I found myself walking through a sea of flowers. Golden daisies stretched out in every direction, their petals glowing faintly like tiny lanterns scattered across the ground.
The sky above was pitch black, not a single star in sight, yet the whole place was impossibly vibrant and warm. Blue fireflies drifted lazily in the air, leaving trailed patterns around me. Every time they passed, their soft light brushed across my skin like a gentle whisper.
The air smelled sweet, not a single perfume could ever possibly imitate. Each step I took sent ripples of light through the bioluminescent petals, as if the flowers were reacting to my presence with a dance of waves.
I didn't know where I was going, but my feet kept moving.
Eventually, the endless field gave way to something.
A collapsed church stood ahead, swallowed by nature. Vines crawled up broken pillars, and golden daisies clung to crumbling stone as if trying to hold the place together. Broken glass shards reflected the light of the vegetation and fireflies inside, creating an aurora on its hole-ridden ceiling.
That's when I saw them.
A blurry silhouette of a boy and a girl, both in their teens, sitting near the front where an altar once must have been. They laughed softly, nudging each other, lost in their own little world.
They didn't even notice me.
Or maybe they couldn't.
But my eyes weren't on them for long.
In the center of the altar, surrounded by glowing vines, was a coffin.
Something cold crawled down my spine. I didn't want to go near it, but my instincts tugged at me, pulling me closer step by step.
The coffin was made of old dark wood, cracked in places, covered in dust and stray petals. I reached out, fingers trembling, and lifted the lid.
I can still feel the way my breath caught.
Inside..., was me.
My own face.
My own body.
Pale. Still.
My legs gave out, and I crashed onto my back.
The moment my hands touched the ground, the flowers around me blackened and crumbled, dissolving into ash.
The flowers beneath my palms didn't just die, they glitched.
Their golden glow flickered violently, stuttering like a broken screen. For a split second they froze mid-motion, warped, then collapsed in on themselves. The petals twisted, shriveled, and disintegrated into fine dust that scattered across my fingers.
And it spread.
From my touch, the glowing field darkened. A rippling wave of decay rolled outward, turning life into static, then static into nothing. Fireflies blinked out mid-flight, their lights breaking into pixel-like specks before vanishing completely.
The air thickened, heavy with a cold I could feel crawling into my lungs. The pleasant aroma that was there before was now nowhere to be smelled. What replaced it was a dry and brittle scent.
If I had to describe it, it would be the aroma of death.
Panic stabbed through me, sharp, merciless, blinding.
"No… no, no—" I tried to push myself up, but in my confusion I reached out, my fingers brushing against the teen boy's silhouette.
He finally noticed me.
His head snapped toward my touch, but before he could react, his body convulsed. A sound tore from his throat a warped, high-pitched scream, like audio twisting through a broken speaker.
U̸̯͎̫̙̞͒̑͌͘r̵̝̥̺͉͚͒͆͛̕r̷̻̥̲͖̩̭̺͖͔̮̹̈́̄̌̇̃̎͐ǵ̵̦̰̥̦̙̰̲̦̕͜ģ̶̢̰͙̼̲̝̬̘̯͊͜ͅģ̴̢̼̰̥̠̈̈̈́̽̎̓͛͊̕͠͠ ̷̧̺̙̼̝͇̩͌̉̾̊̄̈́̚̕A̴̛͙̖̥̞͙̹̿̓̑̆̀̄́̔̃͘̚̕͝a̵̡̘̭̞̱͇̱̪̼̹̻̰̫͓̍̾ą̶̤̝̗̱̘̠̔͂̍̎̃͠ȧ̵̛͇͉̤̪͕͍̻͛̇͌̉̔͆͂͆̏̊͆̕ả̸̡̨͚͍̩̝̳̝̱̭͎̲̪̮̲͌ą̵͎̙̪͉̥͎̲͖͇͑̾͆͋̈́̑͒̾͛̆̀̌͘͝͝ẖ̵̫̜̘̳̣͓̮̉̉̀͂͑̒̕h̸͗̈́̑̀̍̿͌̉̇̍͜͠͝ ̶̛͈̩͉͂͗͒̅͘͝Ḩ̴̡̺͎̫̤̅̎̂ḙ̴̢̟͎̘̙͚̺̩̬͔̽͑̉̑̔͘͜ͅͅę̵̠̦̠͉̭̗̩̂̏̾̈̐̒̈́͝ͅe̵̛̠̘̯̹̻̜̲͊ẽ̸̦͐̀̈͐́͆͆͊̿̈́̆͊̚ę̷̧̛͎̳̞̖̙̩̪̲͎̙͇́͆̊̍̐͗̎l̵̢̼̬̯̠̣͇͙̭̳̮͐́͛̐̃̉͜l̴̨͎̗̯̩̰̠͕̞͚͖̫̺̘̙͌̓̉͂͒͛̏̂̈́l̷͎̂̈͜p̵͓͗̀̍̍̉̒̉̉̓̈́̌̕͠p̷̡̨̡̫͙͖̤͈̮̞̯̟̯̊̀̊̄̈́̿͜͜p̸̧̠̓p̴̫̊̓̏̏̅̈́̊̇̏ ̸̢̡̪̟̼̥̦͔̮̤͙̒̆͋͗̏̈͋̂̅̽̾̕ͅM̵̧̡͖͉̥̻͈̫̜̰͓̫̹̭̋́͘E̷̢̛̠͚̣͎̦̿̆̿̽̿̆̈́́̅̕͝ͅ
His entire form glitched, splitting into flickering copies of himself before jerking back into one.
