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Description
It was just a room... a familiar room, but still just a room.

Jimmy Page carefully closed the door behind him, cutting off the rolling cadence of rain that had accompanied him the walk up. The rain, the wind and the faint moonlight that occasionally penetrated the thick clouds overhead were the only accompaniment he hoped for during his night's venture.

Robert had begged him not to go this time. Stop while he could. So many before him had gotten in too deep. So many had drowned in their own addictions, unable to keep up the demand, their bodies became toothpicks that snapped under the boulder-like weight of the stress. Robert had begged him. Robert had pleaded.

Jimmy didn't care. He wasn't himself anymore. He shut the door in his face and walked out into the night, the light from the flat growing fainter and fainter as he walked, until he could no longer see it masked behind a curtain of black rainfall. He couldn't turn back now. He'd gone too far to waste the efforts.

Now he sat down at his table and emptied the contents of the bag. Drops of rain that had collected in his hair dripped lightly onto the wooden tabletop. He picked up the syringe and meticulously loaded it with the sweet poison he couldn't keep his mind off of all evening. He was hooked now, like a dog that had caught scent of the bitch in heat. Once everything had been prepared, he commenced the night's ritual. Using two fingers, he found the vein and gingerly sank the needle into his pale thin flesh.

A gasp. A pause. His pupils dilated as the rush of sweet nectar coursed through his body like a numbing rush of electricity. Yes. Oh yes, this is it. His mind raced. His heart crashed against his chest, matching the storm outside. He began to shake and sweat, gritting his teeth, he clenched his body tighter and tighter until he was sure his body would crack in upon itself...

...and then the release. He gasped and pulled the needle out, reveling in the ecstatic pleasure. Once again, he felt relaxed.. calm.. serene...

...but not happy... and not warm. A growing coldness was overcoming him. Rapidly... he could feel his veins turning to ice. Dizziness overshadowed Jimmy as he lay down the syringe and braced himself against the table for balance, but it did little. Darkness swept around him like a great black cape. He felt unconsciousness shrouding him fast. His eyes rolled back in his head, his head hit the table in front of him, and then... nothing. Blackness.

A long pause. Darkness. How could it be so dark? So cold? Where was life? Where was anything?

Jimmy groped about in the darkness. He was blind to any sight, but he writhed desperately about for something... anything... anything to grasp and feel. Anything that would clue him in to what was happening. Where he was.

The numbness started to leave his fingers, and the sensation of touch reanimated within them. He brushes his fingers against something hard. A wall? He traced his hand up and down the object in front of him, and felt a rough, slanted, uneven surface. He strained desperately to make his eyes work so he could see where he was. Something... a glowing light... something was coming to him. He wasn't sure if it was his sight or a strange psychological illusion. The light shone above him brilliantly, like a distant star, and from it, his surroundings developed into view.

A mountain... a steep rocky mountain covered in all kinds of vegetation. It was misty and damp like it had been raining, but he couldn't see that it was now. He saw nothing around him but the mountain and the strange glowing light at the top, eerily drawing him in like a dazed moth.

Without knowing what else to do, he began to climb. He gripped the jagged pieces of stone, and felt the earth crumble in his hands. He shifted his weight from one side to the other, reaching for whatever footing he could locate. Jimmy pushed himself up the mountain closer and closer to the light. His hand slid a couple times, unable to grip the wet branches... but strangely, he didn't fall... as though a force was urging him onward, and not allowing him to plunge backward.

Jimmy tore his way up the mountain, closer and closer to the light until he began to make out a figure at the peak, holding up the eerie light, pulsing and glowing like a flame.

He was mere feet from the top now, and Jimmy saw that the figure was that of a cloaked man. Like an ancient wizard of sorts, holding a radiant lantern in his hand. Jimmy reached out his hand to the man, hoping that he would be given help climbing up to the summit, but he was ignored. The man continued to stare out into the abyss.

Jimmy mustered what was left of his endurance and hoisted himself up onto the rock. He sat on the ground at the feet of the cloaked man, gasping for breath, and flexing his fingers, worn out from the climb.

After a moment of chilling, surreal silence, Jimmy made the first move to communicate.

"Where am I?" he asked.

"You're here." came the reply.

"Where's here?"

"You brought yourself here, did you not? You should know."

Jimmy paused and looked around at the surrounding abyss. There was nothing out there. Nothing except himself, the cloaked man, and the strange mountain.

"I don't know. I have no idea where I am." Jimmy felt uneasy. Why couldn't he remember anything? How... how DID he get here... and for what reason?

