Nighttime Thoughts

Nightmare 6/11/21

It was a wonderful day. Family and friends had gathered to watch the union of two people joining together. It was a special day that would be kept in the memories of all. It simply wasn't how people imagined the memories to stick.

After the ceremony, it started to grow dark, and before guests were able to leave something unpredictable happened. Fierce animals descended from the woods into the opening where everything was set up. Wolves that seemed double the standard size. Snarls and growls grew in size as more and more of the animals appeared. The first wolf charges and screams filled the air. Screams of utter horror. People were running desperately for a chance to escape. Every single person was tackled with two hundred pounds of the murderous animal. Other animals were scared away from the chaos. Most were lucky, but there were a few that were chased and caught. A carcass of a baby deer laid close by the edge of the woods. Red stained the newly trampled grass. People were scattered across the aisle missing chucks of themselves. Limbs twisted out of place. One expression forever stuck on their face as they slowly lost every drop of life that once occupied their lively spirits.

I watched the carnage take place. Frozen and terrified. I could feel the blood rushing in my body as the adrenaline kicked my body into gear. One thought in my head driving my feet. Stay alive. The movement alerted a wolf to turn its sights onto me. Those yellow eyes pinned me as a target before it started its hunt. Its fur rose as it snapped its fangs at me. Sharp white teeth perfectly capable of ripping me into pieces just like my friends and family. I kept my hands in front of me wondering how on Earth they were shaking. I slowly backed away from the predator. It kept stalking forward diligently. We both knew the end of this interaction.

A high-pitched scream tore my gaze away. My tunnel vision collapsed as cold fear froze my system once again. A little girl was being dragged away from her dead mother. Her pink princess dress was torn. Her hair no longer holds flowers but pieces of grass. Her arm was caught between a wolf's jaw. With one shake of its head, the girl's arm snapped in half and blood splattered. Two more assisted with silencing the little girl's cries permanently.

I felt sick and with my attention diverted the wolf took it as an advantage and launched. I was thrown back and crushed under the weight. The jaws snapped at me and teeth scratched at my shoulder making blood surface. I forced my hands up using all the strength I had to press against the wolf's throat to keep it just millimeters from tearing into me. It wouldn't be long before I couldn't hold it at bay. It would win the fight and I would lose my life along with the other guests.

A shot rang out. Single and sharp. The wolf turns to find the source of the sound. It watches with intelligent eyes as a man with a gun approaches. It shoots once more, killing its companion. The vicious animals retreat back to the dark woods leaving the scene. More death present than the previous life brightening the space mere hours ago. I wanted to look around, to find who had survived. But instead, my body collapsed back against the ground. I was saved in the knick of time. I was alive. As relief began to flood my system. I sat up to find the man approaching me with no expression.

I went to stand to thank the man in tears before another shot rang out. I stared at the man aiming the gun at me as a sharp pain exploded just above my heart. Hot blood welled out into the open running down my front staining my bridesmaid dress. The pain grew as the blood continued to flow. I felt my body fall back. The muffled thud it made against the ground as the warmth started to cover more and more of me.

The man walked over slowly standing over me for a minute just watching. I couldn't speak. I couldn't move. The pain was shutting down my system. I could feel the life draining out of me. Bleeding from me. I was scared of what else he would do to my dying frame. But he turned her gaze away and started towards any other survivors checking on one another to assess injuries. He walked away leaving me to die.

I lay staring at the darkening sky. The stars were no comfort as they called for me wanting me to join them. A tear had slipped out as I thought about being strung in endless darkness for the rest of eternity. Forever alone to look upon all the terrible things that went on in this world.

It felt like I spent hours laying there. Blood underneath me lost the hot temperature instead bringing a profound heaviness, cementing me in place. The man had returned as my gaze had stayed stuck to the sky. I wanted to run. I wanted to beg. But I lay there unable to do anything but stay in place and stare up.

The man hovered over me bringing the gun forward once more. Aiming so close to my already dying body. Perhaps I was dead. No, I couldn't be. Not yet. I was still fighting for every breath I took. I could still feel my heart shutter and spasm.

Two more shots.

My ears rang as more pain introduced them to different regions of my body. One punctured my lung making it increasingly harder to breathe and fight for the little life I still contained. The other placed itself into my guts right above my pelvic bone. Blood and tears had slipped steadily out. The man only stared. He never spoke a word. Just watched until my breathing ceased. I couldn't breathe. I was panicking and screaming internally unable to be heard. My gaze started to fixate on one place no longer moving. My body was stuck but I was still there.

The man saw this change and took his leave. He had completed what he wanted to do. He was so calm as he disappeared from my vision. I wondered why he would do such a thing. But it didn't matter. I didn't care about the why. Maybe I would've if I survived and wanted justice. But at the moment, I just thought about how my loved ones laid still around me. How I was losing my grip on any life force I once had. How it was slipping through my fingers like water. I was going to drift and fade until whatever forces that created the universe strung me up in the sky with all the other lost souls.

This was it. This was the end. The last thought as my world went black.

I could still feel everything around me. There was movement eventually. Someone carrying me. It was fast and sloppy. We were rushing. There were sounds of sirens and people calling back and forth declaring the dead. Voices floated around me.

I could feel my chest rise and fall just barely. My heart would flutter every now and then. I suppose that's what they realized. Help had come. But it was too late. I knew that.

As my mind blinked from one space of time to the next. The scenes were all the same. Until finally I was settled in one. One filled with nothing but a peaceful silence. There was no other living body around me. It was just me existing until I couldn't anymore.

There was heavy padding covering my frame. There was no more pain. There was no cold or hot feeling of my blood covering me. It was just me.

So there I lay, in a white bed in a quiet room. Slowly feeling the world release me from its hold. There was a survivor of the attack. It just wasn't me.

As I was dying, vital signs slowly dropped out until they became nothing. I went back to the event just moments before, to the time I was dancing with the greatest ecstasy. Where I enjoyed spending time on frivolous things such as spinning across the dance floor. Where I indulged in food and champagne. Where I played with the children. Where I breathed without fear or worry. Where I felt utter happiness being surrounded by those I loved. I held onto those moments until I was back to being surrounded by them once again.