Nightmare

Why can't I find you?
Where have you gone?
Oh, how much I miss you
To you I am drawn



       I opened my eyes. Grey was all around me. Two walls stood on either side of me in a hallway that seemed to stretch on forever. Grey pebbles dug into my back as I stared into a grey sky, speckled with white clouds. Everything looked like I was in the middle of an old black-and-white movie. All sound was muffled as I sat up. I looked around me. On either side of me, both ends of the hallway were shrouded in black. No light leaked into the spaces. I looked down to my hands. My skin was a pale grey.

       A speck of red entered my peripheral vision. I turned. A red string was retreating into the darkness of one of the ends of the hallway. I chased after it. I don't know why. I just did. Big mistake.

       The string kept sliding out of reach every time I reached for it. The darkness copied the string. I dove at the string, only to have it jerk out of reach yet again. I fell flat on my face. I grimaced in frustration and ran after the fast-receding string. The darkness and the string both seemed to be steadily slowing down. I jumped for it. I caught the string by the end. I cried out in triumph, but the triumph in my voice shifted quickly to pain.

       I pulled my hand away from the string. My finger were burning hot. I looked down at my hand. The red blood beading up against my grey skin was shockingly bright. Frantically, my head whipped back and forth, looking between the string and my blood. They were the same color. The color of the string was the stain of years of dried blood.

       I chased after the string at a full sprint. The darkness was receding. I could see something in the midst of the blackness. A white summer dress billowed in the dark. More and more of the owner of the dress came into view. Black hair barely made itself seen. Arms swung back and forth cheerfully. A hum echoed in the silence. I recognized the tune. I hummed along to it. I slowed down as the tune enveloped me.

       I shook my head clear. I had to catch her. Whoever was humming. Whoever was pulling that string. I ran faster. Suddenly, the hallway split in two. I ignored the second tunnel and followed the string. The hallway split more and more until it was an outright maze. I heard giggling. I saw the girl linger at the corners of the maze just long enough for me to turn the corners. But every time I did, she would be at the next one or fading into the darkness, blood tainted string trailing behind.

       I turned a corner. I nearly had a heart attack when I saw her right there, waiting. This was the first time I saw her face clearly. Her clear hazel eyes, her pale complexion. I called your name and she lifted her head. Tears filled my eyes. I called your name again and she smiled.

       I tried to rush to you, but the darkness always at the end of the hallways condensed right behind you. It Loomed over you, threatening to swallow you whole. You were completely unaware. I shouted out you name in fear. I gathered you in my arms and shielded you from the darkness. It reared up and swiped down. Red blood spurted all over the walls as the blackness cut through my back. I screamed in pain.

       I bit down on my tongue, holding back my screams, and opened my eyes. You were gone. I looked frantically in every direction, looking for you. Finally, I looked behind me. The blackness had retreated, but so had you. I saw the black surround you. I saw it wrap itself around you. I saw it grip you. I cried out your name as loud as I could, but the ground opened up from under me. Tears stung my eyes as I saw the darkness tear you apart, piece by piece. The whole time you were smiling.

       I struggled in my own personal darkness. I screamed and kicked, but nothing worked. The black swallowed me slowly and painfully. The tears spilled over. The blackness seeped into me through my mouth, my ears, my nose, every pore of my body, of my being. It stabbed itself into my mind and repeated the fleeting seconds in which I saw you being eaten by the darkness over and over and over and over...

       It spit me back out into the hallway. The last images of you I had played like a video player stuck on "repeat." I was in the hallway again. I saw the black blood. The blood from both your veins and mine. Even my own red blood had turned black. The only color left in the grey world was the tattered string. By now I was numb inside. I walked to the string. I crouched down to it and grabbed it at the very end.

       I ignored the burning pain, the searing sting of the string. Tears once again sprang into my eyes. I picked up the string with both hands. I brought it to my face, crying my eyes out into it. The pain of the string seared into my skin. It burned into my face as I cried into it. The pain of seeing you being torn apart by the blackness was too much for me. I cried and I cried until I couldn't cry anymore.

       My eyes opened. You were there, in front of me. You asked if I was okay. You told me I had a fever. I didn't care. Before you could finish talking, I kissed you. I grabbed the back of your neck and pulled you into a kiss. You didn't seem to care that I was sick. You kissed me back. Gladly. Right in the hospital bed, we kissed. After that nightmare, I needed it.