# <center>UnDead Detritus</center>



![IMG_0025 (1).jpeg](https://files.peakd.com/file/peakd-hive/prydefoltz/23wMgnYtqonfqGB1tbBTGto5P6dsUMXPQxE6HJzU5V84i8wao2SURvRZvvw71Cxnvp3JD.jpeg)

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Leaves fall and they cut me
A shiv in every sheaf
A cutting sigh, a slicing glance 
A perforating wind

Leaves fall and they break me
Shards fall faster than dead foliage
But fall no faster than I did for you
A glass heart is worth aspiring to

Leaves fall and they thrill me
Cutting cracks in the cold still air
But from where I lie crumpled, crumbling
A glass heart is still worth aspiring to
		
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![IMG_1025.jpeg](https://files.peakd.com/file/peakd-hive/prydefoltz/23uFXv3YAdJhNJjFdrbCmve6xtmHU39TxougjMaKZ9bTpHJyNk3nLLEwiBcT98JBSAau2.jpeg)


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Leaves fall and glass shatters
But unlike a shattered heart
A broken mirror cannot hold a memory
Disjointed cuts of what used to be

Yes, shards and sheaves fall
But I wish they’d stay alight forever
Then I would have taken forever 
To say good-bye to you

Leaves fall and they cut me
A glass heart is worth aspiring to

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![IMG_0024.jpeg](https://files.peakd.com/file/peakd-hive/prydefoltz/EoCk7pbVGPEcHAscqX4ZVKUR8cUDbyjGk1HfKrtwUyUQ96cVGg2UL5eS2RgVSczj7Kw.jpeg)

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I have been working my way through Ancient Apocalypse. I don't watch a lot of Joe Rogan, but I do find it interesting when he moves from comedy and MMA to science and in this case archaeology; so I thought I'd give the documentary series a try. Anthropology and later geology were two of my favourite classes during my epic studies at university. I like to study. 


All you fanboys think you are nerds because you obsess over the minutia of Star Trek or some redickuless video game; like to look at the sky at night; but I am nerd old school; I like to study. No matter the subject. I like to study and ask questions. Hard ones I am told. Fear me. I come with the power to stump. That said, I am unlikely to destroy your burgeoning society with my hard questions.

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NlXddlktoAg

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Graham Hancock has a theory. A series of comet strikes, or rather pieces of comet debris, hit the Earth causing massive climate change and gigantic floods just under 13 000 years ago. It also ended mammalian megafauna. That is ... a comet killed the mastodon ...  now sing it ... get it ...yeah, you get it ... the impacts and the resulting floods also sunk Atlantis. He sites Plato among others as his expert opinion. Fact checked by Plato ... pretty good.

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W8r-tXRLazs

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 Hancock offers a plethora of evidence, including massive monoliths lining up with astronomical phenomena that go beyond chance and offer perplexing carbon dates. To this he strengthens his claim with prehistory myths. Experience has taught me that myths are metaphor and offer knowledge to those with the ability to decipher. 

Am I convinced. No. Am I convinced there is something to his theory. Absolutely. Certainly  his theory is being suppressed and censored, and this both disallows proper study and proper debunking, if that is really what it needs. Down with censorship and up with critical thinking.

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![IMG_0024 (2).jpeg](https://files.peakd.com/file/peakd-hive/prydefoltz/23vsfBoTwqWB9QcBEtq2pJiAq4cnXJn5xidVnfuVGHu5KjLjaBUP9jb7kgPRmjurP64vk.jpeg)




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# <center> The Wisp</center>

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>Despite the heavy feeling in her gut, Bara was relieved when they pulled up in front of the Lavender House. The goons exited the SUV in unison and held open the doors for Colin and Bara. The driver opened the front passenger side for Courtney. Bara stepped out onto the gravel. There were the marble cherubs and Greek gods, no help as usual. Bara was on the far side and had to come around the car, her arm in the grasp of a goon. She joined Colin and the other monstrosity of a man under the portico. The driver returned to the car and drove away. They were led, that is to say dragged, into the house. Courtney followed. Gloria didn’t come to the door. No maid, no witness. 