Then he shriveled.
Right in front of me, his body dried and collapsed inward, skin sinking against bone, then turning brittle, then fracturing. He crumbled into dust.
Just like the flowers.
My breath shattered. "No—no, no, no, no—Not again!"
I screamed, my voice cracking. I scrambled toward him, trying to gather what remained, trying to hold him, hug him, do something, I need to do something! I must do something! I have to do something!
But my hands only dug into a pile of gray dust. It sifted through my fingers like sand. Every time I tried to scoop it up, it slipped away, falling apart even more under my touch.
I couldn't breathe.
I couldn't think.
The only thing I could do was...
"A—AAAH—AAAAA AAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!"
A horrifying, blood-curdling scream tore through the air, chilling and deafening.
The girl's silhouette approached me.
As she drew closer, she grew in size, her form stretching and shifting until she was unmistakably adult. A scythe materialized in her hands, an impossibly massive one, far larger than anything a person should be able to wield.
I should have run. Every instinct told me to move, to escape, but my body no longer felt like my own. I was still clutching the sand—the remains of the boy who had disintegrated in my hands.
And in the next moment—
—slash—
My vision flipped.The world was suddenly upside down…
…and then I woke up.
I shot upright with a gasp, heart hammering, sweat clinging to my skin as the remnants of the dream clung to me like a second shadow.
Someone was screaming beside me. My ears rang, and my vision was still blurry—just shapes and colors bleeding into each other.
As my sight slowly cleared, I realized it was Kaye. She was right next to me, shouting my name like her life depended on it.
I blinked a few times, trying to focus.
White walls.
Bright lights.
The sharp smell of disinfectant.
A hospital?
Kaye leaned closer, panic all over her face. "Matt! What happened? What's wrong?!"
"I… nothing," I muttered, rubbing my forehead. "Just a bad dream. I think."
But even as I said it, a strange confusion settled in.
A dream?
What dream?
I tried to remember, even just a fragment, but the moment I reached for it, everything went blank. Completely wiped clean.
I guess that's just how dreams work. Or at least, that's what I told myself.
I let out a small breath and shrugged it off.
Kaye, still clearly worried, asked, "So… how did your awakening go?" I was notified of the usual amount of blood and_______
Instead of answering, I laid back down on the bed. The mattress sank under my weight, and my eyes drifted up to the plain, white ceiling.
I knew I had to say it.
It's basically a law at this point.
Yeah… a law.
No choice but to follow through.
Convinced, I finally let the words slip out, the words sitting right at the tip of my tongue.
"…An unfamiliar ceiling, Whe-."
I didn't even finish when something smacked me on the head.
Kaye glared at me. "You really have a lot of nerve. Ignoring me and saying such a cliché line. You're not a kid anymore, Matt."
I rubbed my forehead where she hit me and shot her a glare."What's wrong with clichés? They're also the lifeblood of every drama romance movie you've watched."
Kaye's face twisted, somewhere between embarrassment and irritation. Her cheeks went pink.
"I-I don't watch those anymore, you know?" she stuttered.
I couldn't stop myself from smirking.
"A dishonest tsundere is the worst kind of tsundere, you know."
Her eye twitched.
I suddenly noticed her hand rising again, another chop aimed straight for my forehead. However, this time I braced myself, hands ready. If she was going to keep bonking me, I was at least going to catch one.
The moment her hand came down, I clapped upward to intercept it.
But she sensed it.
She sped up.
"Bonk!""Clap!"
My hands closed on empty air.
"And tsunderes," I winced, rubbing my head again, "are known for being aggressive…"But knowing her reaction, I knew better and kept it to myself.
Ahheemmm.....A dry and forced cough was then revirbirated into the room, the kind that demands attention.
The doctor stood there, arms crossed, looking like he'd walked into the world's most unprofessional comedy act.
"Please," he said dryly, "don't do anything rash to him. He's still a patient."
Kaye stiffened and straightened up immediately.
"A-Ah—sorry," she said, bowing her head slightly. The confidence she had a second ago evaporated. "Is he… going to be okay?"
The doctor's expression softened. "He'll be fine. He's just extremely anemic right now."He turned to her. "Do you happen to have the same blood type? It would help if you're willing to donate."
Kaye blinked, then looked at me.
"What's your blood type?"
I was still rubbing my forehead, feeling the small bump forming there. This girl… she didn't enhance her hand just now, did she?
With a reluctant sigh, I answered, "A positive."
Kaye's shoulders relaxed, and she let out a small breath."Good. That's the same as mine."
The doctor nodded approvingly. "In that case, would you prefer to donate instead of us purchasing a blood pack?"
She didn't even hesitate. "Yes. I'll donate."
The doctor smiled, motioning for her to follow. "Alright. This way."
Before she left, Kaye turned back to me.She didn't say a word, but she gave me a look, a pointed, narrow-eyed glare paired with two fingers pointing at her own eyes, then at me.
A silent warning.
I'm watching you.
Then she disappeared out the door with the doctor, leaving me alone with my throbbing forehead and the lingering feeling that I had narrowly escaped a third bonk.