Shadow Mists
Written: January 27, 2002
Shadow Mists is my Beowulf, my War and Peace, my Odyssey. This story, along with The Rope and The Third Date, is what I consider not only one of my favorites but one of my best written pieces. Where The Rope was the story in which I sharpened my teeth writing BDSM erotica, and The Third Date is my favorite Femdom story, Shadow Mists is where I took the home run swing in the bottom of the ninth with the bases loaded, two out, and a three and two count. It took over four years to write (the first scene was written back in '98 or '99) and encompassed quite a lot of different ideas. I was pleased with it.
Not so much everyone else. The comments I got when I posted it to the newsies (and there were markedly fewer comments) tended to say they didn't understand it. And I can understand their lack of understanding. It is kind of a muddled affair. The first act was written long before the final paragraph. Toss in a few fantasy scenes, aliens (no shit), and an ending that is at odds with where you probably thought the story was going.
Basically, I had this really cool idea of a dark front-man in a band that seduces a young girl with (here we go again) the Beast inside her. During my college days in St. Louis one of the best places to go see live punk music was a night club called Harpo's. After turning the legal age (of course) I promptly fell in love with the place and, in particular, their house band Athena And The Hubcaps. Athena was a very sexy brunette female front who did nothing but sing and she alone packed the place. I couldn't wait for Friday night to roll around so I could stand in the front row of the little packed bar and gaze up at my Athena.
Years later, I became involved in a rock band with my brothers and a few friends and we did play a few places like Murphy's - wild raucous affairs. Believe me, there is nothing like standing in front of a screaming, beast of a crowd, mouthing the words you are singing, swaying and pulsing with your music.
That's the first scene. I wrote it and promptly put it on hold. At that time I showed it to one of my friends overseas and both she and her Dominant boyfriend loved it. In fact, her boyfriend actually went to school in the states in Chicago and remembered quite a few bars that reminded him of Murphy's. But, like the story, the friendship faded and I haven't heard from either in years.
Enter Tracie. I think I met her on one of my numerous (and ultimately disappointing) romps on AOL. She introduced me to the world of MUSH, an online role-playing environment, all text based. This particular MUSH was D/s oriented and she proved to be quite an accomplished writer. Artist as well. Anyway, we got to know each other pretty well and found that we both suffered from sleepwalking - her more so. My sleepwalking stopped (mostly) in my teens, although I still have those embarrassing moments where I awake from sleep on the other side of the room with my pillow flying like a frisbee at the dark corners (I played little league baseball so I do manage to hit the corners every time), Tracie still had episodes. And that is where it gets interesting - these episodes of Tracie's started to include weird flying triangles and lights in her bedroom and the odd feeling that she was being visited by aliens. Laugh if you like - I pretty much laugh at a lot of discussion having to do with aliens (all of it from those idiots thick-headed enough to think that we are alone in the universe). So Tracie pretty much determined the way that Shadow Mists turned out. When I presented her with the final text (she hadn't even known I was going to write something like this) she wept and said that I had nailed so much about her.
If you're interested in this story, please stick it out until the end. It's like one of those 60's and 70's rock ballads that have a few different, seemingly bizarre twists in them but I promise I bring it home in the end. I think I hit my home run (but I always did have a big head...)
Toran