A fire growing hot in front of me. Twenty feet tall. towering over me. Hot and tall. like I'm at a bon fire. The height continues growing. An endless fire. It somehow has me in a trance. A trance of heat and height.
Taking a look of my surrounding, I turn around, away from the fire. Everything else is dark, to dark to even see at the ground of my feet. The fire it, illuminating itself and nothing more. It feels hot to be here but cold. Heat comes from the flame but no light, Cold air from the dark yet no sound.
I turn back. The flame grew. Taller, so tall. So tall I can't see the top, but I know even without see it that the fire is still growing. The fire is calling to me. Physically. My name.
"Keith..."
It's voice beautiful, distant, echoing. It wants me, my body, my mind, EVERYTHING. How could I not listen to it. I call out. Opening my mouth... pushing out words and breath, but... nothing. Not a sound.
"Keith..."
Again, it calls out to me.The voice getting closer. The fire feels sentient to me. I try pushing out words once more, nothing. I reach out my hand to the flame growing two feet in front of me. My forefinger taps the flame. Instinctively pulling my hand back.
'The flame is not hot. It's emitting heat, but it's not hot.'
Checking my finger for burns, of any kind. Nothing. No marks. Nothing. I look towards the flame, then my hand again. Slowly, I bring my hand up right against the surface. The surface is smooth, but wobbly.
There's a person in it. "In the flame. At a table writing, inside a book of some kind."
"It feels like I'm watching on a Tv."
"He thought to himself."
The person stops. Looking around, the non-existing room that the person is in. Until he finally, looks at me. Letting go of the pencil. It still continues writing. Faster. It by itself is floating and flowing, by itself to write inside the book.
The eyes, its like looking into a crystal ball. It staring at me, I'm staring at it, but my eyes can only keep interlocked in its eyes. I can see my reflection. I burnt, charred man. Horrible, ugly burns.
The skin off my face, burnt exposing my skull and my eyes bubbling, but I can see just fine. My clothes not the same cloths I was wearing back then, but the gear from the when I exited the tubes or whats left of it. My body is just the same as my face. Skin peeling, horrible yellow puss, still but pulsating out of my ribs. Bones visible, some burnt, others, flesh stuck tearing off of it the bone.
My whole body. Covered in horrible pimples. The underside of my skin stuck to the skin still just barley holding onto me. Marks that resemble third degree burns. No, worse. So many times worse. Yet, there is no pain, nothing at all the feeling that I should be feeling there is none.
"Your not suppose to be here. It's not time."
He gets up, growing endlessly tall. One step closer and the book pencil and everything go flying back. Like, its being swallowed by the dark endless void that is the background of everything here.
'Wherever here is?'
A force pushes me away. So fast it feels like my body has been brought though a wormhole. The fire is now gone. What was once an endless burning tower of flame is now replaced with an ocean.
The darkness has disappeared as well. Now, clouds, splattered stars across the night sky, none that I could name. Sand at my feet.
I lift my left foot. Just high enough to physically feel the sand start to fall off the sole of my foot. I bring my hand down to the bottom. Circling it, ticking myself a little, sending shivers up my spine.
'Where am I now?'
Turning away from the ocean. Behind me is just woods. Dark, endless woods, as far as the eye can see. Looking to my sides it would seem that the woods circle this area. Making it impossible to leave without going through it.
Looking at myself. All the scars from the burning is all gone. The scuba gear has been swapped as well. What I'm wearing is now quick dry shorts. Greyish black design, with even darker flame marks on the bottom. I turn back toward the ocean.
My body is back as well. My abdomen still has the six pack. That John so hardly made me train to attain. As well as my fairly hairless body. In high school I hated bodily hair so I would shave myself monthly. Never grew a beard because I would shave it.
A sense of urgency finally washes over me.
'How do I leave!?'
Just as I though those words. A hand grabs my shoulder. Fear as the very first feeling that my body reacts to. That quickly dissolves, as the hand pulls me facing the person who grabbed me, in their direction.
It's Thia, and not only is she now here, the woods have been made into a clearing for this area to be entered and exited at will.
She's wearing a sort of scarf, wrapped along her waist, with a bikini. The scarf is transparent ment more for style that coverage. There is a floral design on the bikini.
"How do you like your shorts?"
"They don't feel as bad as I thought."
"Knew it was a good thing buying that for you."
A flower in her head. Her blonde hair, untied with a flower right above her ear. She looked beautiful before this. Now she's just drop dead gorgeous.
"What are you doing Keith? Come over with me the stars are beautiful tonight."
She lets go of my shoulder and slides her hand down my arm onto my hand holding it tight and dragging me to follow her. Like a dog on a leash, I follow her. Following her to two trees and in between them is a hammock. Tied to different trees keeping it off the ground by a few feet.
The hammock is rainbow colored. Big as well. The trees just far enough away from each other that we can see the sky and the scattered stars.
