His Little Flame

Chapter 1: Peach Tea

☽ MAEVE ☾

I rose my head and felt the breeze fan past my face. I opened my eyes and saw nothing but endless fields of tulips. Red, pink, and yellow, among many other colors just stretching beyond the eye can see in perfect uniform rows. The bright sun elegantly shined upon me and the flowers. It was a blissful scene. It truly was.

Then the wind began to get stronger and stronger. My hair whipped around my face violently. I looked around the fields to see everything begin to change. I looked up into the sky to see the sun missing. It wasn't above or even behind me, nor was it set below the horizon. It was just gone.

The world started to grow dark. The sky was pitch black, yet I could still see perfectly fine. I felt an eerie presence so I turned my head to look behind me. The tulips started to wilt and wither away. It got faster and faster until it reached my feet. It burned...  It was as if someone poured boiling water on my feet.

I started to run and run down the endless fields of tulips while the withering darkness chased me.

I heard thunder crackle before the rain poured down heavily. I didn't let the sudden change in weather slow me down. If anything I quickened my pace, and I pushed myself to run faster, ignoring the ache in my legs and lack my lack of breath.

All of a sudden it dawned on me. Where was I running? There was nothing but wilted flowers all around me. There was no exit. No escape.

My feet naturally came to a halt and I fell to my knees and buried my face in my hands. I no longer cared that there was no escape or the fact the rain caused a flood or even that my skin was burning from the dead flowers beneath me.

I felt the rainfall on my back. It felt wrong. The drops changed from their original cold feeling against my skin. It was now warm and sticky. I forced my head out of my palms and I looked out into the sky once more. My breath hitched in my throat at the sight and tears blurred my vision before they rapidly fell down my cheeks.

The rain. It wasn't rain anymore. It was blood.

My whole body began to stain red. My face. My hands. My arms. My feet. All of me.

It couldn't possibly get any worse. But it did.

A ring of fire caged me in a small circle. The flames were far too high to see past. Every time I tried to move with the dancing flames they only grew more violent.

From inside my cage of flames, I could hear horrifying screams and cries for help beyond the wall of blazing reds and oranges. I tried to drown out the cries but nothing helped, not even when I desperately shoved the wilted petals into my ears.

With the withered tulips, a storm of blood, a ring of fire, and screams, I was in complete agony.

I jumped up from my bed in a cold sweat and my alarm going crazy. I was late for work.

I took a few deep breaths before I turned off my alarm and ran into the bathroom for a quick shower.

I scrubbed my whole body clean to get rid of the sweat I woke up covered in and I washed my light brown hair with my favorite strawberry scented shampoo.