I was in hell. The pain burned so hot, so bright that it was blinding. It was agony. Shadows clawed at me and embedded themselves in my shoulder. I was being doused in fire.
Time was strange in hell. It moved in leaps and bounds, then froze for eternities.
I was strapped to a sacrificial slab, but no one was around. Unnaturally warm stone lay beneath me like it had sat for hours in the midday sun. But there was no sun here. Whispers sneaked into my ears, unseen ghosts telling me things I couldn't always understand. Some of the clearer voices were pleading with me to come back. But I didn't know how to leave this place.
After the first forever, my mother appeared. She was a shifting mirage of herself, blurry and faceless, but I knew her. She still smelled of wine and smoke. If I squinted, I could see her dirty blonde hair, her once tan skin. The coppery tang of pennies followed her like a perfume atop everything else. I retched, but nothing came up.
Her ghostly hand petted my hair, brushing it back from my forehead. I jerked, wanting to shake off her smoke-stained fingers. She tutted at me, a warning. And when I jerked away from her again, she seized me by the face. Her breath was ice-cold against my ear. "You're mine, pretty bird," she whispered. "You'll always be mine." Her fingertip ran along my jaw, and I sobbed. "But don't worry," she sang at me. "I'll take care of you."
She came and went, my mother. She faded in and out of existence. Sometimes she spoke, and sometimes she just stared. I never saw my father. Was he dead? I remembered his wings. They were as white as clouds. His eyes were bluer than anything, and he always seemed too bright for the world around him. I missed him as much as I hated him for leaving.
After a while, my mother grew bored of me, vanishing into hazy smoke and ash.
And then another ghost appeared. He was a blurry patch of midnight blue. Glittering red eyes stared out from somewhere in his murky depths. He barely spoke to me, but he stayed with me for a long time. He was watching me, but it didn't feel menacing like my mother's gaze. It felt more like a watchdog, a protector. I decided I liked this ghost best.
Not long after his appearance, a green-eyed ghost appeared. Her light was brighter than all the others. Her presence brought relief like nothing else, like submerging myself in a cool stream on a hot day. Her soul blew out the flames that licked at my skin, life-green eyes blazing. She leaned close, her glow all-encompassing. She whispered something into my ear.
And I woke up.