I close my eyes, and the sounds of a screaming child flush my ears. One wall...(More)

I close my eyes, and the sounds of a screaming child flush my ears. One wall divides us; but, indeed, the break between sound and mind is vast, casting us adrift, along our separate ways. I lie in bed, prostrated, alone, seeking the quiet peace which only slumber provides; she wails in wild anguish, in a desperate, vain attempt to find salvation in a wicked world. We are floating down different paths, to parts unknown. There is a sudden noise in the other room. Was it a gunshot, or the mother's calloused hand striking the soft flesh of her only child? A high, pitched voice pierces the walls; its banshee tongue is distinctly Toi Shan, mumbling and stumbling through the harp of Cantonese. I don't understand the words; but the mother's anger flows like the spirits that haunt this place. No one can rest here. Yet, there is a moment of silence, a brief respite in the litany of violence, before, once again, this innocent babe begins to cry. The younger longs to succor; the older aims to strike, again, and again. The rhythm of distemper throbs, rocking to a rage that reverberates through these thin walls. Its turbulence cannot be contained by the peace that I lovingly desire. Their symphony continues to play; I wish this nightmare to be taken away. The spirits are moving. Footsteps in the hallway, hard and fast, approach my front door, growing louder and louder until, suddenly, they stop. I want to scream; a creaking door groans quickly, cutting me off, and a new demon enters the room. It barks virulently as a dog assesses the stranger before it. The enemy is in sight and from hell comes his wrath. His voice is hoarse; his ejaculations, consumed with contempt, hiss and spit that toxic acid that poisons and burns souls alive. His daughter cries, and cowers at the touch. I think I have had enough. Still, there is an allure to this netherworld, where evil shatters the mind, dashing hope against the walls, sending its million fiery fragments into the black sky. I hear the mother, the daughter and the father in the distance, their music seducing others to try, to extinguish a kindred spirit, to consume the virgin alive. Oh, my soul has already trod this slippery road. I was saved from those raging seas, leaving the past and these people as simple memories. Now, I sleep in peace.(Less)