The Plain White Room

by Oliver Phisher

  Above him the dragon tilted his might head, relieved from the cramped cavern roof. His great talons coil around each of the walls as he leant close to Lepus. Out of the dragon’s nostrils seethed a pleasant, earthy smelling smoke. Rich brown dirt fell in clumps from its talons. Even though the creature was breathing softly. His great lungs pushed the air around the room. Sheets of paper flying rampantly, some sticking to his nostrils. His catfish-like whiskers crack the windows as they dropped in carelessly. The dragons head came close enough, that it could have rubbed against Lepus’s legs. He reached out and stroked its dark red scales. With every shift of movement moreore light, sweet-smelling, almost chocolate, dirt wisping about the room. Swirling from the gaps in his scales. He groaned deeply, a sound of pure pleasure almost like a purr. He moved with such a tired and used up look. Like patting an old kind cat. A grandfather trapped in the body of a huge mute beast. His eyes dart to a shining black shell against the deep red of the dragons distant. Almost out of sight, behind the beast's tail.

  ***

  Red wine, No kisses

  Lepus fumbled at the front door of his oldest friend Genève’s. He had known her for as long as he could remember. When they were little kids, their mothers used to have ‘mothers meetings’ together.

  Lepus sometimes later suspected that their ‘Play date.' was code for ‘oh thank god they are distracted. Now we can put up our feet and have a chat’.

  It was during these idyllic days that Lepus had first learnt to cook. With sand, mud, and sprinkles of ants, he would make delicious mud cakes. Or at least, he assumed they were delicious. Luckily, as a bizarre little child andalways interested in science, he had the thought in his head A master chef should never try his own magnificent work. Or that lab rats should be subjected to the unknown, and not himself. That’s where Genève had had her main usefulness in friendship with him. Since they grew up they had been sporadic friends, a phone call here or there, passing parties. Lepus had never been the most social type. Never the life of a party and over the years he had had increasing opportunity to becomea recluse.

  As he readjusted his coat and bottle of red wine, trying to knock without having to expose his hands to the bitter cold, he finally manages to knock with his forehead; the door opened with a bustle.

  “Hi, hi, I’m sorry I’m so late!” Lepus exclaimed.

  “Oh, oh not at all,” she says, with glee and excitement, “come in, quick! Quick! We are all just sitting down for dinner.” she lead Lepus through her place with its modern designed, sweeping rooms. Although she was most likely never admit it, Lepus was sure that she had hired an expensive designer. Not ‘thrown everything together’ as she often tried to imply.

  A small gaggle of guests were already settled in for dinner, most of whom, Lepus already knew. Everyone began to eat as he placed the wine down into the middle of the table. He took the last empty seat.

  The girl to the left of Lepus leaned forward and tried to listen to a conversation happening across the table. She seems timid and quiet but has big bright green eyes. Not dull like Lepus’s, which had a tint of grey to them. She had dark chestnut hair. Lepus noticed the girl to her left looked just like her. Their deep concentration was broken when she noticed him watching her intently. She slumped back in her chair upright, shy and startled by someone’s sudden interest in her.

  “Hey I’m Lepus,”

  She smiled and bowed her head. Her hair falling over her face.

  “I’m Alice,” she muttered.

  “Oh, how do you know Genève?”

  “We used to go to high school together,”

  “Oh, I see,” Lepus nodded smiling, “I thought that I knew most of her school friends,” He added gently.

  The rest of the table became progressively louder, no one noticing their silent gaze.

  ***

  Months later, a warm breeze swept through their small town. It cast a blanket of serene balminess over the field where Lepus worked, as it washed over the spinach. It was the first day of summer, and the sun beat down on his back. As he walked towards the large metal gate, his rucksack cut into his shoulders. The gravel crunched under his big black boots. His boots went all the way up his shins shining in the morning sun. He clicked his tongue in time with his steps, keeping a steady beat to entertain himself.

  Lepus had been working during summers at a spinach field just outside of town for the past two years. He loved the break from his studies and to be outside in the fresh air. Lepus had never had a lot of friends. He shunned away from large groups of people and so summer was an awkward time for him. In winter the streets wouldn’t be as crowded, people would go inside for cocoa.

