Envisioned

Chapter One: Brielle

The fires surrounding me blazed with fierce intensity, and I felt as though my skin was melting from the heat of the flames. The towering buildings in the foreign city had been reduced to a pile of steaming cinder and rubble. Horrific, winged beasts circled around me in the black sky, like vultures searching for their next meal. In the distance, I could see giants as tall as mountains roaming the city, leaving more destruction in their wake. I stood there, immobilized by the devastation around me, powerless to stop it.

Somehow, all of that wasn't as unsettling as when I saw him—his startling eyes, glowing like embers, burned into me with a look of desperation that I could not comprehend. Talons gripped at his shoulders, causing him to thrash and reach in my direction. He was dragged away into the blackness of the night as his screams penetrated my soul.

I awoke to the sound of my own screaming, my unruly hair plastered to my skull by sweat, and my body racked with sobs over my lack of control. The vision felt like a memory, given the vast number of times I had dreamt the exact scenario. I had been dreaming it for as long as I could remember.

Even though they were impossible, their constant recurrence had to signify something. What do they mean?Who is that man, and why does he stare at me like I'm his salvation? Why does he elicit feelings of longing in me like no other, even though we haven't even met? I didn't even know if he existed, yet something deep down in my being screamed that he did.

A part of me chastised myself for thinking something so ridiculous. It's just a dream; he isn't real. Even still, another part hoped that he was, and that one day, I would be able to give him what he so desperately pleaded for.

That is what I thought about each night after the nightmare, after he was pulled away by creatures not meant for this world. I tried talking to my dad about it, but he just said that I had always had a vivid imagination, and not to worry myself with unanswerable questions.

Yeah, right, like that's going to happen. The world collapsing around me is definitely something I can't ignore. What if I'm envisioning the future? Is that even possible?

I didn't dare tell anyone that I considered such things.They would have probably thrown me in an insane asylum, which is where I felt I belonged after waking up from the ongoing nightmares. I couldn't prevent the end of the world from an institution, so I silently dealt with my questions—no one would be able to help me anyway.

I looked at my phone, which read 4:38 A.M. Damn! I still had two hours until I had to get ready for school, but I knew there was no way I would be falling back to sleep. I never did, once I awoke from my dream. It always eluded me, taunting me by making me dwell on the disturbing images from my never-ending nightmare.

Most nights, I wouldn't even try to sleep. Instead, I would read on my Kindle, immersing myself in someone else's world until I had to get ready for school. I only had a few weeks until school ended, with my birthday being on the last day.

My best friend, Kimber, was planning something for such an “epic night”, as she put it. Graduation and her BFF's birthday was something worth partying for, according to her. But, then again, Kimber didn't need an excuse to party, and neither did I. I wasn't a good girl by any means.