The man spoke again:

"Look at this mountain." he croaked. "What do you see?"

Jimmy scanned the sides of the cliff. He noticed that toward the bottom of the mountain, the flora was... green, breathing, fresh and new-looking. As though it had just sprouted. As his eyes ran further up the side, he saw that the higher the altitude, the more mature the plants became. Thickened out with a deeper color. Some began to bear flowers and wooded stems. The plants grew older and he grew higher... and then... he saw something that disturbed him.

Not far from where he was sitting... there were a series of plants that were brown. Withering and dying. Tracks of them here and there hidden amongst the greenery.

"What... what happened to those plants?" Jimmy asked.

"What happened to yourself?" the old man asked in return.

Jimmy continued to gaze at the greenery in horror. Why hadn't he seen this during the climb up? The plants... right at his feet, the plants were all dying. Their leaves had withered up and some had even collapsed altogether. There was a surefire ring of death around the mountain, and he was right at the top of it.

"Look above you." he heard the old man say, breaking his gaze. "What do you see above you?"

Jimmy did so. "N-nothing. This is the end of the mountain."

The cloaked man shook his head. "It's where the mountain has left off. It doesn't have to be the end."

"What are you talking about?" Jimmy was feeling REALLY uneasy now, and considered climbing back down the mountain, though he didn't see what good that would do him now.

"This is your mountain." The man said. "You can build it higher, if you chose that path."

"Why was I brought here?!" Jimmy demanded. "What do you mean 'my mountain'?!"

"You can build it higher.... or... you can come with me, and leave it as it is... if you think this is sufficient."

"Sufficient for WHAT? What the hell are you going on about?" he was shaking now. Shaking like a frightened animal. "Where will you take me?"

"It is not my place to tell you." he answered in an almost choked voice. "Continue to build the mountain, or finish your work and come with me." The man's lantern swung in the misty air like a beacon.

"I..." Jimmy didn't know how to answer. He didn't know what to say... he didn't WANT to go with the man without knowing where he was going.... but at the same time, he didn't know where he was now.

Then he realized... he didn't want to go with the man at all. Something was telling him, whether it was the dying flora on the mountainside or his own intuition.... he felt like he wasn't.... strange as it sounded.... ready to go with the strange man. It wasn't time. Not now....

"I... I can't go with you now. I'm not finished here." Jimmy answered, surprised at the words coming out of his own mouth.

The cloaked figure let out a muffled laugh. "A wise decision... you'll see me again... but hopefully next time.... the mountain will be complete so you have no regrets."

"I'll see you again? Wait, who-" but the ground beneath him began to shake and stir, and the cloaked figure flipped back his hood. Jimmy stared in fear, and froze to the spot.

Revealed was not a man at all, but a dismal-looking skeleton. A skeleton, cloaked in all black. The bony face grinned at him with it's toothy stare. Jimmy tried to scream but could not. The skeleton bowed slightly, then the lantern burst into an array of blinding light. Like a great supernova, the light consumed everything and then.... it died as soon as it had come. And Jimmy was alone on the mountain.

He didn't have long to collect his senses, for the ground began to shake again, and the earth churned and rumbled beneath him. The rocks grew and grew, to Jimmy's amazement, and then rocketed skyward. Jimmy was thrown off the side of the mountain and began to fall down towards the ground. The blackness began to consume him again, and he felt his mind leaving him once more... but the last thing that caught his eye before the blackness was the side of the newly formed mountain, and this time.... this time... the plants were growing green again.

His eyes shot open, and he looked around the room. The table, the chair, the needle, the rain outside... were all there where he had remembered them. Jimmy's heart was racing, and he was broken out in sweat. The first thing the shot in his mind was the only thing that could give him serenity now. He saw the needle on the floor and lunged for it, falling off the chair.

"Fuck...." he gasped. "Fuck fuck fuck, lady H, I need you now.... now more than ever."

His eyes bulged as he began to reload the syringe, and hastily propped himself up against the wall. Soon it would all be better... soon... no.... NO....

His memories came rushing back to him. The mountain, the plants the light... the hideous cloaked skeleton, beckoning him away. They hit him like a wall, and he cried out.

"NOOOOOO!" He threw the needle across the room.

"Not again... not ever again." he snarled at the vile object. "Not.... ever... again."

He felt his own breath, in and out, the gentle rhythm of life pulsing through his flesh. His chest expanded, then contracted.

He picked himself off the floor, grabbed his bag, and walked through the door, leaving the needle, the poison, and the room behind him forever.

It was just a room, after all. A familiar room, but still...

...just a room.

The End.

