Joseph John Matthews

This hairy sasquatch of a man emerges from his cave but once a year to shake the heavens and howl the ghosts from his bones. Some say he is over 10 feet tall and has eyes as black and deep as the midnight ocean. His mellifluous voice will rattle the windows free of their frames, glasses will shatter, hearts will break. You will never be the same again.

You return home. With a low hum in your chest. Like a lonely church organ droning away the endless hours. You climb into bed and sleep a deep and dreamless sleep. When you awake in the morning the hum has grown a little louder.. a little stronger.

The weeks go by and the buzzing does not stop. It continues to fill you like swarming bees. Building golden comb inside your ribcage. Growing louder and louder until it is all consuming.

You are a centuries old cathedral filled with a thousand out of phase pipe organs. The sands of your hourglass shifting and churning within you.

You wake in a fever sweat.

It’s early morning.

The hum has left you, but it has not vanished entirely.

You can still hear it. Just a room away.

You climb out of bed.

As you move, so does the sound.

Always a room away.

Just out of sight.

You have to follow it.

You pull on your shoes.

Step out of your front door,

and follow.

Down the front steps,

out onto the damp mossy path,

and disappear into the mist.