Seeds sown...

[Sadism]

Bless the darkness.

Bless it, for it offers respite to minds wrought with images of death and evil. Peace brought to the mind’s eye as it fashions its world of dreams and fantasies; happiness and joy to fill a heart from which the truth is blissfully hidden. It is in this darkness, born in the depths of a mind that lay in a body stricken by coma, that Gustav, a simple wheelwright, finds solace against a harsh reality he does not yet know. All good things come to an end, as the saying goes, and for a simple man whose life has been destroyed, the illusion is shattered.

From one darkness to another, different in it’s texture and embrace. This darkness is the black of night, filling a room that eyes which have lain closed for weeks suddenly see for the first time. Confusion is bred in that same simple mind, uncertainty gripping a heart with the cold fingers of fear. Stark white walls stand where ones of warm, wooden tones should have been found. A bed too small supports his body, and lacks the familiar soft warmth of his wife. It’s as he eases himself into a sitting position that memories swarm his thoughts, insects devouring what little stability remains.

“Oh, Marta… No, no…â€