Darkness

"Just keep running! Keep running! You have to keep running!" Those are the only thoughts in my head as my bare feet pound against the floor that isn't really there. Every sense is alive in me. I can feel the cool nothing beneath my feet, the stale air running through my hair, swimming in my lungs. My eyes burning as they strain to see into the darkness ahead, I listen to the stomps of the gigantic, horrible thing chasing me. It towers over me, being at least fifty feet high and a strange, bright orange. Its footfalls shake the very foundation I hope actually exists and the roars coming from deep within it make the hair on the back of my neck stand up on end. Every muscle in my body calls out for rest and my lungs ache for fresh air but with a glimpse of the wretched being behind me, the very notion of stopping, even for a moment, instantly vanishes.

My long, laced gown of white cotton traces after my body as I race fown this invisible, black corridor. No twists, no turns, simply straight ahead, but where am I going? How do I escape? These thoughts demand answers as they dance inside my head with the simple command, "Keep running!" The only light shines on me and the beast, as if an unknown, hidden spotlight is pointing down at us. Must I run forever?

Then, suddenly, the ground I knew never truely was there gives way and I'm falling. The beast is gone, not falling next to me as I had expected. The pit I fall into seems bottomless, and again, my sight cannot penetrate it. the spotlight is focused on me, and me alone. As relieved as my muscles, my lungs, my body are to have stopped running, fear floods my veins and overtakes my mind. I panic and flail into the nothingness hoping to find a wall to cling to, but knowing I won't. And so I continue to fall, surrounded by darkness, wrapped in my white gown, my long hair trailing after me, and drowning in the fear of the unknown.

And then it happens. My fall ends. I lay sprawled on my bed; the bed of my childhood. I look up at the white canopy and wonder how, if I landed on my bed, that I did not rip through the canopy first. Getting over my wonder, I realize there is a distant rumble from far away. The darkness stills claws at me, threatening to swallow me whole, but my single spotlight fights it off. I crawl under my white, laced cotton blankets on my bed and pull my knees to my chin, holding myself together. As the rumbling becomes more distinct I realize what it is: the giant footfalls of the horrid thing after me. Forcing myself, I peek out from under the covers. Just as my eyes are uncovered, my bed shakes and bricks of red and blue build around me. Vibrant hues of every shade possible appear, but I take no time to ponder this. Panic and fear return and I stand on my bed, clawing, pounding, slamming against my prison.

A crackling noise sounds and I look up. There is the monster looking down at me. He had ripped my canopy off. Suddenly, I want the canopy back and the safety if my newly created box. My body is frozen. I cannot move as I stare up into the beast. He has grown at least twice in size and continues to grow as the bricks keep adding up. He seems to be smiling, smiling an evil, wicked smile, a smile telling me he has won. I grow angry, but this doesn't last long as he throws back his head and lets out a roar. It chills me to the very tips of my fingers and toes, shaking the walls. His roar grows louder and I scream. I scream. I scream to no one but myself. I scream out of fear, out of loss. I scream because there is nothing else left for me to do.