  In summer, though, when the semester was out and Lepus didn’t have a tutorial to teach,the streets would be filled with people taking long summer walks.

  The field spread out over the valley and just seeing it flooded Lepus with a sense of calm and happiness. He felt the warm smell of moss and felt a cool breeze swept past his face. He stood just past the entrance to the farm, still on the gravel. Looking out at the beauty which lay behind the fields. A great snow-capped mountain towered over him, at its base littered a forest of rich green pine. He couldn’t enjoy it long as he had work to be done. He continued onward to the small old wooden house. Erected years ago before the town was built, it was now the base for the farm.

  He crossed the threshold and walked to the left, up to the shelving. Placing his bag in his small wooden shelve section, he took out the tools he would need that day. From the corner of his eye, he realised he was being watched. Few were ever inside the old wooden house. As it was only used for keeping possessions and the paperwork for the farm.

  Lepus realised that two people were staring at him from the front desk. He turned, brushing his blonde locks out of his eyes. Standing on the other side of the desk was Yana, who was standing talking to Alice. They both giggled at his surprise.

  “Hey Lepus,” said Yana, “This is Alice, she’s starting today,”

  Alice smiled, her auburn hair was tied up with a loose moss coloured bandana wrapped around her head. Her green eyes enveloped his gaze as he tried to break the stare, but couldn’t. He tried to think of something else to say. But his mouth just turned into a big stupid grin as his brain couldn’t seem to find anything for it.

  “Yes we’ve met,” Lepus said, craning his neck and raising his shoulder.

  Yana smirked and spun around, “You can show her around, I’m going for a smoke” she skipped out and was gone.

  ***

  To see the forest despite the trees

  Lepus’s eyes began to droop as the sweet, soothing Valium wrapped his body. He had been in the hospital for weeks. Or it seemed like weeks; he had stopped looking at the time, the date and even his emails or any outside contact in ages. It all seemed irrelevant to him. He lay relaxed, trying to meditate like they had taught him in class. Although with the Valium kicking in that was somewhat pointless.

  He opened his eyes again, and he was standing, with grand sprays of ocean waves lapping at his face. His hands gripped a metal banister and lifted his head to see a dark, dim sea. The fiery sky seemed to stretch out forever. It was contorting and waving faster than clouds would usual move.

  Lepus looked down at his clothes, he stood straight in a three-piece suit of maroon and drew pocket watch. It had no time on it the hands seemed to only unreadable symbols. The slowest hand to tick from a snake towards a scorpion.

  Lepus realised, as the waves sunk away, that he was aboard the top of a rising submarine. Straining his eyes and looking forward Lepus began to see a blur appear in the distance. Yet at impossible speeds it became land. Then close enough to distinguish as a vast landscape. A dense forest came right up to the shore. He braced himself against the banister and ducked down. Clenching the railing for safety against the gaining speeds. Above the forest, in the background, stood an almighty snow-capped mountain. It stood picture perfect. The dragon raised its slow giant head over the t
reetops. Lepus saw it only for an instance as the submarine pounded into the shore. The force launched Lepus into sand dunes at the edge of the forest. To his surprise he surfaced unharmed. Sputtering from the sand lodged in his mouth, he fumbled to stand. He turned around and watched the great machine which had charioted him. Slip back into the vast calming sea like a creature of the night slipping into the shadows.

  Lepus took only a few seconds to stare astonished at the majestic crashing waves. Knowing how impossible it was for a thing of such size to move in such a way. He stood and dusted himself down, drawn into the dense forest. As he stumbled through the straight, beautiful trees, Lepus saw a large white sign with strange markings. As he got closer the only part of the sign that could be made out said ‘your life is a precious gift,' and he had to lean in close to read it. The light of the sun hit the forest floor, blocked by the thick foliage of the trees. The ground was a maze of slippery rocks and roots. It was a dark, eerie foreboding place, but with an underlying tone of quiet beauty.

  There was no movement, unlike most forests brimming with life, not even a leaf dared to fall.

  Lepus stepped over a log, past the sign and began staring up at the sky, his eyes trying to catch a glimpse of the sky past the forest trees. Trying to see his dragon through the sea of dark green trees. The trees were strange and straight but with intricate interconnecting roots.

