Creatures

There are Creatures out there you know. This is what I tell myself to calm my own fears, to provoke my own wonder. Are they glittering cherubs? Are they foul breathed demons? I can hear their clicking. They wrestle along the floor. They scurry through the foliage. Small voices in my ear whisper, "come and see". 

I am a young Lady Voyager, but I have seen things. Beautiful things, frightening things, puzzling things. Yet it seems no matter what the outcome, I long for the journey to it. I do not wish to see what happens next, rather, I aim to experience it. There may be no end to my adventure, although there was most certainly a beginning. Given the choice I would not want it to end anyway. To live a life without curiosity? How very boring. As the sun rises my body longs for the moon to return, yet the voices are relentless in their calling. They call me to rise, and they will not be silenced. They call me to open doors, to solve riddles, to slay dragons, to save butterflies. Today the voices are calling me yet again, "come and see" they say. There are Creatures out there you know.

At long last I resolve myself to follow the sound of their whispers. I venture along corridors, looking this way and that. I can hear them, where are they hiding? Creatures. As I take step after step I can feel the initial excitement beginning to give way to anxiety. My mind flashes through cobwebbed memories. Decorated tribal walls. Disemboweled provisions. Beings masked with warriors paint. Will I be prepared for this discovery? Should I pause to pray for courage? Couldn't hurt.

The Creatures, they must sense my coming, their receptors must be humming. The whispers crescendo into busy chatter. I round the last bend on the path, and now the picture becomes clearer. Now I can see them! The Eyes! They are every where. They see everything, there is no where I can hide. I want to turn away, I want to pretend I don't see them, I want to run. Now my feet are sticking! I can't run away, I cant avoid the eyes. The Creatures cackle and dance in a frenzied hive. Frantic I scour the ground. There is purple sludge clinging to the boughs, there is milky ooze puddling on the floor. On a rainbow bed the eyes roll back and forth taunting me in their numbers. What is this Beast? What hope do I have to restrain it? I have trained with seasoned voyagers, and I have read the ancient scrolls but now I face a thing I do not recognize. Grasping for my courage I give a warriors cry!

"What is going on here??"

"Hi Mommy. We made a project."