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In The Air Tonight


Serifyn

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In The Air Tonight.


Looking down through the mist on the cobblestone road by the riverside, a faint visage of a man kneeling down while another man beside him reaches up for help from the murky river.

Rather than helping the drowning man, the dark man places his arms on the shoulders of the drowning man and submerges him, the last bubbles of air float up to the surface as the struggling stopped soon after.

Slowly, the dark man gets up, picking up his derby hat from the dampened road, replacing the hat onto his head, he looked up at the moon though the mist, reaching into his pocket and finding his lighter as his other hand reaches into his coat pocket to grab a cigarette.

looking down from the bridge above, a saw his face bear a smile of satisfaction, he savored the moment, his hands shook with nerves as he brought a cigarette to his mouth and brought the lighter to it, taking in a quick puff and blowing it out to merge with the mist which had surrounded him

I never forgot his face, it haunted me for years, i grew to hate the man and his actions, what i had seen in my childhood years defined who i would become, a damaged and scarred man who hid behind a facade.

I lived for many years like this, pretending to be a normal member of society, hiding my mental wounds as best i could, i had gotten good at pretending, but still my thoughts remained of the man, how he was still somewhere doing the same, living his life under a guise.

It was fate that we would meet again, he greeted me as he came into the cigar shop i had been working at part time, wearing a derby hat on his head, similar to the one burned into my memory, his aged face smiled as he greeted me, his voice sent chills down my spine as we both traded pleasantries, our dueling disguises hid our dark secrets.

He placed an order for a large box cigarettes to be sent to his residence, giving my own smile, i agreed to deliver the cigarettes myself.

That night i stepped out of my car with the box of cigarettes, my hands shook as i handled the box from below, one hand secured completely under the box, the other securing the object i had brought along with me, i turned toward the man's house as my entire body shook in anticipation, my face formed into a smile as i took a step forward, walking into the mist.

---


There are many interpretations of Phil Collins' "In The Air Tonight", some people believe it is a story of him witnessing a murder and then seeing the man again during one of his shows, the lyrics of the song are incredibly dark, describing how he would react to seeing the man again.

writers often use devices to describe an emotion, a situation or an event, in this particular song, 'The Air' represents anticipation, for what we don't know, but in this interpretation I've taken it one step further.

The Air is not only the feeling of anticipation, but literally the air around him, or mist. The mist becomes synonymous with murder, particularly the mist the main character remembers has he recalls the dark man murdering another in cold blood.

the event changed him forever, like any traumatic event, rather than heal his wounds the main character only allows them to scab over, creating a fake personality to hide his anger and hatred.

When the main character sees the dark man again, his old wounds are reopened and the main character knows what he must do.

Leaving his car and turning toward the residence of the dark man, the main character turns to enter the mist himself and in that moment it is implied that he himself turns into a murderer.
 
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