Haunted

The little boy walked towards the figure he saw in the distance. The five foot ten man inside whom he resided seemed afraid of the figure and kept glancing over his shoulder at more of these strange figures which had suddenly appeared all around him.

The man closed his eyes. He saw a large figure, waggling a finger at him and shouting something. He cringed. The figure wouldn’t stop shouting. He tried to attack the figure. But he was overpowered and pinned to a bed.

The little boy was confused. His host wasn’t listening to him. They could not communicate. He felt the host’s pain. He wanted to help but he could not.

Behind the curtain of his eyes, the five foot ten man shuddered and cowered. Now there was another figure in the room, also indiscernible; but shorter than the figure that had pinned him down. 

The man screamed “Don’t shout at me”.

Over and over, he screamed the same thing.

Suddenly, the figure pinning him down was whispering. A few seconds later he was made to lie down and told to close his eyes. 

The large figure spoke to him softly, but once again the words were indiscernible.

The little boy wished his host would listen. He felt chained. Wanting to help, but not being allowed to.

Meanwhile in the real world, the one of wakefulness; the man walks on towards the horizon. He sees indiscernible shapes to his left, his right and his front and rear. They form a sort of wall and cordon him in.

Internally, the boy screams. The man merely opens his mouth. No words come out.

The Bilge Master