Chapter II
Body Shots! No Chaser!
The water tower "welcome" sign stands out in stark contrast to the old Warehouse which stands at the entrance to the harbor and its many meandering waterways that seem more like veins and arteries supplying the life blood to this, the heart of this industrial ecosystem. The murky water attests to the unbalance of our existence in this place.
The mixed smell of petrol, fish and decay permeates to the edges of the harbor boundaries, as the water sluggishly rolls to and fro as each diesel-driven monstrosity thumps by in the night.
No messages in a bottle are ever likely to turn up in any of the successive waves washing upon the artificial rocky "beaches" which make up the edge of the world. But many a dream has been dashed upon these rocks on a daily basis, claiming soul after tattered-and-torn soul in steady consistency, slowly feeding that which makes up the beast that is quietly waiting for the right time before showing its true face.
One of these dreams was Damien's, and his was one of Peace, Sense and Stability in his life, and was always the source of a lot of heartache and pain throughout his life. It was a very sore subject in his Reality.
When Damien was a small boy, he was constantly being moved around. When his Mother told his Father that she was pregnant with Damien, his Father packed his stuff and vanished into the night to return to his hometown. After that, his Mother always seemed to pick the most pathetic, Lowlife, Psychos to date; The Ones who always drank way too much and were of the physically abusive variety, and thus, set the stage for a very chaotic childhood for young Damien...
For every sour relationship his Mother had, it was always invariably followed up with another move to another town and thus Damien would have to start all over again and make more new friends and go to new schools in unfamiliar places. This was uncomfortable enough as it was, except it seemed that Damien was a little bit different than children his own age. At the time, it wasn't really apparent exactly how much different he was, so his Mother sent him to numerous Psychologists to try and find out "Why" Damien was Different. But it was soon found that Damien could outsmart the psychologist’s probing and he was labeled as "self-centered" or "Selfish".
Over time, Damien got used to his Mother's vicious cycle, year in and year out, growing accustomed to seeing her brawl with her boyfriends who tried to hit her. Then the Change came about which changed everything.
When Damien's little sister was born, "The Game" began for Damien in such a traumatic way. Jessie was both beautiful, and truly pure, but her father was different than Damien's, but also worse. Because of her father, Damien's world began to tumble down fast. He brought guns, drugs and cops into the whole conflict already beginning to brew within Damien. He had spent the first ten years of his life learning to detach himself from his surroundings and to not become too attached to anything or anyone. He had become "too comfortable" being the only child. And now, here was his little sister, with a drug-addict for a father and an alcoholic for a mother, and it was up to Damien, eleven years old at the time, to take care of both her and him now.
"Did you see that?" Lawrence said to me.
"See what?" I asked.
"That!" he said as he pointed in the direction of the theatre up the street from the coffee shop we were sitting in front of.
A rather large group of crows had assembled and perched themselves atop the old theatre and were being overly vociferous, loud laughing at our pathetic existence. One particularly obnoxiously loud crow sat atop the conga drum tower behind our apartments.
"They scare off the vultures, my brother," I said to Lawrence, "For they are all my brothers and sisters."
"Whoa, that's pretty deep, Damien"
"Ah, nothing but sheer witticism at its finest, dear Lawrence," I said to him...
It's like going from point A to point B without losing Sight of where you are going...
The crows are the guardians and the bearers of the soul. They are the Guides, Torchbearers, Sentries, but also they are Clowns like I, Damien, am known to be...
Smell the air around you; take in all you see, hear, feel smell, like a tall glass of cool water, but be sure to filter out all of the negativity that comes with it.
Those you associate with tell a lot about you and your soul. You can see the soul behind the eyes, which truly are the windows to the soul. Were your Mom and Dad windows, or were they Walls?
Well, That's funny kuz I can see right through you anyway. Trying to act like something really matters to you, an open book with wide-open spaces. A parasite on the backside of Society's guiltless Dis-Ease. A psychic Vampyre, a leech sucking and sponging off the blood, sweat and tears of everyone else because you are too lazy to do for yourself. Or maybe you just don't care nor are too STOOPID to even learn how to do it yourself.
The stench of decaying knowledge seems to fill the streets as one of many lost souls wanders bye and by you and fills your head with a moment of the Dis-Ease's seratonin overdoses.
Observations of the unknowing are lost amongst the cacophony of useless thoughts and attitudes presented by the useless and space takers of the world. One of the most revolting. I'm better in MYSELF!
"It's a shame you left, before it was all done
To see it all come to a head, Finally to burst open at dawn..."
I come from the All, the Center of Eternity. I keep my eyes on the stars and the Crows, because they give me guidance and advice when all others have failed and abandoned me. They are of the few whom have not turned their back on me in this Society of Lost Souls.
The inner dialogues of Damien had started to grow really deep and philosophical around the time his little sister had been born and all the drama in his life began. One time, the police had been called to his house because of Jessie's father and his drug use, and quite a few cop cars had shown up along with a ghetto bird (helicopter). Unbeknownst to Damien, the house had been surrounded by the police and they all had their guns drawn and they were very ready to use them. Damien had run out of the house because of all the commotion outside. As he ran out the back door, he was not sure what to expect, but he was not prepared at all for what waited outside the gate to his back yard.
All of the officers outside his house had their guns drawn, and Damien practically ran face first into an officers 9mm hand gun, which startled the unexpectant officer for a moment, realizing at almost the last second, that he had almost shot an innocent child by mistake.
Damien’s life continued on like this for the next couple of years. There were frequent appearances by the Police, Attorneys, Judges and Children's Services from time to time to "Check" on him and his little sisters well being. This all was basically Jessie's father's attempt to attack Damien's mother's ability to raise Jessie.
At the time, Damien's mothers drinking had started becoming a real problem and the focus of Jessie's Father's seemingly endless attacks of lies and deceit. At one point, Even Damien had been accused of molesting Jessie, which was totally untrue. He would never have contemplated such a thing, much less let anything happen at all to Jessie. He loved her way too much.
Then came the time when Damien and his friends discovered "Mary Jane" and drinking himself into a stupor... just like Mom! At the same time, his mother's drinking got worse, drinking every night, leaving Damien and Jessie in the car behind the bar, or just leaving them at the park down the street alone, while she got drunk and partied with her friends.
Then the fighting started between Damien and his mother. Especially when it came to her driving them home while she was totally annihilated. One day in particular, she had given Damien a ride to his friends house while she was drunk, and as Damien was waving good-bye, her car was broad-sided as she was making a left turn...
Her life had flashed before Damien's eyes...
"How does it feel to be the New Abortion? Having your soul taken by the Crows before you even realize it's yours, much less that You are even You.
You can’t take my soul away, FUCK YOU!"
