by Rashaad Bell
Chapter 17
A new dawn…
Unconsciousness over took me almost immediately, the inky blackness somewhat an eerie welcome and yet, in the comfort of REM sleep; even the Dreamscape had changed for me.
I was fully aware of everything. The fact that I was dreaming, the fact that I knew I was dreaming, to the fact that I knew, I knew I was dreaming was just so strange. In this dream, there were no Vampires trying to kill me, no Dreamself version of me wielding the Blade of Osiris demanding I answer her questions.
Instead of a forest grove, I walked the back alleyways of some unnamed metropolitan masterpiece. It was dark, yet on the horizon I could briefly make out the rising morning sun between the metallic glass and iron skyscrapers that surrounded me and beyond that, a colossal mountain that seemed to go on for eternity.
There was a faint scent lingering in the air, something on fire, burning. I tried to follow the smell, attempting to use my new prenatural senses to track it back to its source, climbing up this mountain, searching for its ever-elusive peak.
There was a sharp pain in my thigh. At first, the sensation intrigued me. Even bodily pain for me was different. It didn’t hurt at first, but it just as quickly became unbearable as it began to travel up my leg and into my torso.
The pain was excruciating and the smell, that scent was everywhere now, it flavored the air with the aroma of burnt flesh and…cotton?
Even through all the pain, I was still able to dissect the burning cotton stench commingled with all the others. I snapped awake, fighting off the stifling scream that was building in my chest.
The bed was on fire!
I was on fire!
My leg and part of my stomach was ablaze, the mattress underneath me acting as kindling. I jumped up, my mind frantic. I raced to the bathroom. No sooner had I thought the word, I was already there, moving so fast that I didn’t even see it happen, the only evidence being the burning footprints scorched into the carpet.
I turned the shower on, letting the water dose my body. Steam and smoke was everywhere as my skin hissed and crackled. As good as the cool water felt against my charred skin, I couldn’t prolong my time there any longer. I raced back towards the bedroom, but it was too late, everything was ablaze at this point. The heat from the inferno was so intense that the bedroom windows buckled then shattered, shards of glass exploding everywhere, raining down on the street outside like razor sharp confetti.
Time, linear as it is, stood still as the next few seconds stretched out for eternity. My first instinct was for the fire extinguisher, yet even as I tried, moving with this increased agility afforded to me now, my mistake became self-evident almost immediately.
The fire extinguisher was in the kitchen. Between me and it was a living room bathed in early morning sunlight. My body, from the waist down was blackened and charred to an unfathomable degree, my nerve endings sending sporadic amounts of intense pain throughout my entire body. Mentally, I was able to block it off, force the pain into my own little personal Pandora’s Box, as I darted towards the kitchen.
That was my first mistake.
As soon as I entered the living room, even moving at blinding speed, my entire body burst into flame, the fire enveloping me completely, so intense the air itself seemed to protest.
I screamed in agony, collapsing into a fiery fetal position.
That was my second mistake.
As I lay, a bright fireball, seemingly burning from the inside out, the flames raced along in every direction, consuming everything in its path. In a matter of seconds almost everything was ablaze, the couch, the drapes, the ceiling, everything was burning. Little streaks of flame worked its way across the carpet, playing an arsonists game of tag with everything it touched.
Now one would think that trial by fire would be quick...
That was my third mistake...
I'm not sure how long I was there, burning quietly in the early morning sunrise. My mind had turned itself inward by this point, the pain unbearable. At some point the roof in the bedroom collapsed, of this I was dimly aware, but I couldn't recall exactly when it happened, I just knew that it did.
I wasn't frightened of death. I never have been. Not since the car accident at least. It's just the cycle of life. So no, I don't fear death and death, of this I'm certain, was waiting...
So I accepted my fate, not that I'd given up mind you, my body had simply shut down, refusing to acknowledge my commands to relocate back...back in...hard to...shower. Move...now? Plea...se move, pretty bells. Hells bells a ri...nging...Tulips for...pancakes now...fresh burgers. No...mamma green...eggs and ham mean...mold...can't be broken. Bloo...blood...kiss…mine...mine…give...no...take...mine… yours…mine...now...blood…
Mineminemineminemineminebloodbloodbloodblood!
I came too suddenly, had I blacked out again? My mind was pristine, my body pain free. Someone was screaming. The fire was everywhere around me, a prison of fire. Something was in my arms. More yelling. Wait...not something, someone. A man. Late thirties.
His throat was torn out.
Oh God, his throat is torn out! What is he...yellow uniform...helmet. Man. Fire. Fireman. He's a fireman. There was more yelling, angrier this time and a lot closer. God, did I do this? Did I do this to him?
“..uck away from him!"
My head snapped to the left. There was another Firefighter waving his firefighters axe menacingly in my direction. God, what have I done? Did I kill this man? Did I rip his throat out and gorge myself on his blood?
The inferno still raged around us, yet my body itself was no longer burning. In fact, most of the burns had healed across a good portion of my skin. It was the blood. It had to be and yet somehow this man, this perfectly innocent human being, who risked his life charging head first into burning buildings only found deaths embrace waiting for him by other means.
I rose, dumping the corpse of a man I had been cradling to the ground.
My strength had returned somewhat, yet in the end it would be too late. The burning ground beneath my feet collapsed suddenly and I began to fall. After that...blackness.