Description
It was just a room... a familiar room, but still just a room.

Jimmy Page carefully closed the door behind him, cutting off the rolling cadence of rain that had accompanied him the walk up. The rain, the wind and the faint moonlight that occasionally penetrated the thick clouds overhead were the only accompaniment he hoped for during his night's venture.

Robert had begged him not to go this time. Stop while he could. So many before him had gotten in too deep. So many had drowned in their own addictions, unable to keep up the demand, their bodies became toothpicks that snapped under the boulder-like weight of the stress. Robert had begged him. Robert had pleaded.

Jimmy didn't care. He wasn't himself anymore. He shut the door in his face and walked out into the night, the light from the flat growing fainter and fainter as he walked, until he could no longer see it masked behind a curtain of black rainfall. He couldn't turn back now. He'd gone too far to waste the efforts.

Now he sat down at his table and emptied the contents of the bag. Drops of rain that had collected in his hair dripped lightly onto the wooden tabletop. He picked up the syringe and meticulously loaded it with the sweet poison he couldn't keep his mind off of all evening. He was hooked now, like a dog that had caught scent of the bitch in heat. Once everything had been prepared, he commenced the night's ritual. Using two fingers, he found the vein and gingerly sank the needle into his pale thin flesh.

A gasp. A pause. His pupils dilated as the rush of sweet nectar coursed through his body like a numbing rush of electricity. Yes. Oh yes, this is it. His mind raced. His heart crashed against his chest, matching the storm outside. He began to shake and sweat, gritting his teeth, he clenched his body tighter and tighter until he was sure his body would crack in upon itself...

...and then the release. He gasped and pulled the needle out, reveling in the ecstatic pleasure. Once again, he felt relaxed.. calm.. serene...

...but not happy... and not warm. A growing coldness was overcoming him. Rapidly... he could feel his veins turning to ice. Dizziness overshadowed Jimmy as he lay down the syringe and braced himself against the table for balance, but it did little. Darkness swept around him like a great black cape. He felt unconsciousness shrouding him fast. His eyes rolled back in his head, his head hit the table in front of him, and then... nothing. Blackness.

A long pause. Darkness. How could it be so dark? So cold? Where was life? Where was anything?

Jimmy groped about in the darkness. He was blind to any sight, but he writhed desperately about for something... anything... anything to grasp and feel. Anything that would clue him in to what was happening. Where he was.

The numbness started to leave his fingers, and the sensation of touch reanimated within them. He brushes his fingers against something hard. A wall? He traced his hand up and down the object in front of him, and felt a rough, slanted, uneven surface. He strained desperately to make his eyes work so he could see where he was. Something... a glowing light... something was coming to him. He wasn't sure if it was his sight or a strange psychological illusion. The light shone above him brilliantly, like a distant star, and from it, his surroundings developed into view.

A mountain... a steep rocky mountain covered in all kinds of vegetation. It was misty and damp like it had been raining, but he couldn't see that it was now. He saw nothing around him but the mountain and the strange glowing light at the top, eerily drawing him in like a dazed moth.

Without knowing what else to do, he began to climb. He gripped the jagged pieces of stone, and felt the earth crumble in his hands. He shifted his weight from one side to the other, reaching for whatever footing he could locate. Jimmy pushed himself up the mountain closer and closer to the light. His hand slid a couple times, unable to grip the wet branches... but strangely, he didn't fall... as though a force was urging him onward, and not allowing him to plunge backward.

Jimmy tore his way up the mountain, closer and closer to the light until he began to make out a figure at the peak, holding up the eerie light, pulsing and glowing like a flame.

He was mere feet from the top now, and Jimmy saw that the figure was that of a cloaked man. Like an ancient wizard of sorts, holding a radiant lantern in his hand. Jimmy reached out his hand to the man, hoping that he would be given help climbing up to the summit, but he was ignored. The man continued to stare out into the abyss.

Jimmy mustered what was left of his endurance and hoisted himself up onto the rock. He sat on the ground at the feet of the cloaked man, gasping for breath, and flexing his fingers, worn out from the climb.

After a moment of chilling, surreal silence, Jimmy made the first move to communicate.

"Where am I?" he asked.

"You're here." came the reply.

"Where's here?"

"You brought yourself here, did you not? You should know."

Jimmy paused and looked around at the surrounding abyss. There was nothing out there. Nothing except himself, the cloaked man, and the strange mountain.

"I don't know. I have no idea where I am." Jimmy felt uneasy. Why couldn't he remember anything? How... how DID he get here... and for what reason?

