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Chapter 5: The City of Freaks and the Ax-Handed Boy
     There are one or two troubles with dreams, ladies and gentlemen: dreams are beautiful but could become the downfall of some. Dreams tell the dreamer of fantasies that can corrupt ones imagination what with the absurdities that can swim through them yet at the same time could cure insanity. They told what was real, what was unreal, what was safe, what was dangerous – warnings. The possibility of being blinded by the fantasy of a dream is grand but there is a humongous percentage doubting that as well; a win-lose subject, I should say. But, as some times happen, the logic of many could become blindfolded by their denial that what they stumbled across was just totally impossible.
Let us take a haunted dimension as our example.
    "This is not real… this is not real…" Sophia repeated to herself unwillingly as she remained still right at the archway to the city. Body frozen, she merely tilted her head up again at the entrance; it's beautiful silver curls bent and settled like solid mercury to form the name: DECEMBERSVILLE
     The foggy city itself, overrun by black buildings and giant spires, nestled down a snowy slope from the archway. Then approached the thunder and Sophia made out the night sky – grainy, gray, ready to kill the city below with seeming hail or strong rainwater; it was unfitting due to light snowfall. If only the sky did not feel like weeping then the town would look gorgeous (or try to look gorgeous for the black buildings were not gloomy but grimly powerful in their own respect). Smog and cinder was unable to help the atmosphere either.
But one thing was for certain: the child could not go back. Don't go back, an inner voice told her. Back to those god awful monsters? Have you lost your marbles? Just go down there. She did not move. Go down there. Ask for a phone. Call your grandparents, they could pick you up. Just don't go back. She gulped. Would you get moving already?
     It seemed to take forever for Sophia to move an inch, but she shivered beneath the gliding ice flakes and turned all the way around, heart pounding massively in her tiny chest. The woods behind were laughing at the kid's cowardice, darkening itself until it was completely black and obscure only to intensify the girl's nerves. Daring not to take one step towards them, Sophia gingerly rasped at the forest behind her "Slawamir?"
Obviously, there was no response.
     Taking another breath, she called into the woods only a tinge louder "Slawamir." A bitter wind slid right past her and so the girl called again with a lilt and a wheeze for she felt like crying, "S-Slawamir… Slawa—" The frosty air gave her a strong nudge, telling her to shut up and walk away. It took so long for her gaze to slip from the forest and back to the city beyond the archway. Giving in to her shaking, she whimpered inaudibly "Sorry, Slawamir."
    A tiny step was taken beyond the arch and she slowly looked back one last time to the dark forest, waving her hand at it, "Goodbye." Then she jogged and tripped down the snowy hill, insides hot with fear and outside cold with rime.
The woods behind the archway faded away into nothing.

