The first thing to
come back to me was my sense of smell. A sharp, putrid, smell that could only
be burning flesh screamed through my nostrils and into my brain. As if
triggered by the smell, my hearing returned. Explosions, screaming, and chaos
sounded all around me. Fighting to remain calm, I waited for my vision to
return to me. As if someone had turned a light on in a deep, dark room, my
vision snapped back.
Standing in front
of me was a beautiful woman. Her electric blue eyes bore through every inch of
my soul. Every small movement her face made, any change in expression, any
breath she took in, quickly began to rob me of more and more of my sanity. I tried to talk, but nothing happened.
Breathing, being the only thing I could manage to force myself to do, became my
main priority.
When I had
breathing under control, I began to think. How had I gotten here? Why was this
woman here? Names, thoughts, memories, scents, places, more memories quickly
raced through my mind as if someone had just released a blockade. Moments of
intimacy, moments of pain, pleasure, agony. Flipping through each of these
memories, however, allowed me no new information about this woman. Looking past
her shoulder, I noticed a pile of what could only have been a building at one
point.
A sharp pain, beginning in my neck and
shooting to the arches of my feet, brings my attention back to the present. She
is talking now, looking directly at me. A flurry of emotions spread through my
brain like wildfire. The first emotion to take hold of me is sweet, joyous
love. Then, without warning, sorrow takes hold, followed quickly by anger.
“Confusing, aren’t
they?” The sound of her voice sent shivers down my spine. “The emotions, I
mean.” She was looking down at me with an unreadable expression.
“Wh-“ I try to
speak, but quickly fail. Somehow, I couldn’t remember how to take the words
formed in my mind, and project them.
“Are you trying to ask where you
are?” She asked looking up into the sky. I nodded, and somehow she registered
the movement. “You’re dead,” she said simply, and began to laugh.