The man spoke again:

"Look at this mountain." he croaked. "What do you see?"

Jimmy scanned the sides of the cliff. He noticed that toward the bottom of the mountain, the flora was... green, breathing, fresh and new-looking. As though it had just sprouted. As his eyes ran further up the side, he saw that the higher the altitude, the more mature the plants became. Thickened out with a deeper color. Some began to bear flowers and wooded stems. The plants grew older and he grew higher... and then... he saw something that disturbed him.

Not far from where he was sitting... there were a series of plants that were brown. Withering and dying. Tracks of them here and there hidden amongst the greenery.

"What... what happened to those plants?" Jimmy asked.

"What happened to yourself?" the old man asked in return.

Jimmy continued to gaze at the greenery in horror. Why hadn't he seen this during the climb up? The plants... right at his feet, the plants were all dying. Their leaves had withered up and some had even collapsed altogether. There was a surefire ring of death around the mountain, and he was right at the top of it.

"Look above you." he heard the old man say, breaking his gaze. "What do you see above you?"

Jimmy did so. "N-nothing. This is the end of the mountain."

The cloaked man shook his head. "It's where the mountain has left off. It doesn't have to be the end."

"What are you talking about?" Jimmy was feeling REALLY uneasy now, and considered climbing back down the mountain, though he didn't see what good that would do him now.

"This is your mountain." The man said. "You can build it higher, if you chose that path."

"Why was I brought here?!" Jimmy demanded. "What do you mean 'my mountain'?!"

"You can build it higher.... or... you can come with me, and leave it as it is... if you think this is sufficient."

"Sufficient for WHAT? What the hell are you going on about?" he was shaking now. Shaking like a frightened animal. "Where will you take me?"

"It is not my place to tell you." he answered in an almost choked voice. "Continue to build the mountain, or finish your work and come with me." The man's lantern swung in the misty air like a beacon.

"I..." Jimmy didn't know how to answer. He didn't know what to say... he didn't WANT to go with the man without knowing where he was going.... but at the same time, he didn't know where he was now.

Then he realized... he didn't want to go with the man at all. Something was telling him, whether it was the dying flora on the mountainside or his own intuition.... he felt like he wasn't.... strange as it sounded.... ready to go with the strange man. It wasn't time. Not now....

"I... I can't go with you now. I'm not finished here." Jimmy answered, surprised at the words coming out of his own mouth.

The cloaked figure let out a muffled laugh. "A wise decision... you'll see me again... but hopefully next time.... the mountain will be complete so you have no regrets."

"I'll see you again? Wait, who-" but the ground beneath him began to shake and stir, and the cloaked figure flipped back his hood. Jimmy stared in fear, and froze to the spot.

Revealed was not a man at all, but a dismal-looking skeleton. A skeleton, cloaked in all black. The bony face grinned at him with it's toothy stare. Jimmy tried to scream but could not. The skeleton bowed slightly, then the lantern burst into an array of blinding light. Like a great supernova, the light consumed everything and then.... it died as soon as it had come. And Jimmy was alone on the mountain.

He didn't have long to collect his senses, for the ground began to shake again, and the earth churned and rumbled beneath him. The rocks grew and grew, to Jimmy's amazement, and then rocketed skyward. Jimmy was thrown off the side of the mountain and began to fall down towards the ground. The blackness began to consume him again, and he felt his mind leaving him once more... but the last thing that caught his eye before the blackness was the side of the newly formed mountain, and this time.... this time... the plants were growing green again.

His eyes shot open, and he looked around the room. The table, the chair, the needle, the rain outside... were all there where he had remembered them. Jimmy's heart was racing, and he was broken out in sweat. The first thing the shot in his mind was the only thing that could give him serenity now. He saw the needle on the floor and lunged for it, falling off the chair.

"Fuck...." he gasped. "Fuck fuck fuck, lady H, I need you now.... now more than ever."

His eyes bulged as he began to reload the syringe, and hastily propped himself up against the wall. Soon it would all be better... soon... no.... NO....

His memories came rushing back to him. The mountain, the plants the light... the hideous cloaked skeleton, beckoning him away. They hit him like a wall, and he cried out.

"NOOOOOO!" He threw the needle across the room.

"Not again... not ever again." he snarled at the vile object. "Not.... ever... again."

He felt his own breath, in and out, the gentle rhythm of life pulsing through his flesh. His chest expanded, then contracted.

He picked himself off the floor, grabbed his bag, and walked through the door, leaving the needle, the poison, and the room behind him forever.

It was just a room, after all. A familiar room, but still...

...just a room.

The End.