     Decembersville was a melancholy town both inside and out where the citizens would smile with a lack of truth at the sad little world around them – lied to, corrupted by the black and gray. But let us not be given its mere generalization; let us look through the wide eyes of Sophia as she descended the entrance hill and took her first steps aboard the cobblestone ground of a district she has read known as, in capital starts, the Neighborhood.
     The fog cleared and the Neighborhood of Decembersville was finally seen through un-blinded eyes. A tremendous town of gray brick stretched before the girl and curved into many slanted lanes, most of which led into a series of labyrinthine dark alleys; believe me now when I say that Decembersville owned too many alleyways to count. Neighborhood buildings lined up along icy sidewalks as townhouses, each partnering up with the other to create many strings of crookedly-done inns as well as homes and – from the looks of the hole-in-the-wall stations – even restaurants. So many black-bricked homes were parked along those slippery lanes, rooted in rime, encrusted with such cold oddity but zany gorgeousness. Having gone to Europe thrice has served Sophia's sight translations well for she could see so many details reminiscent of Italian town-life what with the layers of alley stairways along with the bridges that connected some balconies together. The townhouses themselves gave her a short visit to a memory of London, only they were unbalanced and crooked; some leaned forward while others towered and stretched back, but one thing in similarity was the pitch black color they were all painted in, giving the Neighborhood the imitated inspiration of shadow puppetry, at least for that night.
     Carriages without drivers slid down the snowy roads. A dark trolley stopped by a group of residents that stood decently near a lamppost, scooping them up and carrying them farther off. As for the lampposts, by the way, they did not exert any decent light at all.
     There was no light in the city and if there was then there was barely any. Sophia slowly passed by a gas lantern and took notice of its dying light; how rusted the flame was as if there was no point in having it lit in the first place. They were all like that, really. The gray skies, the gentle snow, the gnarled dark buildings, and the deathly lanterns made the town so beautiful but so, so, so, so, so horrifically sad at the same time; Sophia wanted to weep for it but her wonder and fear took the better of her. It weighed.
     And then there was that smell – that nostalgic, unforgettable smell of incense and holly. The incense was made of pure vanilla and the holly was chock full of fresh pine. Such was the smell of the eccentric town of snow and rain; the smell of Decembersville. Oh, how she dared herself to just fall backwards into the cool snow and sleep beneath the aroma's spell.
      "Go to a restaurant and ask for a phone," said her noodle while the girl herself was delving in the seductive scent of the place. The smell disappeared in an instant, much to her sadness, and then reality (or what she prayed was not reality) hit her again. "Do not be scared. Just keep on moving forward." She took her steps deeper into the Neighborhood. That's it. Look. A café. No, two cafes. Cruise by and simply ask for a phone and things will go back to just being dreadful."
     There were no doors to the cafes and the one closest to Sophia happened to be up a series of small stairs carved naturally from rock, settled on an inclosing wall of a nearby alley. There were so many people but the citizens mattered not to Sophia nor were they given the privilege of being noticed by her. Avoiding eye contact seemed vital to the child but in truth she was just being paranoid.
She did not even notice two boys – about her age – literally slither up the opposite wall of the alley.
     At the top of the stairs was where an open café was nestled – wooden, over-coated in ice and bluish moss. It was dangerous to be up so high for there were no railings or warnings in case the girl teetered off the edge of the upper level. She looked down from the lofty stage of other homes and gulped in anxiety at the plane on which she stood. "What are you doing? Stop sightseeing and get moving!" shouted her judgment.
      The awning of the café was huge enough to shelter a full dining set and it was then that the child noticed the awning was made of the severed canopies of umbrellas; some black, some white. There was not even a name for the café but from the smell of it all she could already tell what was brewing: chocolate, roasted fruit, chowder, something sweet like honey, bread, cinnamon syrup, creamed coffee milk. It was to drool over, really.
     Thunder sounded as Sophia hastily hopped up the steps and into the sweet-smelling restaurant, surprised at how quiet and gloomy the atmosphere was. She could already tell by the silhouettes of how many people there were but everything in that place was just dreary; even the hanging lanterns were blotted with cobwebs. The inside was gray, formed by moldy woodwork as well as dust. Teeth chattering, the girl walked deeper into the café and bothered to look up and take a special notice of what looked to be a young man leaving the other side of a bar table. Walking up to him with twiddling fingers, she wheezed "Excuse me?" The man didn't seem to hear her as he adjusted his gloves, so she coughed and made herself clearer "Excuse me, mister?"
     The young man flinched and turned to her with wide eyes dipped in curios. He slid towards her on his skates and stopped to grumble "What?" A cat came up over his shoulder and settled there.
     Trying hard not to stare at his multi-colored hair, Sophia whimpered "Is there a phone I could use here, please?"
     "Sorry, I don't work here. Try the phone booths, pix, because I don't think this pitiful shindig has a one-piece phone to spare. Now mind making space? Yeah, thanks." And the man skated past her with his cat giving her a goodbye meow. So much for his help.
    Sophia turned "But where are the phone boo—" and the man was already gone.
     Another batch of thunder rolled at the same time Sophia stepped outside, looking around for the man in the skates again; pointless, for he seemed to have vanished into thin air without leaving a trace of skid marks in the snow. Was it possible to skate in the snow anyway?
     A strong gust of icy air penetrated the girl's mind, nearly blowing her away followed by a huge shard of lightning to cover the gray sky; the rain's wife. Scared witless, she skipped over to the upper stairway in hopes of catching a phone booth down below on main street when she could not help but catch an eye at two residents, draped in black with their heads bowed and their hands clasped tightly together like holding lilies, standing on the edge of the high-ground. So much caution was taken when approaching them until it hit the child that they were deep in concentration. Stood around anyway, she did; for a while too.
     "Excuse me," she interrupted both gently and rudely. "What are you doing?"
     Without a hint of annoyance yet lacking enthusiasm, one of them turned to her and said bluntly "Praying to mother. You are welcome to join us," then went back to what they were doing.
     Sophia's head tilted and she took a gander at what they were praying to exactly; it was funny because they were praying to the air. Either that or they were praying to the clock tower that stood far, far off; it was nearly impossible to see through all the fog and the tops of other high buildings.
It seemed that way at first but no, that would have just been stupid.

