part0029

She heard rain spattering outside, running down the slope and pooling at the bottom. She had tried to climb back out but the lichen-coated rock was too slippery.

The walls were lined with flaming torches that danced madly in the howling wind that shuddered through the passageway. She tried to remove one from its metal holder, but it wouldn’t budge. She watched the flames for a while as they flickered and spat, the heat on her skin a pleasant distraction. After a while it was time to move on, though the flame continued to sparkle in front of her eyes.

She walked some more, stopping at the next torch and watching it. She realised she could no longer hear the rain. She kept going.

Viridescent creepers lined the walls, and ugly purple flowers bloomed from cracks. Everywhere Lisa looked she thought she saw faces leering at her, jealous of her handcrafted regal tarpaulin. She waved dismissively at the imaginary people .

Her foot kicked something soft and she looked down at what used to be a person. Male or female, she couldn’t say. It had been turned inside out.

‘Hello,’ she said to the ragged mess. When there was no response, she resumed her doomed journey. More strange plants dotted the path. She crouched down next to one, the pink and purple flowers shimmering in the trembling light of the torches. She had never seen anything like them. They seemed to be breathing. She noticed that they turned to follow her as she walked past.

This place was funny. Funny-weird and funny-haha. She giggled as a long blue plant hissed at her. It was coiled like a garden hose, but unfurled slightly as she got closer, the petals opening wide to reveal a leafy tongue running over the tiny knives of its teeth.

‘Well fuck that ,’ she said, and carried on walking.

The walls gradually smoothed out, growing wider until they opened out into a chamber. No, not a chamber. A cavern.

It was gigantic, so tall she couldn’t see the roof.

The rock beneath her feet gave way to something soft. Lisa thought it best not to look down and see what she was standing on. She had a pretty good idea.

‘Honey, I’m home,’ she called out, her voice echoing through the cavern. Nothing happened. She felt wonderful, and also very sick. She scratched at the dry patches at the side of her mouth until they bled.

‘It’s me, your white cannibal queen. Furnish me with wine and grapes, and be quick about it. Your Royal Highness aches for a bath.’ She stumbled and fell to her knees, coming face to face with a skull.

‘Who the fuck are you?’ she demanded.

She lifted the skull and pitched it across the cavern .

Above her something awoke.

‘Come out, come out, wherever you are.’

She didn’t like it here. She didn’t like it one bit. Were the drugs wearing off, or was reality threatening to boot the door down? She found her drugs, still tucked snugly into her cleavage, and swallowed the last pill.

‘Hurry up. I need to take a royal shit.’

A sound, the sensation of movement from far away. But not too far.

She turned in circles, searching for the way she had come in, for the comforting glow of the torches. Her eyelids felt heavy but she no longer wanted to be here. She hadn’t asked to be their queen. They had no right to crown her.

‘That’s it, I’m leaving.’ She bit down hard on the inside of her cheek as she spoke, the words barely legible. Only Darren had ever been able to understand her when she was this high, and would have to translate for anyone present. But Darren wasn’t here anymore.

And then she saw it, blocking the exit. Waiting for her.

The fantasy collapsed like the wreckage of a flaming building. Suddenly sober, she realised she was standing on human flesh and bone. She knew she wasn’t the White Cannibal Queen. That was just a dumb movie. This was real life, and yet somehow it also wasn’t. Because this sort of thing only happened in movies, right?

‘Oh god. Oh god no, no, you can’t be real…’ She lumbered backwards and fell.

Lisa’s heart stopped for a few seconds. She froze .

‘Oh god you can’t be real oh god you can’t be real oh god you can’t be real oh…’