She stops just short of the hammock. The hammock is up to her stomach height. She tries lifting her leg up but she can't get it up high enough to go over. Her big toe just taps it then she gives up.
"I can't get up. I told you, you put it up high."
Thia is 5'3. Just a few feet shorter than me but still just to short to get up.
She does that pouty face that comes on when something is hard. She like a child some times. But she beautiful, I'm so thankful she's with me.
"I had to make this high or else we would be touching the ground. Come I'll put you on top."
As of right now, I don't question it, but soon I ask myself how did I know any of the things that were going on.
I lift her up, not easy but good enough. She doesn't weight much as well. Lifting her off the ground, she latches her legs on my waist. She wraps her arms around my neck. I wrap my arms around her waist. Locking me in a hug with her. That is what helped with me lifting her up.
Walking over closer to the hammock to drop her down. She kisses my nose, unknowingly to me, leaving a lipstick mark of pink that matches her lip color. Releasing her softly onto the hammock she swing back and forth. Making her let out little girly giggle.
'I'm a little turned on by this.'
As far as I know, Thia has spent her whole adult life as the nurse to the hospital rooms of the operation. She has never once talked about a boyfriend or any or friend types. She probably has only had work and nothing more for a long time.
"Come onto the hammock."
She says that as she slides in deeper. Giving me space to jump into the hammock with her. Lifting one foot over into the hammock, wiping them off before getting on. I am now on the hammock. Laying close to Thia to counter the freezing night cold. Holding, hugging each. Both of us in each of our arms.
Time doesn't seem to move much in the time frame. We talk, long and lovingly talks. What we love about each other, what we need about each other and so much more. When we got slow on that we would occasionally give each other small kisses. She would also swap between topic as well as give kisses. Sometimes she would talk about what star is what. Pointing at it and letting her hand guide mine to draw stars.
Slowly we ended up facing each other. I don't know how long it has been or how long it took to get to this point, but that doesn't matter. The flower on the left side of her head untouched.
She has her head laying on top of my arm that has been stretched out as her pillow for the longest time and it hasn't gone numb. Time passes but our eyes don't divert from each other.
Soon I start seeing it. The crystal ball in her eyes. Her blue iris, slowly starts overtaking the white turning her whole eye blue.
"It broke?"
Thia asked that question with genuine curiosity.
Quickly I slip my hand right though from under her. My arm, slowly starts showing the marks but not giving me the pain. Giving me the old cloths I was once wearing. I fall off the hammock. Landing on my ass. Slowly dragging myself backwards.
Thia slowly gets off of the hammock coming over to my side. Walking slowly toward me.
"How did you break through it?"
Thia slowly starts fading in and out. As if her very existence was blinking. Faster and faster she continues blinking out.
"What's happening?"
The fear that I once felt when I didn't know who grabbed my shoulder. Returns, but in a worse way. My legs buckle but understand anywhere is better than here. Spring up to my feet. Taking a few away from Thia, I run as fast as I can straight into the forest a dark forest. No visibility, no light, no —
I ran into a tree as fast as I could but my head doesn't hurt. No headache nor head pain. But it leaves me rubbing my head and eye for a moment. Within a blink of an eye, the surroundings change. No longer I'm I in a beach thats dark I'm back inside the dark empty void with the flame.
Standing, I feel myself. My burnings are all gone. Nothing along with the cloths that I was wearing before gone replaced with what I was wearing before. The white-tee covered in blood and the cargo pants.
Turning toward the flame. It starts an interesting dance, no air nor wind and the flame is dancing around. Not only thing it's a beautiful dance.
The figure grow again putting a shadow on the flame. Growing just as huge as the fire.
"Questions? You most likely have them. But now is not the time for you to get any answer. Soon you will, my creation. Soon you will."
I feel it again the pull. Like I'm being dragged from my back. Falling behind myself to the empty pool of black. Getting further and further from the rage flame, but even now. The flame doesn't seem to be ending anytime soon.
My body It starts, feeling wet. like I jumped into a pool. A pool of sticky water. Soon I find myself jolting awake. The flame gone and light. Sunlight, not directly in my eyes but I can feel it.
A wet, softness from under me. Making me uncomfortable. I'm back on the couch of that living room in a cold sweat. In an empty room by myself, drenching someone couch in sweat.
Someone else sitting in a couch right across from me. My vision adjusting slowly from being asleep, I see who it is. Don sitting on the couch, laid back, reading a newspaper. Maybe about recent events. While sitting on a one seater couch chair, with a small coffee cup and coffee table right next to him. Don't know what's inside the cup.
He's wearing a flannel, a checkered red and black design. Along with some black pants that he tucked his flannel into.
Paper in front of him. Spread across his face. Blocking his view of me. The drink on the coffee table still hot, the steam is coming off from it. He's reading some words out loud.
"Many killed in recent war. How may more until the guy understands he will lose the war and the rest of his life..."