BRONK-BROOOOOOONK!
"Aaah!" Sophia squealed, jumping out of the trolley's way in just the nick of time. Heart pounding like mad, she could see figures waving at her from the inside of the trolley calling out incomprehensibly, so she assumed that they were telling her to watch it and stop playing in the street or something.
     After that new trauma to add to her list, Sophia scrambled off the sidewalk and watched the trolley leave, wanting to curse at it for almost flattening her like a dry pancake.
     "Hey, are you alright?" asked a tiny voice from right behind her. The girl flinched and turned to see another child about her age bringing a hand away from her shoulder in concern. She looked sane, thank god, but something was just peculiar about her that Sophia was unable to put her finger on. "Mommy wanted me to ask if you are okay because, like, you fell or something."
     "Me? Fall?" It took long for her to find out what she meant, so Sophia embarrassingly said "O-oh no, I am okay. I'm just a little bit— uh, hey! Uh, where are the phone…" and she just stared agog.
There was a little something on the girl's face that Sophia finally took full notice of and it was something that kept her eyes stapled open, because apparently the stranger kiddo had an extra one to spare right inside her forehead, leering at our little hero through a spiraling pink pupil that did not seem to want to get off her.
    Confused, the girl blinked all three of her eyes, "The phones? Oh, the phones are not working right now, dontcha know." She blinked again then smiled. "But…" and with a loud CRIK!, her head suddenly tilted a full ninety degrees to the side like her neck snapped and at once all three eyes brimmed gold, a glowing arrow pointing left jittering around where the pupils once were. "In THAT there lane is reception."
      Sophia went deaf at the sound of the snap and her human eyes bulged, mouth dropping and entire body jumping back, nearly getting her to slip and the snow to engulf her in a wave of sheer surprise. Freezing, her arms linked and she backed away slightly, staring at the girl before her. Was that hellish thing even a girl at all?
Whatever it was, it's head sprung back up into place and the thing looked just as perplexed.
    "Huh? Something the matter?" she asked, taking a step forward and pausing abruptly as Sophia took three steps back, mouth a perfect circle but emitting no sound.
Then she let out a sharp shriek hearing something horribly familiar.
"SKRAAAAAW!"
     Sophia held her ears and shot a glance up as lightning roared, but she was not the only one for she heard gasps echoing all around along the streets and sidewalks, feeling folks poke their heads out gaps and windows to stare up with her. And there the damn monster was spotted, still as tremendous, still as dark, and just as menacing as it was back in the woods, the sweet jingling of bells heard and all.
     The giant black crow… no… it was indeed the pitch black form of a grand vulture, flew over the rooftops and upper layers of the city, screeching evilly along with a band of other dark birds gliding behind and around it, nearly blending in with the black body like they were all made up of the same element – what seemed to look like a mixture of smog and pure ink. It's wings spread apart mechanically and the talons were barely seen due to the smorgasbord of minions following it. It roared once more, sailing over the city.
    Citizens gasped and stared, many of them cross-eyed in so much confusion and instant gossip and clamor taking place in the area; chitter-chatter that Sophia could not hear over the pounding in her ears and her inner cries of help, getting her little frame to sharply turn and run away wildly, the monster not noticing her obviously but her fears tricking her into thinking paranoid thoughts. The monster lived there.
     She sprinted past many people and dug her way through groups and masses, hearing the incomplete comments of passerby's: "What's he doing out of—," "— here in the city!?" "—bastard and his family—" "—do they want now?"
A dizzying spell of words corrupted her little mind and our little hero simply blinked, which led to an unlikable run into another citizen of that awkward city.
    A puny "oof!" escaped her as she rebounded back, the flashlight nearly bouncing out the pocket of her jacket. Scared blue eyes glanced up at whom she ran into and it turned out to be the back of someone wearing a nice top hat of silver, someone who felt her presence and turned. "Oh my," said the deep stranger, looking down at her. "Watch the ice now, little one."
    "OH MY GOD!" the girl squealed instantly, scrambling away and running off as the stranger with the dotted eyes and giant angler teeth watched her skedaddle, confused out of his wit followed by checking to see if there was something in his teeth using his two long mirror tongues.
   What was that!? she kept asking herself. What was that thing!? She ran and ran through the crowds unevenly, everyone looking like black, blue, and gray blurs at the anxious speed she was taking off. Then something else came up! Landing right in front of her face, too!
    "Careful now!" yelled the happy-go-lucky boy in front of her, far-apart slit pupils piercing into her and the scales along his face and frog legs glimmering emeralds. "Wanna get run over 'er somethin'?"
All Sophia did was scream and fall back, scrambling once more until the snow was ripped to shreds and started to speed again, only to meet another deranged creature looming over her curiously. Oh no, no, no! Her mind was yelling at her wildly as her legs did all the work for her, chucking her into spins away from people and through crowds, trying not to make much contact but failing much at it. This is a dream! No, it was not. The world was spinning like tops in circles, the air freezing cold, the masses suffocating. Her legs were burning with every sprint and the scene stretched before her into a snowy street with an alley far off, heading straight for it at missile speed. It felt surreal, how fast she got there, but the second she made it before the alley she dove right through the gap and tore through the snow on her hands and knees, grabbing for the brick wall then pulling herself into a crouching position, panting exhaustedly with her eyes wet.
The world was now quiet, at least in her mind. Streets filled with gossip and general clamor, but at a natural level like nothing has happened; yet all Sophia could do was sit alone and stare at the air, not daring to blink for something else to jump in front of her. She just sat there, crouched, confused, puzzled, terrified. A long moment of silence passed. Purely quiet, nothing but muffled voices out in the main boulevard heard. No, it was not a dream.
     Like her neck was jammed with gears, Sophia's head creaked and shook, turning to the side and glancing out into the streets. There she saw: claws, limbs of unnatural proportions, skins of pasty white, skins of impossible opaque tints, skins translucent, eyes that glowed and others that were not there, people on the walls laughing to jokes being told by others merely sitting on sidewalks, tails, slithers, fangs, some that flew, others of smoke, the camouflaged, the shadows that walked alone, the abnormalities of such a tremendous beautiful city. Little human eyes scanned every detail – from scale to cell – of the deranged folk, gazing up slowly at the Gothic architecture and Italian features of their world, above to witness their vile skies of rain and snow, beyond that at the fog then that tall clock tower glowing in the far distance.
Decembersville: the city of monsters.
    "Oh no…" she whimpered, grabbing both sides of her head. "Oh no, oh no, no, no, no, no, no, not this, oh no…" A few gulps of nausea took place and she exhaled harshly, nerves spinning out of control as they were trapped behind her meat, trying to break free. Fear held her in a chokehold along with such awful thoughts corroded in either violence or absurdities, most likely both.
      Don't panic. Hell no, she was definitely panicking. Don't panic, nothing ate you yet. Just go out there and ask for the phone. She just crouched there, scared to the bone. Just go and ask someone else for a phone. That's it.
     After a while that felt like hours, Sophia shakily got up and waited for a prayer. No, it didn't seem like God was fond of her at that moment, so instead she went with her gut and took a few shaky steps out into the world of the freaks to ask for a phone.
    Everything seemed pretty darn peachy as far as being stuck alone in a world of demons could have been. The little dear stumbled around the streets, pausing at lanterns, twiddling her fingers and blowing warmth into her hands, eyes glued to the ground. A shiver went up her spine with every bump she made against someone, knowing she had to bring her head up at some point to ask a simple question. It was like waiting for the opportune moment.
    After swerves and pauses, she came to a mere stop before a strange someone. "Excuse me…" she mumbled, a cough in her throat making her words voiceless. "Excuse me…" she whispered again, quieter. Of course she received no answer as the stranger had it's back turned. Trembling, one of her hands tugged on the citizen's cape, getting it to turn around patiently. "Excuse…" whimpered the child again, eyes still facing the ground.
     "Oh," a kind man's voice perked down at her. "Fancy nighty-o. Lost, little girl?"
     "Excuse me…" Then Sophia brought her head up slowly at the stranger, "is there a phone I can use?"
The civilian turned his body completely to face down at her and she noticed that his head was one of a teddy bear toy, button eyes and all. She flinched a little at the weirdness and her heart pounded hard. She wanted to cry, but she couldn't dare bring herself to.
     "Well, the phone booths are not that happy today because of all the prank calls. Especially with the Reception Depression and all, you know?" he said. Sophia looked to see but there was not a booth in sight, so she ignored the strangeness of his words. "But the closest one, I suppose, would be in the boiler room, sweetie."
      "W-w-where?" Sophia tried not to sound frightened of the situation she was in.
      "Follow me, my dear. I'll take you there," he kindly said, reaching his hand to her. She saw them up close and she could see that his fingernails were actually tiny eye so she couldn't bring herself to grab it. Instead, facing down again, she shakily followed.

