Wake-up call
Darkness expands and swallows all the light leaving me void of feeling and life. Time crashes over itself like a continuous wave beating down on still water. I am unsure where I am and what I am as if I have dived into a galaxy far bigger than my mind can comprehend. My sight appears and disappears like a ghost hesitant between life and death. All my senses are then freed and yet I still feel imprisoned. My sight arrives, firstly with my greatest enemy darkness, and then explosions of fireworks. I hear the humming of what I believe to be a turntable playing and replaying a scratchy version of a familiar song. I am told by a blurry figure that I have awoken from a long-term coma.
My body gets control steadily and hesitantly like the sun peeking out to see if the moon has gone. The once blurry figure is now a tall arching ancient-looking woman with youthful doe eyes. Usually with strangers, I am uncomfortable and jitty like an impatient bee waiting for the flowers to bloom, but I was calm. The woman whispered unintelligible words and it echoed and bounced against the walls, as if the walls were my brain.
I rose to my feet and tried to get my balance by staring at the ground hoping that I would embody the same traits the ground has stableness. The woman whispered more clearly,’’ Follow me, I want to show you your castle.’’ I began to follow her and I expected to stumble when taking my first step, but instead it came with ease. I glided across the ground so elegantly a flying bird would fall out of envy. I come to a halt behind a scraggly woman in rags so heavy-looking it seems like chains are weighing her down. She is staring at the castle and in a croaky voice spills out, ‘’This is your happiness and you are the architect yet it is built on rotting dreams.’’
I am frightened by my happiness, its garden is barren and dry. I had an empty expectation of what I thought my life would be. The memories crawl into the jungle that is my brain and I remember. I remember saving my money on a dream vacation, making promises that were hollow vessels, and spending all my time preparing for happiness.
A drum starts beating in the far distance as darkness falls upon my jungle and the memories scatter away out of fear. The woman is now a familiar child with a taunting smile, eery and unnaturally wide. She sings as she skips cheerfully away. The further she leaves my sight the more I know darkness is running towards me. The drum becomes louder and slower at the same time and the darkness grabs me and becomes me. I scream,’’ I want more time!’’ and a symphony of laughter attacks me. The drum stops.