Welcome
27/05/2026
RedBlack D. Lawrence
Parts of my grandfather’s property did not belong to him but to other forces.
These energies scrambled my innards and fused my soul.
At the front of the house was a decommissioned barbershop; a zone caught in limbo and shrouded by permanent twilight, the exposed brick walls and aged mirrors scowled at all who entered.
At the right-hand side of the shop’s front door was the entrance to the cellar. The trapdoor into the cellar was roughly chopped and revealed the knife edge lip of a black crevice.
This blackness would shoot out and burrow itself through my corneas, it rushed so deep that it would crash-land at the back of my skull with a thud.
The Blackness lured me in………
The fear of the cellar was equally matched by feelings of ecstasy. I lifted the hatch, stage-by-stage, it sounded like a camera shutter click and with every click shock waves of warmth and cold grew up my body until crushing my windpipe. The stale air that drifted out of the basement was permeated by smells of rum, sulphur, incense, dust, coconuts, sweets and iron.
A party in silence.
A red glow emanated from wooden steps pushing downward into this subterranean vessel. I recall someone being in there with me, what was this thing in the pitch black? A hand stroked my head with nails like pins, a whisper in my ear as smooth and cutting as fresh razors said……..
Welcome Black, I am Red.
Text © RedBlack D. Lawrence
Photographs © Jon C Archdeacon
These energies scrambled my innards and fused my soul.
At the front of the house was a decommissioned barbershop; a zone caught in limbo and shrouded by permanent twilight, the exposed brick walls and aged mirrors scowled at all who entered.
At the right-hand side of the shop’s front door was the entrance to the cellar. The trapdoor into the cellar was roughly chopped and revealed the knife edge lip of a black crevice.
This blackness would shoot out and burrow itself through my corneas, it rushed so deep that it would crash-land at the back of my skull with a thud.
The Blackness lured me in………
The fear of the cellar was equally matched by feelings of ecstasy. I lifted the hatch, stage-by-stage, it sounded like a camera shutter click and with every click shock waves of warmth and cold grew up my body until crushing my windpipe. The stale air that drifted out of the basement was permeated by smells of rum, sulphur, incense, dust, coconuts, sweets and iron.
A party in silence.
A red glow emanated from wooden steps pushing downward into this subterranean vessel. I recall someone being in there with me, what was this thing in the pitch black? A hand stroked my head with nails like pins, a whisper in my ear as smooth and cutting as fresh razors said……..
Welcome Black, I am Red.
Text © RedBlack D. Lawrence
Photographs © Jon C Archdeacon