Micah Sherwood

Always, forever Micah Sherwood

Micah lay alert in darkness, assaulted by whispers cascading around him - murmurs audible but not comprehensible, composed of many voices: deep bassoons and treble toned vocals combined into a frenzied dirge. They did not come from a specific place but from everywhere. Sometimes they were nearby, close enough that he could feel a cool breath touch his ear; a moment later they came from the closet and then from the ceiling.

Was it a dialogue, a discussion amongst the unseen or just irrational syllables strung randomly together? He closed his eyes, but the mutterings would not stop. He pushed himself onto his elbows, straining to see anything, but there was nothing except the enfolding blackness. He hid himself beneath a sheet, finally sleeping until jerked awake. The closet light glowed brightly, flicked on by unseen hands. A mumble, a single undecipherable voice echoed through the room. He tossed the sheet aside and sat-up looking toward the foot of the bed at a scene that made his heart jump and boogie. Three shadows stood unmoving; black shades watching him, considering him. Their bodies absorbed the closet light, outlines of men - enigmatic and ephemeral. They possessed no lips, no eyes; a spectral nothingness existed where their faces should have been. One was larger than the others, and only he spoke; his words were clear and distinct, the language throaty and unfamiliar.

The monologue became everything. The sentences flowed rapidly from the presence, from a shadowland unknown. The boy knew that the words and he were one and the same - an experience of palpable dread. He was immobile as the apparitions studied him, appraised him, while he pulled the sheet back over his head where he remained, frozen in anticipation of some arcane judgement. The ghostly oration persisted, and Micah continued to hear the twisted verses from beneath the bedclothes. Time seemed to halt as the speech droned on-and-on through the murk without pause until morning light broke the night and the whispers stilled.