Darkness

I can dream up schemes when I’m sitting in my seat
I don’t see any flaws till I get to my feet
I wish I never woke up this morning
Life was easy when it was boring

I could make a mark if it weren’t so dark
I could be replaced by any bright spark
But darkness makes me fumble
For a key
To a door
That’s wide open

Instead of worrying about my clothes
I could be someone that nobody knows
I wish I never woke up this morning
Life was easy when it was boring

I can dream up schemes when I’m sitting in my seat
I don’t see any flaws till I get to my feet
I wish I never woke up this morning
Life was easy when it was boring

- The Police, from Ghost in the Machine, words and music by Stewart Copeland

I was so certain of the arrangement of the squares that I didn’t even hesitate. I pushed play and what came from the throne was an intense rush of brain-numbing sound waves, too many to count, one after the other, mostly octaves, but thirds, tritones, and minor sixths as well. I couldn’t stand. The intensity lasted for perhaps nine seconds and then I fell backward into the darkness.

When I awoke I found myself in my old bedroom in my uncle’s house in the middle of the day. Even before I opened my eyes I knew I was there. The smell of the down comforter. The pendulum of the grandfather clock tick-tocking in the hallway to the left. I am home I thought. And then I heard him cough and ruffle his newspaper in the den.