     They just took a right down the freezing lane and they were already at the foot of a huge tunnel in the wall. It was shaped like an axed pendulum.
      "Here's the boiler room. Just go downstairs and ask Zero for his telephone."
Sophia stared at the entrance; her fear was at seizure level.
     "Zero?" she asked when she turned, but the teddy bear-headed weirdo was gone. She felt the presence of the other freaks walking past her minding their own businesses. She just wanted a phone to call her grandparents and get her out. Could they?
          After taking in a gulp, Sophia walked down the tunnel. She ended up in a large, warm room full of energy. Lots of human-looking people in miner-like outfits were running to and fro from the furnace to the pile of wood and back, wheeling large carts of coal and logs. Forget asking them. She better find Zero. He must be the leader or something.
     "Uh…e-excuse me," she said softly. It was obvious no one could hear her with all the bustle going on. She gave up already. That's some weak willing, right there.
      CHING!!
          "D'ow! Aw, man…not again," whimpered a voice coming from beyond a tremendous hill of chopped logs. Sophia turned to her side to face the little hill in curiosity. "Um…uh…c-could somebody help me out…again, please? Someone? Anyone? No? Um…a-anyone?"
The voice was effeminate but belonged to a male. He sounded embarrassed.
Sophia ran over to the log pile and carefully climbed up them. She called, "Hello?"
      "Oh! Uh, hello?" the voice called.
      "Is everything okay, mister?" Sophia asked.
She could hear the rattling of wood where she was going.
      "Oh, yeah! Everything's fine! I-I'm just…a little…" she heard him sigh in defeat. "I'm stuck."
The little girl made it to the top and looked down on the other side of the collection of wood. She saw a young boy there with his hands buried beneath piles of logs.
            His skin was white as icy paint and his hair was kind of like a bunch of straight black strings stuck beneath a strange-looking hat that reminded her of an aviator's helmet, though made entirely of dark leather. He was wearing a short-sleeved, one piece outfit in gray and black stripes. It looked like a dress but his legs spread, they turned out to be long shorts. He had eyes that expressed both energy and peace. The boy looked to be kind and by the way he spoke, a bit shy and almost childish, even though he seemed around his late teenage years.
Their eyes met and the boy smiled nicely, "Hey there!"
     Sophia couldn't help but smile back as if her worries disappeared, "H-hi. Uh…are you hurt or anything?"
     "Nononono. I-I'm not hurt at all! It's just…this sort of stuff happens to me VERY frequently. Heheh. It's really embarrassing."
She liked his honesty and slid down the hard hill to where he stood with half of his arms buried into the pile.
     "I'll help."
     "Oh, thank you! Okayokay," he began to say a few instructions. "Just…uh…remove a few pieces off the top there. Take your time! Be careful! Don't want all this stuff to cave in on us both, you know."
Sophia giggled a little and removed a few logs off the top of his arms then some off the side extra. She was feeling helpful during her own time of need.
      "Okay! Thank you very much! S-sorry for…"
      "It's alright. Can you get out?"
     "Yup. I just have to wiggle around a little," he gave her a gentle yet cautious look. "Y-you might want to move back a…a little."
Sophia obeyed and moved back. The boy wiggled his arms and in no time at all he flung them out of the pile freely. He almost fell back against the gravity and the logs went flying. "Be careful!"
Sophia covered her head, but not a splinter of wood touched her. She could hear the boy right before her, "Aw, thank you very much! I-I really appreciated it. It's just that, you know, if you move too much at the same time then the whole thing crumbles then--"
     "It's alright. I just hope you're not hur--"
Sophia stopped in mid-sentence as she looked before her eyes.
Her heart began to clobber again. Then her eyes were widening in shock again. Her quivering began again. Her hands began to sweat again. Her mind began to race again.
The boy didn't have hands. No. Hands.
     "Hey! Uh…a-are you okay, little girl? Are you alright?" he asked nicely in curiosity.
     "Ax…es…" she stuttered softly.
The boy's hands were large, metal, sharp axes. Scythes maybe.
His eyes lurched and he asked more softly, "What? What happened?"
     "AX HANDS!" were the only words she could emit.
The boy's eyes then looked down at his hands, but when he looked up Sophia was already gone. He could here her scrambling up the tin stairs back into the city.
     He stood there in the pile of logs, staring at his hands. He could see his reflection in them…then his heart broke.
Zero sorrowfully turned around and began to chop wood again.

The moon was a few quarters full. The silhouette of a young man atop the chimney of a house stood before it.
"AWOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOH…" he howled.
He paused. Silence.
"AWOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOH…" he echoed into the night.

The night was long and the circus finally closed. Not a sound came from its demise. Before there used to be so much sound. Sounds of laughter and party and joy…but not anymore. It simply faded into the darkness of the city.


The large window overlooking Decembersville was crooked with ice. The soft sound of an organ was all to be heard. A tall figure stalked to the window and looked up at the moon. The faint blue glow reflected on half his presence. Tears fell down his face and his fangs clenched, "My beloved….."
Strings of glowing red smoke slowly slid down his back then dispersed.

Sophia ran and ran and ran. She ran past everybody. Everybody. Her heart was pounding furiously and her fear was multiplying. She ran into the nearest alleyway. The girl whimpered and panted as she fell against the pebbled wall. Then she brought her knees in and did what she denied doing ever since she got there.
She cried her heart out.

