Swishing golden halos surround me, tall and long overhead. I hear the long forgotten melody of a chickadees song. The hair on my arms stand straight, as a breeze whispers sweet nothings through the forest floor. I lie in wait of a sign, A sign telling me that I have dissapeared so far into my own insanity, i've lost track of my reality. I lie for hours, still as a predator hunting its pray. I lie for so long, I lose count of how many breaths I take, and how my blinks get longer as my eyelids get heavier. Sleep comes to me quickly turning my body into molten lead.
I slowly open my eyes. I'm chained down to the floor with grogginess, my heartbeat slow like wet butterfly wings. Night has fallen, and I haven't reamerged out of the pockets in my mind. This has never happened before, not like this. I've never fallen asleep and woken up still hiding away in a fantasy. I wipe the hair out of my eyes, as my vision adjusts to the darkness. The shadows of trees reach out for me, And I move to run.
"You shouldn't be doing that, sweet'art" a gruff voice rings out in the twilight. My pulse quickens and in one shaking breathe I repeat; 'it's in your head it's in your head you aren't here you're in your head you'll wake up and be in the room and it will be feeding day and you're in your head your head in your head'
I spin circles around myself. Everythings flashing in front of me, a billion memories per second. Blurring through the forgotten magic that I tucked into the cavities of my mind. I didn't wake up. I never went to sleep. I escaped.
Somebody grabs my shoulders, forcing me to face them. "Hey, hey It's a'right. Nothing will hurt you here." His grip is rough on my skin and I get instantaneous tingles moving down my spine. To feel the touch of another person is to feel like you are alive. I could fly. The world is amazing beautiful i'm never leaving I love it here oh my god i'm alive i'm out i'm out I'M OUT!!!
"-but then again you have been out for quite some time. I found you lying here just a little over a year ago, and when I tried to move you started kicking to all hell. Are you even listening to me?" My eyes snap up to meet his turqoise blue and golden ones, shimmering together like a sunset over the ocean."I um, I....yeah-no. Sorry it's just you're an actual person and... and gorgeous...." I trail off lost in thought, he raises his left eyebrow. "No no I meant that you're the first person i've seen in a while, not that you aren't gorgeous I mean you are, but I just..." The deep vibrations of a laugh rumble up through his throat and explode into the darkness shattering the leftover debris of my awkward lamenting. "Well thank you darlin' but I think we should save the compliments till morning. If we don't find shelter soon I'm afraid there won't be much of us left to compliment." He started into a brisk pace looking over his shoulder every once in a while to make sure I was following.
"why do we have to leave so soon?" I ask, a tremble rising up in my voice.
"The wraiths they-" The strange man replies.
"The what's?"
"Wraiths, keep up. The wraiths only feed off of the living. You had no pulse, but seemed to still be alive. So I left you there, keeping you clean and changing your clothes every once in a while"
"I don't understand how could I be dead but alive at the same time? And didn't you say I was kicking when you moved me?"
"Yes dead and alive, not a hard concept to grasp. Careful there's a log, I just figured it was your bodies natural defense mechanism. Like you've gone into a sort of hyper-sleep."
"How long was I lying there?" I stopped walking staring at his back."You changed my clothes!! Oh my god that means you saw-"
"Yes I changed your clothes," he stops and faces me, "I respect women. I didn't do anything to you"
I sigh in relief, however still uncertain about exactly what he saw. A skin shattering screech echoes through the murky forest. I can feel the ground tremble to the beat of my heart. Something is coming.
The strange man presses his ear to the nearest tree listening, I try to count the seconds of silence, but all I can hear is blood rushing through me. Fast and disorienting. In a moment, I get swooped up into his arms, and he takes off. He hardly makes any noise sprinting through the underbrush, agile and limber like a giant cat. I get the distinctive feeling he's done this before, that he knows these woods by heart.
Another shriek rings out. This time closer, this time the monster that's following us is getting closer. "OOF" He trips and both of us go sprawling, to the left of me bushes rustle, to the right twigs snap. I curl into a ball and cover my face. This is not happening. Through my tremors, i hear hoofs and grunts. Something snorts hot air onto my neck, I want to scream, I want to get up and run, I want to fight. I am paralyzed with fear. The creature releases a curdling scream, and a flash of white hot fire burns my eyelids. The last thing I hear is laughter.
ns 15.158.61.48da2
