Morning all. I had strange dreams I can’t quite remember. I do know there was a circus ring master who turned out to be a marionette but that is all I can remember. That is going to bother me all day. But for now, it is on with the morning prompt.
Yeah I am going to have to play with this one.
Thursday, March 27th: It was made of obsidian.
It was made of obsidian. The silvery stone gleamed in the torch light. Despite being rock, it looked wickedly sharp. I frowned wondering what was going on. The rational part of my brain wanted to think this was some sort of movie set, but the blade looked too sharp to be a prop.
The rest of the items didn’t look right for props either. They looked like ritualistic items and seemed to fit with the blade, but they weren’t showy. They were worn and well used. The colors were faded through time and not artistically. These pieces would not show well on the camera.
And yet there were cameras. I could see them set up around the perimeter of the well lit area. The light, several stage lights all trained on a clearing in the woods were what drew me from my campsite. I thought I might catch a glimpse of a film being made. I was careful to stay out of what I thought would be the filming area as well as out of sight. I didn’t want to be found out and chased away before I saw what was going on, nor did I want to ruin whatever they were filming.
‘Maybe they are going for hyper realistic instead of cheesy,’ I thought. My eyes kept slipping back to that obsidian blade. I knew in the theater, blades, like razor blades had tape put over them to take away any edge they might have and make them safe to use.
‘Maybe they just want a shot of the blade looking sharp before they use it in the scene.’ I suspected that if they planned to do anything with the blade they would have to render it safe before use.
The blade made me nervous though and I was beginning to rethink my curiosity. Perhaps I should go back to my campsite and forget about this, whatever this was. I started to put thought into motion when people began to arrive. I froze, not wanting to draw attention.
The people were in costume. The sight was oddly reassuring. Large masks with grotesque wooden faces. A busty blonde with perfect hair and teeth wearing a white sacrificial gown that tried to look demure but still clung to her curves. I felt myself relax. Clearly this was a movie set.
One of the masked men picked up a metal box. It had several buttons and he pressed a couple. More lights flooded the area making it bright as day. It threw me further into shadows. I slipped out my cell phone and began recording the scene. I would never release it, but I wanted to see if I could later find the movie. Despite the expensive equipment I didn’t think this was a blockbuster and I would probably have to search for indie films to find it.
I planned to only take enough images to identify it. The man with the box pressed a few more buttons and a dry ice machine kicked on spilling a low lying fog over the ground. Music began to play. The music was a rhythmic chanting with drums. As there were only three men and the woman my guess was the music was meant to give the impression they were surrounded by a crowd.
I watched and waited as everyone got into place. The woman knelt on the ground, her long white dress pooling around her. She looked resolutely into the camera. One of the masked men picked up one of the ritual bowls and another picked up the knife. He pulled her head back and sliced it across her neck. I watched as her blood spilled down.
Ten til Midnight 