyzed as I was by my fears, I could not resist her. The only love of my life, the woman who swore she would stay with me forever. She came back for me. As she approached my bed, I knew I would not, no matter how damned I would be, say no to her requests. Her skin, so white and piercing bright still glistened in the night. It took on almost a glow.

The clickety-clack of her stiletto heels upon the floor, grated upon my spine like metal ice picks. She never wore such mules in all the years we were together. She said it pained her arches. Yet here she was, floating so gracefully upon them now as though she wore born in them. Black they were, like the trails of tears that ran down her face. "Look into my eyes, my love," she hissed to me. Everything in my being was screaming for me to look away, but how could I not gaze into the beautiful eyes of my beloved? So slowly, ever so slowly, I raised my eyes to hers and in that moment I knew this was not my darling bride, my love...this was something from the depths of hell that had come for me. It was the Medusa!!! If I didn't look away, I would be doomed, never to see my true love ever again....look away! Look a.....