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its rooms were unexceptional for a structure of its type and
circumstances, except for the view I managed to acquire.
The pleasing vantage allowed my vision to fall invisible and
sharp upon any who might test my silence, weak and slack
though its webs might have been.
I gathered myself into the thickest coils of both spider
and cobweb, allowing gravity to settle me into the most
natural resting position. Due to the possibility of falling into
yet another Red Dream, I chose only to relax, rather than to
sleep. The silence came to me like a twilit breeze, soft and
glowing, passing through my body like a cleansing breath,
gently whispering away the clogs of time and trouble,
serenading my soul with the invisible songs of forgotten
singers. But silence can be a tricky beast, as it is no respecter
of time and space, nor does it distinguish between the real
and unreal. Thus can it deliver you into the strangest hands,
with whims as rootless as tumbleweeds.
From somewhere within the lower floors of the house,
I heard a voice. It was a voice that once ruled over me and
all my world. As familiar as it was, I did not know the name
of the speaker. But the speaker knew mine. “Vincent, you
impish little wretch! Come to me this very instant! Come
to me now or I’ll forget the fine plans I’ve laid for you, and
you can join the rest of them to fester in undying colors and
unflinching smiles. Is that what you want, boy? Come to
your father right now!”
I found myself standing without so much as a stitch of
hesitation. My family loomed before me, barring the way
downstairs, but I marched forward, heedless of their burning
stares and lethal smiles. I would have answers, even if
they would destroy me. For once, I invoked the solidity
of the Deadworld and banished the specters before me to
the darkness whence they came. It pained me to treat my
sisters with such coarseness, but I trusted they would forgive
their big brother this one indiscretion. My father, however,

218 | Mark Anzalone