Insanity! Dreams! Existentialist Metaphors! Oh my!

NaNoWriMo excerpt no one's interested in, because you know who's a lazy blogger?

Taylor is!

Here. It is from this book. Context? First off, Mortimer is dreaming. Secondly, he is a member of a polytheistic society that worships a god named Lopt. Thirdly, he is trapped in a five minute long hallway that has a door that will not open on one end and a portrait of his lord at the other.

The time passed slowly.

Mortimer sang to himself. He babbled, lightly and easily, to his god, how he was sure he would find a way home, positive, he would find his star, he would go back to Richard and his parents and his job. He ran verses from the Law Books through his head like they were songs. He hummed hymns.

He muted the ravenous silence as best he could.

“My stomach hurts.

“From what?

“I don’t know. It’s. I don’t know. I feel sick. Lord, I feel sick.

“There has to be a bathroom around here.

“But I don’t want to throw up.

“It sounds like you need to.

“No, no, I just need to get out of here. I just need to go back to that door.”

Mortimer hesitated. “I’m fine here. We’re fine. It’s okay. Someone will come. Someone always comes. They’ll know what to do.

“I have to go back to the door.

“I have to stay here. It’s safe here. He’s here.” Mortimer nodded to the painting.

“I don’t know.” Mortimer wrapped his arms around his middle. “I don’t know.”

“There’s nothing back there for you.

“There’s a way out.

“There’s no way out.

“There has to be.

“You were there. You saw. The door wouldn’t open.

“We can make it open. We can break the hinges. We can break it down.

“We’re staying here, where it’s safe.

Mortimer looked anxiously over his shoulder.

“You’re right. It’s safe here. We’ll stay here.” Mortimer sank to the floor, leaned against the wall. “We’ll stay right here until someone comes to get us.”

Mortimer supposed he was there for years. Decades. Lifetimes and eons slicked past him.

Alone with his fear and trembling, Mortimer remained, his back to the door at the other end of the hall and the starlit room.