Have You Ever Seen the Sun Rise at Midnight?

Fire

       "So." You began, having stumbled up the steps into the room, you weren't sure exactly how you got there, but the bright flickering light could almost be counted as a reprieve from the narrow, hauntingly dark hallways and knee-deep, cold water that you had exited from.  "Why is everything on fire?"

       Of course that did nothing to excuse the fact that the room had, in fact, been set ablaze. The flames licked up and down the soft blue and white colored walls and the wooden flooring withered and crumbled under the heat. Thankfully there seemed to be little smoke though. What little smoke that the fire produced was whisked off by a swift breeze through the large opening where the roof should have been and out into the sky. 

      The artist, a lone figure who sat inside the otherwise empty, burning room twisted to face you, although they remained with their legs facing the other way, contorted torso propped up by their arms. They sighed, tired eyes watching you despite already seeming to be trying to slide shut, "I dunno."

        "...Okay." Given you didn't know either, it wasn't hard to believe, "Do you know where we are?"

        A pause,  "My happy place." The artist stared up through the giant hole into the sky, dark, yet still brightened by the vibrant streaks of color which came with dawn and dusk.

         "It's on fire." The words slipped out before you could stop them.

       "I know."

         "Shouldn't we... I don't know? Do something? Maybe grab some water." You had just come from hallways practically overflowing with what seemed like water, it wouldn't be hard to get. You could practically feel your skin prickling in discomfort at the thought of walking further into the searing flames, the vicious burns it would doubtlessly create made you hesitate.

        They shrugged, seemingly uncaring despite being trapped surrounded by the growing blaze, "No..." they said with a sigh.

        "I...is it..." you paused, "Okay? Like is it always like this?"

          "It's fine..." the artist paused, "it was a forest once though... my own little safe haven, with mountains and a beautiful day lit sky, with moons too, visible despite occasional cloud cover. Now it's that hallway, dark and comfortably cramped, but not cozy, it's a shock to the system, stepping into the ice; isn't?  Still, I like a break from it sometimes... Sometimes I suppose it's nice to have some space and just... breathe... So I guess now it's this."

          "Er... yeah, I guess?" You couldn't really remember. If it was a shock or not that is. Actually... you couldn't quite remember when you first got here at all. You had been walking through the icey water but... what about before that? It wasn't as if it had been a jarring change or as if you had suddenly woken up here; you had just been walking through the cold water until you reached here, this flame filled empty room. Wherever it was.  Nor, you found as you struggled to puzzle it out in your head, could you  really  recall what it had felt like.

      It had been cold, you knew that, it was ice water, but you couldn't feel it. As if you knew it was cold in the same sense that you could know something was heavy just by looking... but you in the end, you didn't really know because you never picked it up.

       There was no uncomfortable, clingy weight to your clothes either, you realized, glancing down. You were fully clothed, in casual, comfortable clothes, but you realized they were neither damp from the water you knew- you... remembered?- you... you thought... that you had walked through, nor were they scorched by the hot flames which you realized already flickered and danced around your feet and up the doorframe at your sides.

         "You know," the artist smiled, something softly sentimental yet sad, almost tired, in the look, "It wasn't always a forest either. And hopefully, it won't always be this. I'll keep on moving, changing, growing into something somehow both more and less than what I am now... so will you, and everybody else in the world. There's no stopping that. But... that doesn't change the fact that some days I wish to return to that forest once more, and sometimes I wonder if I'll ever escape."

        "Escape?" You wondered, you couldn't help but wonder why anyone would want to leave the place they called they're 'happy place'. Even if said place appeared quite buzzard and borderline hellish to you, it had to be special to them to hold such a lofty title; shouldn't it?

        "Yes," they replied, gesturing about, "it doesn't matter if I like it here; this isn't real.  This isn't everything. And... if I get lost here, what about those I leave behind?" They sighed, "You're not really here either." They added with a wry smile.

        "What are you talking about? I'm right here!" You protested, you were real, you had thoughts of your own, you could feel.  Your eyes fell upon the fire again, it curled around your legs and waist now, burning untouchably hot, you knew this... and yet... you couldn't feel a thing.  Your skin burned under its heat but... only after you realized it should be.

      "I'm... real... right...?" You asked, no longer quite so sure.

     "Yes, it's probably time for you to go back now." They answered, as tired and empty and utterly uncaring as they were when the conversation had first started. You wondered how many- if, you corrected yourself, this had happened before. 

You wondered if they would ever leave. If other people had come before, or if it had always been you there, endlessly returning, searching for what you could never bring back.

       You protested, you still had questions! You couldn't leave just yet! Not when you had only just found them!

       "Come on now," they coaxed, they were fully facing you now, legs crossed in front of them as they stared up directly at you from the center of the empty room, no longer pretending to mind the sun frozen halfway down or up in its path or the moon and stars which lingered above, a sorrowful look painstakingly held back from their face, but you still caught it, you always would. "It's time for you to get up, you still have some things to do."

        You hesitated. Nothing truly felt real now. Transparent, almost, even though you could see everything just as clearly.

         "It's okay," they smiled there was nothing left in it but poorly contained grief, although you weren't sure about what you could see it as clearly as if it had been etched there.  The smile was pasted over like a false cut out face to hide the choked back scream and heart wrenching sobs contained within. 

         You wondered briefly which of you was truly trapped. Which of you was actually real. Whether one of you had to be real at all, or if neither of you were not real to begin with.

          They gave one more grin, this time laced ever so slightly with amusement as if guessing at your thoughts, you had both known each other long enough, they gave an aborted half shrug, their hands making a motion as if to pull you into a tight hug, but ultimately they remained sitting in the center of that empty room while you lingered in the entryway. 

        A half second passed and they spoke again, "It'll be okay."

         You nodded. Battling with the knowledge you hadn't yet accepted. You weren't ready yet.

           But while the world waited for no one, there were still people waiting for you too.

            "Go."