1. The Fear Looming

I woke with a start! My feverish dreams stirring me from an otherwise still sleep. My breath condensing in frightened mist in front of my lips and slowly drifting across the room. Slowly dissipating as it drifted near the window, drawn by the draft. The night almost still, except for the breeze brushing its fingers against the window and trees outside.

I steeled myself against the cold and my own beating heart, settling back into bed. My ears still listening to the breeze. Just the gentle click-clack of branch on branch, gently soothing my disturbed sleep. Click-clack, and my eyes drew heavy. Click-clack, and the world seemed somehow safer. Click-clack, click-clack, click-clack, zoom! My eyes shot open and I rushed to the window as fast as the shuttle I'd heard. Tearing at the curtains I peered outside into the dark and there it was glinting in the gloom... the Loom! 

The metal fixtures of the wooden loom flashed as it continued its cathartic construction. Click-clack, and another line of doom was entombed in the weave of hate. Click-clack, my eyes moved from the threads to look at the operator. The britches, the black cap, the long grey beard and the piercing eyes full of hate. His lips forever mouthing “You can never weave!” and I began to scream. 

[Continues in Sheds of Fate]