Description
Chapter 5: The City of Freaks and the Ax-Handed Boy
     There are one or two troubles with dreams, ladies and gentlemen: dreams are beautiful but could become the downfall of some. Dreams tell the dreamer of fantasies that can corrupt ones imagination what with the absurdities that can swim through them yet at the same time could cure insanity. They told what was real, what was unreal, what was safe, what was dangerous – warnings. The possibility of being blinded by the fantasy of a dream is grand but there is a humongous percentage doubting that as well; a win-lose subject, I should say. But, as some times happen, the logic of many could become blindfolded by their denial that what they stumbled across was just totally impossible.
Let us take a haunted dimension as our example.
    "This is not real… this is not real…" Sophia repeated to herself unwillingly as she remained still right at the archway to the city. Body frozen, she merely tilted her head up again at the entrance; it's beautiful silver curls bent and settled like solid mercury to form the name: DECEMBERSVILLE
     The foggy city itself, overrun by black buildings and giant spires, nestled down a snowy slope from the archway. Then approached the thunder and Sophia made out the night sky – grainy, gray, ready to kill the city below with seeming hail or strong rainwater; it was unfitting due to light snowfall. If only the sky did not feel like weeping then the town would look gorgeous (or try to look gorgeous for the black buildings were not gloomy but grimly powerful in their own respect). Smog and cinder was unable to help the atmosphere either.
But one thing was for certain: the child could not go back. Don't go back, an inner voice told her. Back to those god awful monsters? Have you lost your marbles? Just go down there. She did not move. Go down there. Ask for a phone. Call your grandparents, they could pick you up. Just don't go back. She gulped. Would you get moving already?
     It seemed to take forever for Sophia to move an inch, but she shivered beneath the gliding ice flakes and turned all the way around, heart pounding massively in her tiny chest. The woods behind were laughing at the kid's cowardice, darkening itself until it was completely black and obscure only to intensify the girl's nerves. Daring not to take one step towards them, Sophia gingerly rasped at the forest behind her "Slawamir?"
Obviously, there was no response.
     Taking another breath, she called into the woods only a tinge louder "Slawamir." A bitter wind slid right past her and so the girl called again with a lilt and a wheeze for she felt like crying, "S-Slawamir… Slawa—" The frosty air gave her a strong nudge, telling her to shut up and walk away. It took so long for her gaze to slip from the forest and back to the city beyond the archway. Giving in to her shaking, she whimpered inaudibly "Sorry, Slawamir."
    A tiny step was taken beyond the arch and she slowly looked back one last time to the dark forest, waving her hand at it, "Goodbye." Then she jogged and tripped down the snowy hill, insides hot with fear and outside cold with rime.
The woods behind the archway faded away into nothing.

