The silver moon steadily rose and soaked the area in a ghastly light.
The occasional sound of faraway cars broke the silence of the night.
The sounds bugged her. It broke her focus. She was here with one goal, and it required silence.
She didn’t plan this perfectly but it had to be done. There was no way out of it now. It had to happen tonight. She thought she would have been scared. But she had to admit – and she did not like it – that she actually felt very calm. Focused and sharp, yes, but her worries kept quiet.
Yet they were still present, prodding in the back of her mind. Screaming for attention. She pushed those thoughts deep down and continued. After all she was a woman with a mission and she could not fail…She kept walking until she saw the sizzling neon light appear, slicing the quiet darkness with their screaming glow. When she came closer the contours of the diner appeared
Out of nowhere, arms grabbed her tightly, pulling her behind the nearest van. She started to protest but stopped as soon as she saw who it was.
it felt like her heart skipped a beat while she glanced over the handsome, pale face. The deep eyes gleamed with a firey red. His sharp teeth were framed by luscious lips. She had seen this face in her dreams and nightmares.
Her breath rushed out of her, she instinctively looked down,hiding her face. She quickly glanced back to where she came from, could she out run him? because that is what her instinct told her to do. Even if she wanted to, her feet remained frozen to the ground. She once heard that rabbits, deer and other prey-animals freeze when they look in the light of a speeding car. Almost as if their brains are programmed to run when there is a chance but to stop and make peace when they look into the bright halogeen abyss of inevitability. Was this it? Right in this moment…
The handsome stranger simply smiled at her. Could he smell her fear? Or read her thoughts? She wondered briefly.
“I’m sorry if I startled you, it wasn’t my intention” he said softly, not skipping a beat.
She didn’t trust him , yet there was just something about him…
“Le..let go of me”. She spewed the words at him. Her mouth is dry. His long fingers loosened their grip. Yet when their skin did not longer touch he felt closer than ever. It was like he was a part of her. Her pupils dilated and her body went numb. “Listen,” a deep voice echoed from within her skull but it wasn’t her own voice.
“I have seen what’s in your heart. Your dreams and nightmares”. The stranger kept locking eyes but did not speak, although it was clearly his voice in her mind. “I am here to warn you, the portal is open” and then..
The earth shook. All of the seventh circles of hell erupted on earth.
The mission she came here for was just a minor detail at this point. There were bigger things at hand.
Creatures that crawled through the cracks of the earth were on a whole new level of scary, the things she used to have nightmares about were nothing compared to this.
The stranger didn’t look that terrifying anymore, on the contrary, he seemed pleasant, even more beautiful in a way.
“We need to go, now!” He ordered as he grabbed her hand.
She hesitated, only for a brief moment. Anything would be better than this she thought…
She felt how the man pulled her up. Some strength returned to her legs. As she began to move she looked over her shoulder and caught the reflection of her own face in the window of a van. Her jaw was unhinged and her flesh melted from her skin. Her lungs filled themselves with hot air and she gasped. Her eyes were as red and smokey as his and the only difference was that hers started popping out of their sockets. Like little glass orbs, melting. She looked away and screamed.
“Are you alright?” A friendly voice asked. All her senses returned. She could feel the comfortably warm summer evening on her skin, she could hear the cars buzzing in the distance and the low hum the neon signs produced. She opened her eyes and looked around, stunned. An old lady glared at her, concerned. She inhaled two times and fainted. No nightmares, no dreams, just a comfortable nothingness.
Waking up from those sweet nothingness didn’t come without any consequences.
She brought her hand to her head. “Oh god that hurts,” she said.
All while the sky turned rose and mauve and a deep, soft purple. Colors she wanted to spin out of the air into something.
It looked like a painting, something she would describe like the summer sky kissed the evening light hello with a lingering kiss. It was beautiful, peaceful even.
There is a peace in the sunset that surpasses all understanding. It’s a rebirth, a feeling that everything can be possible again.
That is how she felt right now, still wondering if she was still in a dream.