  Lepus heard a distant rumbling and began to walk towards the noise. As he approached, a pile of large fallen trees blocked his path. Scuffling up them the pile seemed to get larger and larger. He began to ascend the pile when there was a crack, and his leg whooshed right through a hollow tree. He scrambled trapped by the tree. It began to groan under his weight. A crack formed from the hole, and the husk started to separate.

  Lepus stared down into the deep hole and saw darkness. He felt cold staring into the hollow. He heard a hissing behind him and twisted his neckto look. There brush and mounds of leaves around the tree seemed to fall from forest green and autumn leaves colours to grey then black. Lepus kept still, hoping the tree would hold as he noticed a soundand gathering mass underneath the foliage. Lepus placed his hands on either side of the cracks and tried to raise himself up. His leg, which had been stuck, emerged, and Lepus climbed up to get away from the crack. Stepping on to a live tree which seemed to grow out and away from the pile. Glanced back to the emerging creature as it seemed to manifest itself. Not from under the dead looking leaves they blended and gave form to a sleek black snake. The snake moved up the pile of rotting trees towards Lepus.

  Lepus climbed higher up the strange winding tree. It was green, covered in moss and slippery to the touch. The trunk seemed to contort and bend. Until it became an endless path twisting rough the forest with spiky branches sticking out of it in all directions. Lepus picked up pace as the snake seemed to get closer and closer to him. Growing larger and into a shiny blackness. It started snarling and snapping at his shoes as he ran. The tree twisted and seemed like an endless climbing path. Lepus lost his footing and grabbing onto the branch. Looking down he could see only darkness as the forest was too dense and the tree too high to see the ground. The snake descended on him and opened its mouth unhinging its monstrous jaw as its head loomed over him. Its breath was cool and smelt clear, almost like the ocean.

  The forest went silent, but Lepus seemed to hear a whisper from above. An ominous indiscernible sentence. The snake’s hind seemed to squeeze the tree as it coiled loser. Lepus screamed in fear, knowing the snake was too large for him to fight and too close for him to run. The dragon’s great mouth crunched into the tree, picking up the snake.

  It squealed as Lepus fell through the trees. Lepus saw the snake began to shrink as the tops of the trees left his view. Crashing into a pile of leaves and mud Lepus rolled into a large flat area. As chunks of OD all about Himont too far away the snake fell, still shrinking in size. Lepus’s legs ached as he pushed himself away from the creature. It started to grow. Gnashing its claws as it approached and it legs scuttling up to Lepus. It became a shiny black scorpion. As it continued to shrink, it climbed his body and crawled into his nostrils. Lepus moaned with agony, trying to stop the creature. Then screamed as he fell it scuttling under his skin until it settled in his brain. Lepus leant against a large tree, panting, trying to regain his breath. The dragon, now the size of a dog, landed at Lepus’s legs. Nuzzling his leg, the dragon squeeze tight its eyes and shuffled its rear. Lepus felt the trickle of blood drip slowly to a stop, and then the plain stopped. Without warning, the dragon's wings started to flap, and it lifted off the forest floor. It hovered in front of Lepus’s face for a moment, its tail swaying below it, almost touching the forest floor. They stared into each other's eyes. Lepus was confused and scared, but the dragons soothing confidence starting to calm him. His heart stopped racing, and the dragon seemed to fade away. Lepus was alone, leaning against the tree. He slumped to the ground, amongst the leaves and dirt pressed against the tree. Lepus was alone. The forest was quiet, except a bird’s faint singing in the distance.

  ***

  Scorpius whipped his tail at Dragoon, on the side of his giant belly. They tossedand tumbled, each one seeming to grow and shrink in size as one had the upper hand over the other.

  Lepus watched, shocked and confused from his bed, scratching at his arm where the sedative needle used tobe. Dragoon shrieked in horror, as Scorpius pinned him to the floor, somehow now more giant than the dragon. The mighty Scorpius now around the size of a large man, and the dragon lay pinned screeching like a pig.

  “No,” Lepus called out, his voice hoarse, and sounding like a desperate child, “don’t!”