     Decembersville was a melancholy town both inside and out where the citizens would smile with a lack of truth at the sad little world around them – lied to, corrupted by the black and gray. But let us not be given its mere generalization; let us look through the wide eyes of Sophia as she descended the entrance hill and took her first steps aboard the cobblestone ground of a district she has read known as, in capital starts, the Neighborhood.
     The fog cleared and the Neighborhood of Decembersville was finally seen through un-blinded eyes. A tremendous town of gray brick stretched before the girl and curved into many slanted lanes, most of which led into a series of labyrinthine dark alleys; believe me now when I say that Decembersville owned too many alleyways to count. Neighborhood buildings lined up along icy sidewalks as townhouses, each partnering up with the other to create many strings of crookedly-done inns as well as homes and – from the looks of the hole-in-the-wall stations – even restaurants. So many black-bricked homes were parked along those slippery lanes, rooted in rime, encrusted with such cold oddity but zany gorgeousness. Having gone to Europe thrice has served Sophia's sight translations well for she could see so many details reminiscent of Italian town-life what with the layers of alley stairways along with the bridges that connected some balconies together. The townhouses themselves gave her a short visit to a memory of London, only they were unbalanced and crooked; some leaned forward while others towered and stretched back, but one thing in similarity was the pitch black color they were all painted in, giving the Neighborhood the imitated inspiration of shadow puppetry, at least for that night.
     Carriages without drivers slid down the snowy roads. A dark trolley stopped by a group of residents that stood decently near a lamppost, scooping them up and carrying them farther off. As for the lampposts, by the way, they did not exert any decent light at all.
     There was no light in the city and if there was then there was barely any. Sophia slowly passed by a gas lantern and took notice of its dying light; how rusted the flame was as if there was no point in having it lit in the first place. They were all like that, really. The gray skies, the gentle snow, the gnarled dark buildings, and the deathly lanterns made the town so beautiful but so, so, so, so, so horrifically sad at the same time; Sophia wanted to weep for it but her wonder and fear took the better of her. It weighed.
     And then there was that smell – that nostalgic, unforgettable smell of incense and holly. The incense was made of pure vanilla and the holly was chock full of fresh pine. Such was the smell of the eccentric town of snow and rain; the smell of Decembersville. Oh, how she dared herself to just fall backwards into the cool snow and sleep beneath the aroma's spell.
      "Go to a restaurant and ask for a phone," said her noodle while the girl herself was delving in the seductive scent of the place. The smell disappeared in an instant, much to her sadness, and then reality (or what she prayed was not reality) hit her again. "Do not be scared. Just keep on moving forward." She took her steps deeper into the Neighborhood. That's it. Look. A café. No, two cafes. Cruise by and simply ask for a phone and things will go back to just being dreadful."
     There were no doors to the cafes and the one closest to Sophia happened to be up a series of small stairs carved naturally from rock, settled on an inclosing wall of a nearby alley. There were so many people but the citizens mattered not to Sophia nor were they given the privilege of being noticed by her. Avoiding eye contact seemed vital to the child but in truth she was just being paranoid.
She did not even notice two boys – about her age – literally slither up the opposite wall of the alley.
     At the top of the stairs was where an open café was nestled – wooden, over-coated in ice and bluish moss. It was dangerous to be up so high for there were no railings or warnings in case the girl teetered off the edge of the upper level. She looked down from the lofty stage of other homes and gulped in anxiety at the plane on which she stood. "What are you doing? Stop sightseeing and get moving!" shouted her judgment.
      The awning of the café was huge enough to shelter a full dining set and it was then that the child noticed the awning was made of the severed canopies of umbrellas; some black, some white. There was not even a name for the café but from the smell of it all she could already tell what was brewing: chocolate, roasted fruit, chowder, something sweet like honey, bread, cinnamon syrup, creamed coffee milk. It was to drool over, really.
     Thunder sounded as Sophia hastily hopped up the steps and into the sweet-smelling restaurant, surprised at how quiet and gloomy the atmosphere was. She could already tell by the silhouettes of how many people there were but everything in that place was just dreary; even the hanging lanterns were blotted with cobwebs. The inside was gray, formed by moldy woodwork as well as dust. Teeth chattering, the girl walked deeper into the café and bothered to look up and take a special notice of what looked to be a young man leaving the other side of a bar table. Walking up to him with twiddling fingers, she wheezed "Excuse me?" The man didn't seem to hear her as he adjusted his gloves, so she coughed and made herself clearer "Excuse me, mister?"
     The young man flinched and turned to her with wide eyes dipped in curios. He slid towards her on his skates and stopped to grumble "What?" A cat came up over his shoulder and settled there.
     Trying hard not to stare at his multi-colored hair, Sophia whimpered "Is there a phone I could use here, please?"
     "Sorry, I don't work here. Try the phone booths, pix, because I don't think this pitiful shindig has a one-piece phone to spare. Now mind making space? Yeah, thanks." And the man skated past her with his cat giving her a goodbye meow. So much for his help.
    Sophia turned "But where are the phone boo—" and the man was already gone.
     Another batch of thunder rolled at the same time Sophia stepped outside, looking around for the man in the skates again; pointless, for he seemed to have vanished into thin air without leaving a trace of skid marks in the snow. Was it possible to skate in the snow anyway?
     A strong gust of icy air penetrated the girl's mind, nearly blowing her away followed by a huge shard of lightning to cover the gray sky; the rain's wife. Scared witless, she skipped over to the upper stairway in hopes of catching a phone booth down below on main street when she could not help but catch an eye at two residents, draped in black with their heads bowed and their hands clasped tightly together like holding lilies, standing on the edge of the high-ground. So much caution was taken when approaching them until it hit the child that they were deep in concentration. Stood around anyway, she did; for a while too.
     "Excuse me," she interrupted both gently and rudely. "What are you doing?"
     Without a hint of annoyance yet lacking enthusiasm, one of them turned to her and said bluntly "Praying to mother. You are welcome to join us," then went back to what they were doing.
     Sophia's head tilted and she took a gander at what they were praying to exactly; it was funny because they were praying to the air. Either that or they were praying to the clock tower that stood far, far off; it was nearly impossible to see through all the fog and the tops of other high buildings.
It seemed that way at first but no, that would have just been stupid.

