Blank Stars

chapter 4

I jolted upright, I was in a field and I was freezing. I looked down to find myself lying in an open field completely naked. I looked around me hoping that no one else was around to witness my embarrassment. I couldn’t see anyone so I stood up, pain shot through my legs and I looked down to see a deep slash across my calf. I stared at it for a moment, mesmerized by the sight of my blood streaming down my leg; it was thick blood, not just a slight trickle that you would get from falling and scraping your knee, but a thick, globular, stream that crawled its way down my leg, running to reach the ground which it was staining red. 

I felt the pain shoot through my legs once more and I gave in to the pain. Collapsing to the floor; I clutched at my leg and recoiled as the blood burned my hand. I removed it and stared at the red, blistering skin that was peeling away from my hand. Flakes of dead skin fell and erupted into small flames as they touched the pool of blood which was gathering; the wheat and dirt refused to accept the tainted liquid. It lay there, slowly spreading across the uneven ground. It filled the grooves in the slowly rose above them, somehow the blood seemed distant from me as if it were coming from somewhere other than me, but as I looked back down at my leg I was reminded of the pain it was causing me.

I lay on my back as the pain caused my leg to spasm uncontrollably; I felt the wheat and grass flatten under my weight and itch at my back. The dirt seemed to come alive and I saw the inhabitants coming for me; the beetles, the spiders, the mice, the birds, the larvae and the small bugs which normally feasted on plants now turned their attention to me. I shot up at the terrifying sight and went to get up only to be reminded of my incapacitated leg. I looked to it and felt a scream rip itself free of my lips as I watched the blood I had somehow spilled burning through my flesh; bone showed under the small, curling flames which danced around the edges of the wound, expanding it until it devoured my entire leg. 

I felt the skin fall away from my leg and I tried to move backwards- as if it was possible for me to detach myself from my own incinerating leg- only to find that the crops and grass had wound around my wrists, trapping me to the filthy mud, which I was now caked in. I screamed again but heard nothing but my echoing voice. There was a moment of silence and I smelt the charring flesh of my leg burn at my nose and the smell of wet mildew crept in from somewhere, I didn’t question where the conflicting smells came from, I was in a state of shock and panic; glued to the spot by fire, crops and fear.

I spun my head around, searching for a viable solution to my situation. I saw the wildlife which had been so threatening and terrifying simply sitting watching me; it was unnatural and terrifying, they sat in a line filling my vision thousands of them. Spiders as large as rabbits and hawks with razor sharp talons and beak; they sat with their eyes watching me, then their gaze shifted. They stared at something for all of a few moments before fleeing, the crops which held me to the ground receded and the acrid smoke from my burning skin left my nostrils, accompanied by my pain.

I felt relief and fear simultaneously, I was no longer bound but, something had made them leave; the terrifying creatures and unnatural occurrences had been silenced and banished most likely by something far more fearsome. I slowly craned my neck, the rest of my body far too stiff and sore to move, I looked up at a face and felt fear shake my body; it felt as though the ground was trembling beneath me as the face moved closer, I distinguished its features from beneath a newly formed mist.

He had long dark hair, similar to Marcus’ only his was much longer and straighter; it had a kind of shine to it that reflected some kind of light, from somewhere. Beneath his long hair was a pair of cold, piercing, blue eyes. They were dark so dark they bordered on black but this strange light source showed their true colour as blue. I looked around, more confused as to where the light was coming from rather than whatever threat this man posed. I looked up and my jaw slackened as I gazed at a sky glistening with lights; they twinkled in the sky blinking at me and at each other. There was no order to them nor any pattern to their blinking but they were mesmerizing all the same.