Dreams

Dissolving, slowly fading into obscurity, sinking into the ground. Nostrils tingling, no sensations coming through, fingers itching, skin crawling. Earth sucking you in, deeper and deeper, becoming smaller and smaller. Covering your shivering mouth, your tongue being pricked by a thousand invisible pins, slowly rising to your nose, inhaling all the mud, covering your eyes.

Darkness.

Skin tingling, you do not know if it is inside your head. There are insects crawling over you, ruffling through your clothes, bouncing off the folds of your skin, your body is a hive, teeming with thousands of living beings. Soon, your skin will melt away, becoming part of the earth, leaving a dead body, your eyes will dissolve into the ground, longer worms, bigger insects will play hide and seek in your skull. Hiding behind the empty sockets. …Nine… Ten… I’m coming to find you…

The ground smells warm, like cookies and mint, and freshness. Fresher than anything else you will experience, ever. The smell is slowly fading away from your conscious. Your brain cannot handle it. It is shutting down. The darkness is everywhere. Slowly, your brain succumbs, your eyes could have adjusted but your brain does not know. You are in the womb of the earth, and you are now a baby. You are afraid. Everything is dark. You are a mewling, barely alive infant.

Slowly, eyes closing. Trying to hold on to things, trying to hold on to what makes you human. You feel yourself sinking, the earth sucking you in, hugging you tighter to her bosom.

Darkness. And then there was light.

Glowering, raging, arid.

The fire lights up the walls of the cavern, flickering, dancing, hungry. It grows taller as it senses you approaching. You blink so hard that tears fall out of your hurting eyes. When you open them, you are in the fire. You look at your hands, they are aflame. It doesn’t burn, you sigh in relief. Your mouth remains open as your eyes widen, and a hoarse, animal scream escapes you. One second, it was cooling, then, as if a switch was flicked on, it was burning hotter than the hottest fires on earth. Infernos on earth were but flickers from a lighter to the fire in this place. The cavern twinkles. You burn.

You can not take it anymore, the fire is eating you alive. You will die. You pray you pass out. Your prayers are answered, you do. You pass out from the pain. The smell wakes you up, it is horrible. Strong, putrid, disgusting. The smell is you. You are roasting. You are awake. Hairless. Skin, like a newborn. Fresh, clean, free from blemishes. You are born anew. You are burning. You hear a hissing over the roar. You look around you for the first time. The pit is wide, it is all aflame, a pool of fire. The hissing comes from a snake that is slithering towards you. Its great body is on fire, the fire dancing from side to side. Its eyes are empty sockets, out of which flame flickers, seeing you, scorching you with its glance. Malicious. You scream.