BRONK-BROOOOOOONK!
"Aaah!" Sophia squealed, jumping out of the trolley's way in just the nick of time. Heart pounding like mad, she could see figures waving at her from the inside of the trolley calling out incomprehensibly, so she assumed that they were telling her to watch it and stop playing in the street or something.
     After that new trauma to add to her list, Sophia scrambled off the sidewalk and watched the trolley leave, wanting to curse at it for almost flattening her like a dry pancake.
     "Hey, are you alright?" asked a tiny voice from right behind her. The girl flinched and turned to see another child about her age bringing a hand away from her shoulder in concern. She looked sane, thank god, but something was just peculiar about her that Sophia was unable to put her finger on. "Mommy wanted me to ask if you are okay because, like, you fell or something."
     "Me? Fall?" It took long for her to find out what she meant, so Sophia embarrassingly said "O-oh no, I am okay. I'm just a little bit— uh, hey! Uh, where are the phone…" and she just stared agog.
There was a little something on the girl's face that Sophia finally took full notice of and it was something that kept her eyes stapled open, because apparently the stranger kiddo had an extra one to spare right inside her forehead, leering at our little hero through a spiraling pink pupil that did not seem to want to get off her.
    Confused, the girl blinked all three of her eyes, "The phones? Oh, the phones are not working right now, dontcha know." She blinked again then smiled. "But…" and with a loud CRIK!, her head suddenly tilted a full ninety degrees to the side like her neck snapped and at once all three eyes brimmed gold, a glowing arrow pointing left jittering around where the pupils once were. "In THAT there lane is reception."
      Sophia went deaf at the sound of the snap and her human eyes bulged, mouth dropping and entire body jumping back, nearly getting her to slip and the snow to engulf her in a wave of sheer surprise. Freezing, her arms linked and she backed away slightly, staring at the girl before her. Was that hellish thing even a girl at all?
Whatever it was, it's head sprung back up into place and the thing looked just as perplexed.
    "Huh? Something the matter?" she asked, taking a step forward and pausing abruptly as Sophia took three steps back, mouth a perfect circle but emitting no sound.
Then she let out a sharp shriek hearing something horribly familiar.
"SKRAAAAAW!"
     Sophia held her ears and shot a glance up as lightning roared, but she was not the only one for she heard gasps echoing all around along the streets and sidewalks, feeling folks poke their heads out gaps and windows to stare up with her. And there the damn monster was spotted, still as tremendous, still as dark, and just as menacing as it was back in the woods, the sweet jingling of bells heard and all.
     The giant black crow… no… it was indeed the pitch black form of a grand vulture, flew over the rooftops and upper layers of the city, screeching evilly along with a band of other dark birds gliding behind and around it, nearly blending in with the black body like they were all made up of the same element – what seemed to look like a mixture of smog and pure ink. It's wings spread apart mechanically and the talons were barely seen due to the smorgasbord of minions following it. It roared once more, sailing over the city.
    Citizens gasped and stared, many of them cross-eyed in so much confusion and instant gossip and clamor taking place in the area; chitter-chatter that Sophia could not hear over the pounding in her ears and her inner cries of help, getting her little frame to sharply turn and run away wildly, the monster not noticing her obviously but her fears tricking her into thinking paranoid thoughts. The monster lived there.
     She sprinted past many people and dug her way through groups and masses, hearing the incomplete comments of passerby's: "What's he doing out of—," "— here in the city!?" "—bastard and his family—" "—do they want now?"
A dizzying spell of words corrupted her little mind and our little hero simply blinked, which led to an unlikable run into another citizen of that awkward city.
    A puny "oof!" escaped her as she rebounded back, the flashlight nearly bouncing out the pocket of her jacket. Scared blue eyes glanced up at whom she ran into and it turned out to be the back of someone wearing a nice top hat of silver, someone who felt her presence and turned. "Oh my," said the deep stranger, looking down at her. "Watch the ice now, little one."
    "OH MY GOD!" the girl squealed instantly, scrambling away and running off as the stranger with the dotted eyes and giant angler teeth watched her skedaddle, confused out of his wit followed by checking to see if there was something in his teeth using his two long mirror tongues.
   What was that!? she kept asking herself. What was that thing!? She ran and ran through the crowds unevenly, everyone looking like black, blue, and gray blurs at the anxious speed she was taking off. Then something else came up! Landing right in front of her face, too!
    "Careful now!" yelled the happy-go-lucky boy in front of her, far-apart slit pupils piercing into her and the scales along his face and frog legs glimmering emeralds. "Wanna get run over 'er somethin'?"
All Sophia did was scream and fall back, scrambling once more until the snow was ripped to shreds and started to speed again, only to meet another deranged creature looming over her curiously. Oh no, no, no! Her mind was yelling at her wildly as her legs did all the work for her, chucking her into spins away from people and through crowds, trying not to make much contact but failing much at it. This is a dream! No, it was not. The world was spinning like tops in circles, the air freezing cold, the masses suffocating. Her legs were burning with every sprint and the scene stretched before her into a snowy street with an alley far off, heading straight for it at missile speed. It felt surreal, how fast she got there, but the second she made it before the alley she dove right through the gap and tore through the snow on her hands and knees, grabbing for the brick wall then pulling herself into a crouching position, panting exhaustedly with her eyes wet.
The world was now quiet, at least in her mind. Streets filled with gossip and general clamor, but at a natural level like nothing has happened; yet all Sophia could do was sit alone and stare at the air, not daring to blink for something else to jump in front of her. She just sat there, crouched, confused, puzzled, terrified. A long moment of silence passed. Purely quiet, nothing but muffled voices out in the main boulevard heard. No, it was not a dream.
     Like her neck was jammed with gears, Sophia's head creaked and shook, turning to the side and glancing out into the streets. There she saw: claws, limbs of unnatural proportions, skins of pasty white, skins of impossible opaque tints, skins translucent, eyes that glowed and others that were not there, people on the walls laughing to jokes being told by others merely sitting on sidewalks, tails, slithers, fangs, some that flew, others of smoke, the camouflaged, the shadows that walked alone, the abnormalities of such a tremendous beautiful city. Little human eyes scanned every detail – from scale to cell – of the deranged folk, gazing up slowly at the Gothic architecture and Italian features of their world, above to witness their vile skies of rain and snow, beyond that at the fog then that tall clock tower glowing in the far distance.
Decembersville: the city of monsters.
    "Oh no…" she whimpered, grabbing both sides of her head. "Oh no, oh no, no, no, no, no, no, not this, oh no…" A few gulps of nausea took place and she exhaled harshly, nerves spinning out of control as they were trapped behind her meat, trying to break free. Fear held her in a chokehold along with such awful thoughts corroded in either violence or absurdities, most likely both.
      Don't panic. Hell no, she was definitely panicking. Don't panic, nothing ate you yet. Just go out there and ask for the phone. She just crouched there, scared to the bone. Just go and ask someone else for a phone. That's it.
     After a while that felt like hours, Sophia shakily got up and waited for a prayer. No, it didn't seem like God was fond of her at that moment, so instead she went with her gut and took a few shaky steps out into the world of the freaks to ask for a phone.
    Everything seemed pretty darn peachy as far as being stuck alone in a world of demons could have been. The little dear stumbled around the streets, pausing at lanterns, twiddling her fingers and blowing warmth into her hands, eyes glued to the ground. A shiver went up her spine with every bump she made against someone, knowing she had to bring her head up at some point to ask a simple question. It was like waiting for the opportune moment.
    After swerves and pauses, she came to a mere stop before a strange someone. "Excuse me…" she mumbled, a cough in her throat making her words voiceless. "Excuse me…" she whispered again, quieter. Of course she received no answer as the stranger had it's back turned. Trembling, one of her hands tugged on the citizen's cape, getting it to turn around patiently. "Excuse…" whimpered the child again, eyes still facing the ground.
     "Oh," a kind man's voice perked down at her. "Fancy nighty-o. Lost, little girl?"
     "Excuse me…" Then Sophia brought her head up slowly at the stranger, "is there a phone I can use?"
The civilian turned his body completely to face down at her and she noticed that his head was one of a teddy bear toy, button eyes and all. She flinched a little at the weirdness and her heart pounded hard. She wanted to cry, but she couldn't dare bring herself to.
     "Well, the phone booths are not that happy today because of all the prank calls. Especially with the Reception Depression and all, you know?" he said. Sophia looked to see but there was not a booth in sight, so she ignored the strangeness of his words. "But the closest one, I suppose, would be in the boiler room, sweetie."
      "W-w-where?" Sophia tried not to sound frightened of the situation she was in.
      "Follow me, my dear. I'll take you there," he kindly said, reaching his hand to her. She saw them up close and she could see that his fingernails were actually tiny eye so she couldn't bring herself to grab it. Instead, facing down again, she shakily followed.