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![IMG_1026 (3).jpeg](https://files.peakd.com/file/peakd-hive/prydefoltz/Eo6KyXzmrdEsCBuWgyVeqfvqbYRQFbqY2rgVHLTyX4krZgyM6ckd3HihT9vu52J9832.jpeg)

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>Courtney removed her coat and hung it on the antique rack. Her arms were bandaged. Bara winced. The trip through the window had not left Courtney unscathed, but Bara soon forgot her stepmother’s injuries. The locket lay on her chest, glittering on a dusty rose sweater set. 

>“Take him up to the room I showed you,” she directed the muscle. “Lock the door. My stepdaughter and I need to talk.”

>No, that wasn’t the plan! Colin had the dagger.

>“You can’t separate us!” Bara cried.

>The goons hesitated. Courtney waved them off. 

>“Lock the boy in and then you are free.”

>One of the men grabbed Colin, a little too roughly. He resisted but with no success. Bara watched Colin and the hidden dagger disappear up the stairs. The look he threw over his bony shoulder told her he shared her distress.

>“Shall we?” Courtney said to Bara. She didn’t wait for a response but went into the study. As long as Colin was locked up, she knew Bara wouldn’t run. She was right. Bara followed. 

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![IMG_0023.jpeg](https://files.peakd.com/file/peakd-hive/prydefoltz/23wgL3mC8ZxTpA1Grj7MRT6bEcxx2sQYyciDaRpxaXjzKfWJagmarx4aPpNh9ADjkZ7AM.jpeg)

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>The study was neat and orderly. Antique books lined the walls. Gold thread embossing glinted in the dim light. Heavy drapes were partly drawn, allowing yellow sheers to let in a muted glow. A fire blazed under a marble mantel. The study was comfortable and warm. Bara felt neither. There was the large chaise she’d taken cover behind earlier. Courtney settled in one of its matching wing chairs. 

>“Close the door and sit down” she instructed. 

>Bara did as she was told. She sat on the chaise, choosing the side farthest away from her stepmother and closest to the door. Anxiously, she waited for what was to come. 

>Courtney drummed her fingernails in her lap “What are we to do now?” she finally asked. 

>Bara didn’t have an answer. 

>“Where’s my father?” she countered.

>“Out looking for you. He’s quite worried.” 

>“Then call him and let him know I’m home.” 

>Courtney chuckled like Bara had told a joke. 

>“First, we need to get a few things straight.”

>“Are you going to kill me?”  

>“Kill you?”

>“I know your secret.”

>“There’s much you still do not know.” 

>Bara found it hard to think. Her focus was split. How could she get away from Courtney, get Colin and the dagger downstairs, and then get back to Courtney and the amber? “Like what?” she asked. “I know plenty already.”  

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![IMG_1025 (1).jpeg](https://files.peakd.com/file/peakd-hive/prydefoltz/23x1BXYYRMQtBC7abWbY4SRxHfLzTTPHpMsxwzfYLhECdyacZFSA3v2xuZNFHovBNfE8G.jpeg)

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>Courtney lifted a single, immaculately plucked eyebrow.“Tell me what you do know, and I’ll fill in the rest.”

>“I know you’re a witch. I know that you’ve lived a very long time. You’re immortal or something and I know you’re evil.” Bara all but screamed the evil part. 

>Courtney sighed. “You’ve said all this before, so let’s cut it short. Where is the diary? We need it.” 

>The heart of the matter, Bara thought. She said with far more bravado than she felt, “Where you’ll never find it. I’ll never tell. Colin won’t talk either. He has parents too. People will come looking for us. You won’t get away with this. Dad will eventually figure you out. You and your partner.”

>“My partner?” Courtney echoed.

>“Martha … your fellow witch. Where’s she now?” Bara suddenly remembered the woman at the door the day before. It had to have been the other witch. The dark hair, the familiar voice, the interest she’d taken in the diary. Oh, of course! How could I’ve been so dense! The other witch was Ms. Korey. She had to be. Then knowing turned to fear, fear for Amy. 

>All defiance dissolved. “Call Ms. Korey. Tell her not to hurt Amy. I’ll tell you anything you want to know.”

>“Bara, I won’t ...”  

>Smash! Something very solid hurdled through the bay window and landed with a decided thump on the Persian rug. 

