And Then There Were Many

There I was, standing in this open field. The soft grass in every shade of luscious greens; dancing and swaying to the beat of the wind. The blue sky crashing into the earth in every direction. It gave that exciting feeling of being in two places at once. I felt happiness here. From behind the sun ran its rays up and down my arms giving me a sense of comfort. And when faced, gentle kisses on my cheeks. All my senses were peaked. I could see the movement and rhythm of the wind. I could feel the colors and smell the movements. It was beautiful and yet I never wondered how I had got to this place. And then....

As quickly as it came it was gone. Something changed. In the distance a tree appeared. Had I not seen the tree before? It stood there, never moving, never swaying. I could feel it looking at me. I was filled with fear. What I felt was anger, not from me but at me. It was as though the tree were attacking me. Before I knew what was happening, everything became still. The wind stopped moving and the grass became stiff. What was a gentle brush now like thorns. I was so fixated on the tree I didn't even notice the sky wasn't blue anymore. And then...

Thunder struck and my heart stopped, only to double pound to the site of lightening. It was almost pitch black now. I looked around; I have nowhere to go, I thought. No place of refuge to hide from this fear in my soul. And just like that, with a single breath from my lungs.... pitch black. I couldn't see one inch in front of my face. I knew I wasn't alone anymore; I could feel it. Before I could think what to do, lightening lite up the sky enough for me to see it was still just me and the tree. And then...

Silence, and then lightening, and then the tree. It was in rhythm with my heartbeat. Heartbeat, lightening, tree. I'm shivering now. How long have I been here? How long will I stay? Where do I go? I wasn't expecting what came next. Heartbeat, lightening, tree, person. I couldn't make out who it was, they were under the tree and a good distance away. My heart must have stopped because there was a long pause. And then came, heartbeat, lightening, tree, people. There were more of them now. A little closer. And then....

Heartbeat, lightening, tree, hundreds of them. This time they were in every direction and even closer. Heartbeat, lightening, thousands of them. They were so close and so many I could no longer see the tree. Heartbeat, nothing, heartbeat, my own breathing, heartbeat, lightening and this time it didn't go back to dark. I was surrounded. Face to face. I was surrounded by strangely looking people. I didn't understand. They all had their heads down. Wearing what look like sheets they were all soaked. All of them with barely any hair on their heads but enough to tell the women from the men. And they stood there staring at the ground. I'm not sure they were breathing, their skin color would say they stopped a long time ago. They all looked sick...dead. And then...

Something caught my eye. A movement in the distance. A person, I think, wearing black and walking past the rows of people. Silently making a way closer to me. Before my heart could make a beat, he spoke. "Look at all the souls we've collected" he said. I froze; no longer could I move. Closing my eyes to block it all out....and then....

Heartbeat, heartbeat....I opened my eyes to see I was laying in my bed in the dark. It was just a dream. And then.... there were many.