1

Dreary and Confined

The days were all the same, dreary and bleak, so much so that time seemed to skip a beat.

Suddenly, I was surrounded by wooden crosses in a foggy field. All I remember is walking

across my cold and creaky floor to start a new day, but the journey to my current location

seemed to slip my mind. I thought nothing of my sudden appearance in a field, for this is not the

first time I couldnt remember parts of my day. The unexplored part of my mind always seemed

to block out emotions and on rare occasions, even memory.

Across the field, a large number of people started to gather. As I began walking toward

the group, I felt a smooth fabric run across my arms and legs with every movement. I then

noticed I was in my finest suit. The smooth silk tailored outfit and black leather shoes combined

to make me appear as a shadowy figure, not one of royalty or refinement, but as a creature in the

night. The field also seemed to carry the horrifying characteristics seen in a nightmare. The few

trees left were bare and torn, and the yellow grass seemed frozen as I stepped on it, emitting a

crunching sound at even the smallest amount of pressure. Every step I took sounded as if it was

the crunching of bones. Above the petrified grass, the dark, gloomy clouds began to cover the

bright and hopeful sun. As I finally reached the gathering of people, they all appeared to be

around a cloth covering a casket and cross. A funeral was being held and the members seemed to

be stiff and emotionless. Their faces were pale and all eyes were directed toward the casket.

Suddenly, the people who seemed like statues began to kneel and pray. Their faces were

inscrutable. As they continued to kneel, I felt as if there was something I was missing. The

second my knees touched the cold, dead ground, I had a realization. The person under the cloth
 2

was a person whom I could not remember. I had no friends and no living family, alone and lost

in my own mind.

Suddenly I heard a shriek and the sound only produced by a corpse hitting the floor. My

eyes opened all of the sudden, ready to see a gruesome death, but every person in the service was

motionless. Slowly, I put my head down as everything seemed normal. It was only a moment

after my eyes were closed that I heard another scream. Quickly, I again put my head up and

once again every pale statue was acting as if nothing happened. But something did happen, the

setting was now different. I knew there was a difference, but I could not place my finger on it.

Putting my head down again once more, I heard a third squeal and quickly jumped at the second

the sound reached my ears. Finally, I noticed the change. The people at the funeral were all

frozen as they stood staring at the casket with their lifeless faces, but the size of the group

seemed to decrease. The environment also seemed different, as it appeared that the fog and

clouds began to fade. Every scream had been a sign of a disappearing body and a clearer sky. I

wondered why no one was worried or afraid, and then I began to question my sanity. Following

the crowd of people, I acted as if nothing happened.

I allowed my vision to go dark, but only for a second. A single blink and all but one

person had disappeared. The fog was now completely gone and the sky was dark with a moon as

bright as the sun. A single wrinkled man was left, grasping to one of the crosses for balance, for

it appeared as if time was catching up to him. Confused, I gradually walked to the old man, but

as I got closer, he appeared to get weaker. When I was only a few feet away from the man, he

fell from the cross onto the ground and let out a faint sigh. I ran to his aid, but my hands went

through him as if he were made of air. Disoriented and afraid, I backed away from the being and

fell to the ground out of fear. With all of my pain, I placed my arms across the ground and
 3

screamed, Tell me. What is this magic you hold? Where am I ? Why am I here? Without even

saying a word, the old man lifted one finger and pointed to the grave. Then, with frail

movements, he placed his hand back onto the corpse like ground and disappeared.

I hesitantly walked to the gravesite. Step by step I could hear the wind getting louder and

louder, howling at me as if it were trying to give me a warning. The howls eventually became so

close together that the wind was now one continuous ringing sound. I put my hand against the

cloth and slowly opened the casket. The coffin made a creaking sound as if it were made from

the cheapest wood. Seeing the body in the coffin brought a chill through my entire body and left

me petrified in the field. The person for whom no one mourned was me.

Suddenly the eyes of my own body began to open. My own body appeared bruised and it

seemed as if my eyes were no longer my own. They lost their pigment and appeared as if they

were the opening to a neverending void. These were not the eyes of the living, for they had no

soul. With eyes as black as the night, the body that had once been mine grabbed me and pulled

me into the coffin. A large slam closed the casket and it swiftly fell into the ground. The coffin

for me, the man of tormenting mind, now lays underneath the corpse like grass and frozen soil,

only to open again when the next soul is freed.