After hours of staying in the same humiliating position, spending every drop of energy on mending the broken jigsaw pieces of my mentality and fitting them back together, I managed to accomplish my task and come to my senses. As I stood up, I took a second look at this nightmarish world. It was all grey and black; everywhere I looked there was nothing but leagues and leagues of misery and depression. Above me was no sky, but just ominous black clouds, watching over their disturbed, evil wasteland.
As far is I could see, there was no entrance. As far as I could see, there was no exit. It was obvious that this gruesome land of horror and revulsion was not intending on giving any mercy to its ill-fated prisoners, and I was standing right in the middle of it, on the edge of a small cliff, with a silent tear of despondency dripping slowly down my pale cheek.
I began to notice noises coming from the trees ahead of the cliff. A satanic choir of never ending screams, all in the same blood curdling pitch. They didn’t stop.
With my mind whirling with innumerable questions, I thought of several reasons why I had come to be in this demonic nightmare. At one point, I was almost certain that I had actually died, and that I had proceeded into the afterlife, to be faced with the eternity in Hell: my new home, my new prison. But my mind would not let me accept that explanation without losing my mind altogether.
So I began to walk.
I wandered along the cliff edge, trying to find a way down, yet asking myself if I even wanted to go down. As I trudged wearily along the cliff edge, I studied the intimidating expanse of dark trees. There was not even a single hint of green – only black, deformed branches with sharp curling twigs that resembled grasping claws. There was a haunting absence of life within the trees, but they still seemed to have an indescribable presence of evil, as if they were possessed.
A couple of times, I swear I saw movement in the shadows, behind the twisted, beckoning branches. It brought me upon the thought of all the horrific and terrifying beasts that inhabited this world, probably eager to claw their way into another creature’s throat.
As soon as I thought of this, as if by command, all of a sudden a ghastly sound began to emanate from within the trees. Crashing, crunching, snapping, crushing, and making its way through the trees, in exactly my direction. Amongst the noises of destruction, was the unmistakable sound of heavy breathing. The breaths were very deep, and very loud, continuing in an uninterrupted sequence.
Whatever it was, it was looking for something. Hunting for something. Something that was covered in flesh, something with brittle bones, something with fresh blood pumping through it’s adrenaline fuelled heart, something that was almost drowning in fear at the sound of the hunter.
Something like me…