  Scorpius let out a booming laugh; his voice was distant. As if thrown from him. The great black creature had no mouth; words seem only to emanate from him.

  “The child doesn’t want you dead… what’s wrong old man?” Scorpius’s seemed to be leering at the Dragon.

  “Had your last day in the sun?” Scorpius called out through more echoed laughter; there was a knock at the door. As the dragon continued to shrink and became the size of a ferret. He slipped from the Scorpius's claws, as someone called from the door.

  “Lepus, are you awake? It’s your attending nurse, may I come in?”

  “No… just… just a second” Lepus called out. He knew that if she stepped through the door, that she won’t last long before being thrown into the violence.

  “Hey wait,” The scorpion called out, as the dragon slinked away from his massive claws, making a speedy move to the bed. The scorpion began to make chase, becoming smaller, and smaller as he did. By the time the dragon reached the bottom of the bed, t scorpion wwas the size of a small terrier and the dragon hadshrunk to the size of a tarantula.

  “Lepus…” the door creaked open. As the dragon ran up to Lepus’s neck. He leaned back, confused and tense. The dragon continued to shrink and crawled up into his ear while the scorpion scurried up his chest, neck and then into his nostril.

  “Hello Lepus, how are you feeling?”

  “Much better now,” Lepus said feeling muddled, and looking around the room, “I like it here.”

  “Ah good,” Says the nurse, “Okay then, I’ll let you get some rest,”

  “Good-bye,”

  The door closed behind her.

  ***

  Epilogue

  She placed flowers next to Lepus’s chess board and frowned solemnly. He looked up at her with a pleasant smile, “Hey there,”

  She sniffled; the room was cold and making her nose run.

  She wipes her face as she whispers “Come back.”

  “But I like it here, I want to stay,” Lepus said with a pout of his lips.

  “Everyone misses you, we all just want you back,” she says, sighing

  “Well they can just visit me whenever they want, can’t they?” Lepus says, chuckling

  “I’m happier here; everything is simpler here. I don’t have to stress about who reads my thesis. They awarded me my d
octorate on the work I had already completed.”

  “I’ll… I’ll never forget you.” She chokes through tears. He smiles with deep concern,

  “Why would you ever forget me? I’m right here,” He places his hand over hers, smiling “stop being so dramatic,” Lepus sighed and looked out the window to the beautiful clear sky. “I can read here, write, play music, I’ve learnt to do a handstand too. I love it here,” His words soothing her. Even though she didn't seem to listen to him.

  “I’m not going anywhere.” He laughed again at the thought of people missing him. When he is available anytime for visits “Come one, I’ll see you out,”

  She stood up and started to walk towards the exit. “now that I’m a voluntary patient they don’t mind what areas I walk through.”

  Lepus followed her, just behind her and to the right. Matching her short strides, walking past nurses and other patients. They know that if I leave, I will have to discharge myself, he thought. There would be paperwork and procedure for day trips out so that people can visit family for a few hours.

  If you do that, you have to stay in their company at all times. Another patient Lepus knew was telling him all about how she went to see her daughter’s clarinet recital.

  Lepus walked straight past the admin area and back to his room. His plain white room.

  The Excessive Shrew - Part Two

  The Excessive Shrew’s scrappy little paws fumbled around, finally finding the secret latch under his desk. As they did he heard a booming thud echo through the house, as badger finally had knocked down the front door. Shrew breathed a great sigh as he slinked into the tunnel, only large enough for him, and maybe Otter, who was of a similar shape and size. As Shrew finally reached the end of the first part of his little tunnel, his heart began to slow, the hatch firmly shut behind him and locked, and he began to search around his little cavern trying to find his most precious bottle of wine. A thud echoed from above over frantic curses and growls as the townsfolk toss about his furniture, enraged by his possessions and lush lifestyle,as they search for their felonious embezzler. The Shrew stuffs his wine (an 1811 Chateau d'Yquem) into his prepacked bag and scurries to the end of his secret cellar. Kicking in the wooden planks and falling head first into the mud on the other side of the hill. He stands upright, and suddenly remembers he didn’t take the bonds or gold from his secret safe deep in the cellar.