     They just took a right down the freezing lane and they were already at the foot of a huge tunnel in the wall. It was shaped like an axed pendulum.
      "Here's the boiler room. Just go downstairs and ask Zero for his telephone."
Sophia stared at the entrance; her fear was at seizure level.
     "Zero?" she asked when she turned, but the teddy bear-headed weirdo was gone. She felt the presence of the other freaks walking past her minding their own businesses. She just wanted a phone to call her grandparents and get her out. Could they?
          After taking in a gulp, Sophia walked down the tunnel. She ended up in a large, warm room full of energy. Lots of human-looking people in miner-like outfits were running to and fro from the furnace to the pile of wood and back, wheeling large carts of coal and logs. Forget asking them. She better find Zero. He must be the leader or something.
     "Uh…e-excuse me," she said softly. It was obvious no one could hear her with all the bustle going on. She gave up already. That's some weak willing, right there.
      CHING!!
          "D'ow! Aw, man…not again," whimpered a voice coming from beyond a tremendous hill of chopped logs. Sophia turned to her side to face the little hill in curiosity. "Um…uh…c-could somebody help me out…again, please? Someone? Anyone? No? Um…a-anyone?"
The voice was effeminate but belonged to a male. He sounded embarrassed.
Sophia ran over to the log pile and carefully climbed up them. She called, "Hello?"
      "Oh! Uh, hello?" the voice called.
      "Is everything okay, mister?" Sophia asked.
She could hear the rattling of wood where she was going.
      "Oh, yeah! Everything's fine! I-I'm just…a little…" she heard him sigh in defeat. "I'm stuck."
The little girl made it to the top and looked down on the other side of the collection of wood. She saw a young boy there with his hands buried beneath piles of logs.
            His skin was white as icy paint and his hair was kind of like a bunch of straight black strings stuck beneath a strange-looking hat that reminded her of an aviator's helmet, though made entirely of dark leather. He was wearing a short-sleeved, one piece outfit in gray and black stripes. It looked like a dress but his legs spread, they turned out to be long shorts. He had eyes that expressed both energy and peace. The boy looked to be kind and by the way he spoke, a bit shy and almost childish, even though he seemed around his late teenage years.
Their eyes met and the boy smiled nicely, "Hey there!"
     Sophia couldn't help but smile back as if her worries disappeared, "H-hi. Uh…are you hurt or anything?"
     "Nononono. I-I'm not hurt at all! It's just…this sort of stuff happens to me VERY frequently. Heheh. It's really embarrassing."
She liked his honesty and slid down the hard hill to where he stood with half of his arms buried into the pile.
     "I'll help."
     "Oh, thank you! Okayokay," he began to say a few instructions. "Just…uh…remove a few pieces off the top there. Take your time! Be careful! Don't want all this stuff to cave in on us both, you know."
Sophia giggled a little and removed a few logs off the top of his arms then some off the side extra. She was feeling helpful during her own time of need.
      "Okay! Thank you very much! S-sorry for…"
      "It's alright. Can you get out?"
     "Yup. I just have to wiggle around a little," he gave her a gentle yet cautious look. "Y-you might want to move back a…a little."
Sophia obeyed and moved back. The boy wiggled his arms and in no time at all he flung them out of the pile freely. He almost fell back against the gravity and the logs went flying. "Be careful!"
Sophia covered her head, but not a splinter of wood touched her. She could hear the boy right before her, "Aw, thank you very much! I-I really appreciated it. It's just that, you know, if you move too much at the same time then the whole thing crumbles then--"
     "It's alright. I just hope you're not hur--"
Sophia stopped in mid-sentence as she looked before her eyes.
Her heart began to clobber again. Then her eyes were widening in shock again. Her quivering began again. Her hands began to sweat again. Her mind began to race again.
The boy didn't have hands. No. Hands.
     "Hey! Uh…a-are you okay, little girl? Are you alright?" he asked nicely in curiosity.
     "Ax…es…" she stuttered softly.
The boy's hands were large, metal, sharp axes. Scythes maybe.
His eyes lurched and he asked more softly, "What? What happened?"
     "AX HANDS!" were the only words she could emit.
The boy's eyes then looked down at his hands, but when he looked up Sophia was already gone. He could here her scrambling up the tin stairs back into the city.
     He stood there in the pile of logs, staring at his hands. He could see his reflection in them…then his heart broke.
Zero sorrowfully turned around and began to chop wood again.

The moon was a few quarters full. The silhouette of a young man atop the chimney of a house stood before it.
"AWOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOH…" he howled.
He paused. Silence.
"AWOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOH…" he echoed into the night.

The night was long and the circus finally closed. Not a sound came from its demise. Before there used to be so much sound. Sounds of laughter and party and joy…but not anymore. It simply faded into the darkness of the city.


The large window overlooking Decembersville was crooked with ice. The soft sound of an organ was all to be heard. A tall figure stalked to the window and looked up at the moon. The faint blue glow reflected on half his presence. Tears fell down his face and his fangs clenched, "My beloved….."
Strings of glowing red smoke slowly slid down his back then dispersed.

Sophia ran and ran and ran. She ran past everybody. Everybody. Her heart was pounding furiously and her fear was multiplying. She ran into the nearest alleyway. The girl whimpered and panted as she fell against the pebbled wall. Then she brought her knees in and did what she denied doing ever since she got there.
She cried her heart out.