Disruption of Joy

Wake

Sometimes I look up at the sky, and I think I can see space. I think that beyond the hell hole I call my life, is something vast and beautiful. Something relatively untouched, and silent.

I love to look outside and look at the stars when the inky darkness of night envelopes all that is around me, and covers the land like a thick blanket. The bright stars in contrast put pinholes in the sheet that lay over the trees, ground and people.

The wind whipped around my hair, making it swipe around my pale face in dark contrasting tendrils. I stood on the edge of the cliff, letting the sea salt spray moisten my clothing. Drops hit my lips, and rested on my eyelashes, glowing in my vision against the dark sky. 

I exhaled deeply, taking in the environment around me.

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"You're worthless! Get out! I never want to hear your name again!"

"C-Casey, please! Let me explain!"

"No, Hunter, I don't give a shit what you have to say! Just get out!"

A flash, a bang, I'm running through a forest, dodging tree branches, the cones of light from a nearby light house illuminate the land rising around me. I can see something behind me, I can feel its presence, but the only glimpse of it I can get is dark appendages appearing closer with every step I take and with every breath I exhale. I trip over a branch in the dark, my eyesight failing me as I run farther from the lighthouse's reach of the dense forest. A husky scream escapes me as I hit the ground, a thunderbolt of pain shooting up my shoulder. A misty figure appears in front of me. Rearing its ugly jowls to me, its breath coming out in puffs of mist. 

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As I stood with my toes off the edge, I looked down into the murky water splashing below. The cliff wasn't that high, only about twelve feet, a survivable jump. I just needed something to wake me up. As I let one foot fall from its position atop the grass, the other followed close by, sending me plunging into the tenebrous water below.

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