Excerpt from 'Akavika' by Stardust

"We approach the roots of human existence.
The flames grow higher, lighting the moon above. The bongos reawaken universal codes. A frenzied erotic trance state. All around the dark wood watches in wonder. What creatures be they that defy reason and make love to the jungle? What be their fate those who wrestle demons and gods? And fear….it creeps the fringes, its ugly eye peering from the shadows upon the puppets and flame. It will have no meal tonight. Death is but a dream of some other world. For if one truly lives, one never really dies. Moments become The Eternal. And the hand of magic rises and falls without purpose or promise.
The hypnotic drum beats end. We collapse in a heavy sweat. There is nothing left inside. The purge is complete. Above, the stars are no closer. The world no more sane. But the personal evils which paralyze our lives are disintegrating into millions of particles and drifting away on a cosmic current. Akavika and I are safe, our lives more malleable, our dreams intact. Time begins once more, and will continue till we again dance with the fire .....


.....Stranded on a desert island with an empty bottle, a piece of paper, and a pencil. What would you do…..a message?…..what would it say? Or would you save the items for more clever plans?
And this.
Let’s say one day you walk the beach of this island and discover a bottle washed ashore. Carefully you extract torn shreds of paper from within, saving the bottle. The message is there…in puzzle form. You must piece together the hundreds of shreds. So you begin. Very time consuming. Weeks lead to months, years. And you wonder if the message will ever come together making sense. Meanwhile, the island has become your home. Only curiosity of other lands.
The island is Earth. The message is Life. But who or what made the bottle?"
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My intention was a very short story. "Akavika" evolved into a much longer project, involving a character in which I became emotionally involved.

UNDERCURRENTS

Date: 7-14-06
Time: 1:36 a.m.
Place: Blacktop County Rd. 9
.....A loud rumbling noise wakes me. I hurry outside into the darkness. There is a strong smell of hot asphalt & tar in the cool night air. Cautiously I walk down the gravel driveway towards the blacktop road. There, standing with a pair of dogs is this woman (photo). She asks if I have lost my dogs, saying she found them nearby. I tell the woman the dogs are not mine.
It is difficult to breath. The tar road is hissing and popping, acrid vapors steaming from the melting tar. The air is hot on my face. The road appears to slither in pain.
This strange woman suggests I take a photo of the dogs in order to show neighbors who may have lost them. I agree, retrieving my camera from the house. Darkness makes it difficult, but manage to get a shot. The heat and smell is overpowering, and I must back away, up the driveway.
She thanks me, turns and begins walking barefoot down the sizzling twisted road. It was then I asked her where she lives, in the case the dogs' owner is found. No answer from the darkness.
Then she appears once again, slowly walking from the darkness to within several feet from where I stand on the gravel. Almost in a whisper, barely audible above the hissing hot tar below, she says, " I live in you", and she melts into the darkness once more.
I sleep very little that night.

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