spirits in the dark are waiting // collaboration

Good evening! I have something really special to share today—I’ve joined Jul and Sarah, two of my favorite bloggers, on a writing collaboration. Along with being incredibly talented writers and just generally kind humans, they both share my love for powerful song lyrics. The three of us split up a few lines from a song by twenty one pilots, all wrote something based off of the lyrics, and then traded writing with each other. Read Jul’s piece below, and click the links at the end of the post to see Sarah’s and mine. Enjoy the stories, friends. :)

a shadow tilts its head at me, spirits in the dark are waiting / i will let the wind go quietly, i will let the wind go quietly.

— hometown | twenty one pilots

// Jul //

a shadow tilts its head at me. i’m sitting on a small stool in the corner of the basement, where iridescent fairy-lights vaguely illuminate the drumset before me. i don’t need to see it very well, though, because i already know exactly where the snare, hi-hat, bass and all of the toms are. i know every single curve of their metal frames, and i can feel each of their surfaces in my mind. i close my eyes and gently rest my right foot on the kick pedal. i reach forward and pick up two drumsticks, both covered with innumerable scratches and dents. i know every single one of those indentations intimately: i created them. they were the result of my anger and my stamina and my power and my strength and my will. i cradle the sticks loosely in my hands, rolling their roughened forms between my fingers. i open my eyes, and the same shadow nods his head this time, giving me the affirmation i was waiting for. in a moment it’s gone, disappearing behind the bass drum under the influence of the flickering lights. my eyes close once more, and in a second my thoughts are lost in a whir of arms and sticks and deafening sounds and my own heartbeat.

spirits in the dark are waiting. i’m sitting on a wide, black stool in the corner of a dark room visited by moonlight. the glossy charcoal of the piano before me reflects the rustling of leaves from the window beside it, and for a second i can almost believe that this heavy, powerful instrument is a gateway into the world of wood-nymphs and fairies asleep beneath budding blossoms. but as soon as i begin to see the gleam of small fairy-eyes peeking out from under the leaves, the moon abandons me and all i’m left with is a dark room and a row of skeleton teeth faintly gleaming beneath my fingers. the teeth are smooth and flat against the palms of my hands, worn down by years of tasting, chewing and gnawing on melodies. usually they vomit my melodies back at me, disfigured and shaky and soulless, but tonight i sense that there’s something different in the air; tonight I’ve breathed in the breath of fairies and now my thoughts are gold-dust and harp-song whirring through my head. in a minute the thoughts are pouring out and into my fingers, where they flash across the skeleton teeth, evoking a song worthy of the daintiest fairy princess. I close my eyes, and the skeleton teeth are gone, overcome by the moonlight melody and the enchantment of the spirits in the dark.

i will let the wind go quietly. i create the lines of her smile with smooth, strong strokes. her eyes age slowly under the influence of my pencil until she is a young woman with tragedy written in the harsh lines across her forehead but joy glittering in between the shading of her lashes and lids. “you can’t draw the wind,” i whisper as her hair brushes softly across her face in thick, soft strokes of my darkest pencil. “no one can capture the breeze,” i breathe as i blur the stars in the sky and whisk the branches of the trees towards the northmost one. “not even the softest zephyr,” and with the sweeping motions of my hand her dress curls around her bare legs in unison with the trees and the stars and her hair. freedom is wrapping around and surrounding her bare legs and the trees and the stars and her hair, given life beneath the pressure of my pencil. i will let the wind go quietly.

*talks quietly so as not to break the spell created by that beauty* You can read Sarah’s piece @ Jul’s blog, the flood, and my piece @ Sarah’s blog, paraphernalia. <3

Thoughts on Jul’s lovely writing? What song lyrics mean the most to you?

Published by Clara

just keep listening to the songs inside your mind -

31 thoughts on “spirits in the dark are waiting // collaboration”

  1. Pingback: i will let the wind go quietly // collaboration | paraphernalia
  2. Pingback: a shadow tilts its head at me // collaboration – the flood.

  3. I love the collaboration. It’s a great idea! It’s nice to see how your intros are individual.
    Julie- the writing is really good…

    Song lyrics that talk to me change according to the moment in time…

    Looking forward to reading yours now C.

    Love, light, and glitter

    Liked by 3 people

    Reply

    1. thank you so much jo … i still can’t get over the fact that each of these shared a sense darkness/night time and the same general overtone but somehow we each picked a different person (1st, 2nd, 3rd)?? it blows my mind. thanks for reading and leaving your love <3 <3 <3

      Liked by 3 people

      Reply

  6. ahhh jul, this was amazing! i was so excited to finally read it and it definitely surpassed my expections. just woah!

    i really love the last paragraph omw

    also, clara, i reaaally loved your intro. twas amazing

    loved working with you two on this project :))

    Liked by 2 people

    Reply

  8. You guys…..your ways of writing are the words I can’t even form!! Jul…..this is….i’m speechless…..seriously I have no words, this is incredible, the way you guys describe is beyond me…..I don’t even know what else to say…..amazing, really truly amazing, this was really great read, great job!! ^_^
    Now on to the last read of this collaboration……

    Liked by 2 people

    Reply

    1. oh lexa i can’t even thank you enough or express my gratitude for your comment … it means the world, really <3 <3 <3
      enjoy the last piece! each one is like a different flavour of icecream … unique but made of the same key ingredients (am i actually comparing this to ice cream? xddd)
      power to the local dreamer ||-//

      Liked by 2 people

      Reply

    1. thank you so very much … i wasn’t sure if people would understand what some parts of it meant but the overwhelming support says so much <3 <3
      i am SO happy to hear that you enjoyed them all kenechi! thank you for taking the time to read all of these … and spread your positivity too <3 <3 <3
      power to the local dreamer ||-//

      Liked by 2 people

      Reply

  12. hey clara! i’m sorta new here and i hopped on over from jul’s and sarah’s blog. first of all, you seem like such an awesome human bean and writer (your piece was g o r g e o u s) and hopefully we can talk more in the future ❤

    juls- you have the ability to transform the most ordinary of moments into a symphony of emotions; and i love that so much! the spirits of the dark are so hauntingly familiar yet beautiful, the way they have the ability to transform your music. this. gosh, this is wonderful.

    Liked by 2 people

    Reply
  13. Pingback: Creators Spotlight: 3 Wonderful Bloggers – Life As A Daydreamer

Leave a Reply to Eliza Cancel reply

Fill in your details below or click an icon to log in:

Gravatar
WordPress.com Logo

You are commenting using your WordPress.com account. ( Log Out /  Change )

Twitter picture

You are commenting using your Twitter account. ( Log Out /  Change )

Facebook photo

You are commenting using your Facebook account. ( Log Out /  Change )

Cancel

Connecting to %s