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![IMG_0024 (1).jpeg](https://files.peakd.com/file/peakd-hive/prydefoltz/23uFgdj8TyedjVooGuiFG5s5u8WMLyijc6xSPpTqvcER9FfMJ1nWojFVwuTeVxxd2Q5ws.jpeg)


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>Someone had thrown one of the smaller lawn statues through the glass. It was a cherub, now with a broken wing. They both sprang. Courtney was at the window first. Something long and thin flew through the broken glass and tackled her to the ground. Colin had escaped. Of course, he’d escaped. Bara hadn’t needed to do anything. Courtney had locked him in an upstairs room and let the goons go. He’d have climbed down, scaling the side of the mansion as easily as he did the dorm buildings. 

>“Catch!” he called to Bara. The dagger came hurtling across the room, hilt first. Bara caught it, but it slipped in her grip. The blade grazed her arm, cutting a thin red line of blood. She winced and studied the wound. It wasn’t deep. She dismissed the pain and returned her attention to the struggle. 

>Despite his lean build, Colin was strong, not as strong as the goons, but certainly stronger than Courtney had any natural right to be, but she was winning. She was on top. His hands were around her throat but with little effect. Alarmingly, there was a pool of blood. He’d been cut from his trip through the window. 

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![IMG_1026 (2).jpeg](https://files.peakd.com/file/peakd-hive/prydefoltz/23tSWkY77cBg5ams5wBMHEmvNsD1AxpMGaFo9K9s9DPTiTitnT76tYUY5jtDWhCpJqc3a.jpeg)

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>Bara approached the wriggling mass of arms and legs. She stopped. There was a snapping sound. She realized now why Colin had his hands around her neck. He’d been after the locket. He now clutched it in his hand. Courtney screamed and tried to retrieve it. Colin using his length to advantage held the chain out of her reach and tossed it to Bara. “No!” Courtney implored. “You don’t know what you’re doing!”

>Bara didn’t hesitate. She opened the locket. There was the amber as she knew it would be. To keep it still, she gripped it between her knees and then raised the dagger above her head. She brought the blade down with full force. Like it was cutting through something much softer than the petrified sap, the metal pierced amber. Like flesh, as though it were as soft as skin, the blade plunged into the amber, somehow to its hilt. 

>Tiny fault lines spread throughout the amber. There was a sound mimicking the breaking of an ice sheet. The amber shattered into countless pieces. The fracture gave off a blinding light and a force pushed out. The air cracked with sound and strength. Bara was thrown from the blast and slid into the chaise. Colin and Courtney were flung to the opposite wall. Heavy furniture moved about on its own. Dislodged books threatened to brain the unsuspecting. Bara covered her head. Colin and Courtney, possibly unconscious, did not. 

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![IMG_0023 (2).jpeg](https://files.peakd.com/file/peakd-hive/prydefoltz/23w2sbu3YTGgvxMdp1xx4Jf6A98pM1woBrWy3nCpZDJiXc7LFjUfuuXfmvwL4hTTXXGzF.jpeg)

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>Flashes of silver slashed through the air. Bara lost sight of the other two. She lost sight of everything. She blinked to clear her vision but saw only light, no form. Then came the noise. The strength of it moved the floor beneath in waves. Different from the sound of the first explosion, it was high-pitched. A shriek? No, a siren. It grew louder and higher, threatening to pierce eardrums. Bara put her hands to her head and tried to hang on.

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![IMG_1026 (4).jpeg](https://files.peakd.com/file/peakd-hive/prydefoltz/EoCifPdJ9mbQXW9wxRWheETZL4V47gAfpbuLQRHvuY1sRPk6cW9ZywPeryP5ncPRWkZ.jpeg)

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Link to the Audio
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KZj0zG0sBJo

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![IMG_0024.jpeg](https://files.peakd.com/file/peakd-hive/prydefoltz/EoCk7pbVGPEcHAscqX4ZVKUR8cUDbyjGk1HfKrtwUyUQ96cVGg2UL5eS2RgVSczj7Kw.jpeg)


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# <center>***</center>

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Words and Images are my own.

Title is published in Monsters, Avatars & Angels.

Monsters, Avatars & Angels and the Wisp are  available in paperback or digital through amazon and your local libraries and bookstores. Click on any title below to further explore and support my writing.

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