From Flesh and Bone are Monsters Grown

Summary

Doctor Jones, a researcher obsessed with an ancient artefact, becomes the victim of a swarm of silverfish within the archives, which evolve to prefer human blood and skin over their usual diet.

Abstract

Doctor Jones is depicted as a dedicated scholar who spends her days in a secure archive, obsessively seeking the truth about a mysterious artefact. Her research is complicated by prophecies that are as elusive as the silverfish consuming the archival materials. These silverfish, initially feeding on the ink and parchment made of human remains, evolve to crave fresh human sustenance. After a paper cut introduces Doctor Jones's blood to the silverfish, they swarm and consume her, leaving only her bones. The archives, once a place of knowledge, become a trap for the unwary, as the silverfish now guard the prophecy with a taste for human flesh.

Opinions

The narrative suggests that the pursuit of knowledge can be dangerous, leading to one's downfall, as seen with Doctor Jones's fate.
There is a sense of irony in the fact that the silverfish, once mere pests, become monstrous guardians of the very prophecies they were destroying.
The story implies a cycle of consumption and transformation, where the archives feed on the researcher as much as she studies them.
The author seems to play with the idea that even the most mundane creatures can become threatening under the right circumstances.
There is an underlying theme of the unpredictable nature of prophecies and the futility of trying to decipher absolute truths from ancient texts.

A story-poem for Share the Love May 2020

Doctor Jones returns day after day, locks the solid damp-proof door.

She scours the archives seeking truths about the artefact.

But the truth is shrouded in prophecy.

And prophecy, as gods and men both know, is a tetchy thing, bound to change on a whim. As slippery as the silverfish eating through the ink and parchment on which the oracle’s words are strewn.

Therein lies the emergency, the urgency to decipher truth before it is consumed.

And the silverfish grow fatter and not any less hungry, for the ink is human blood and the parchment human skin.

After aeons in the dusty archives, reading about ancient lives, the good Doctor begins to contribute her own skin as motes in the air and a fine silvering about her chair.

An enterprising little silverfish takes a nibble on a tasty follicle and invites his argent friends to feast.

One evening, late, a paper cut from the sharp edge of a document drips a vermillion drop of her blood amongst the dust.

One ravenous silverfish- who knows which one, they are legion now- takes a sup, and trumpets out the find.

In orgiastic delight the ravening hordes of wingless, wee beasties descend, frenzied, and swarm over the Doctor’s hand to find the ambrosial source.

And she, who has locked the door to deny other treasure seekers access, is trapped within the archive and consumed, all bar bone; for the silverfish have not yet teeth enough to gnaw through to the honeycomb of marrow.

Not yet.

The prophecy is safe, for the silverfish have lost their taste for dehydrated food and learned preference for the real thing, warm haemoglobin and fresh human skin.

So, treasure seeker, beware the archive under the library stair, for there be monsters lurking where flesh and bone are bound without care.

This is written in response to Martin Rushton’s Share The Love May 2020 prompt to write a poem including the words doctor, emergency and archive. So, thank you Martin for providing the prompt and sending my mind off down a twisty little path!

More poetry by Alex Kilcannon

From Flesh and Bone are Monsters Grown

A story-poem for Share the Love May 2020

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