To Imagine...

Imagine Eleven: Skylar (Past)

The painted walls of this room have never looked so inviting before.

My body collapsed onto a thick, delicate cushion, sheets devouring my limbs and hiding me within their folds.

I screamed. My voice echoed and broke, the room flashing and dimming before me, the floor shaking as if the earth itself was rearing its head to toss me off. My nails dug like claws into my skin as if to anchor me down, my eyes bloodshot and red, scraping across the ceiling and walls like sandpaper. My breath came in bursts no longer than the width of a hair, whispers screaming in my ears. My bleeding arms lifted to my head, hands clutching my ears, my body rocking back and forth.

I don't know you.

I don't know you.

I don't know you.

I don't know you.

I screamed and thrashed in desperation, torn feathers from the white pillow billowing out in front of me. The sheets were stained, the fabric scarlet as if painted, the floor spotted with red prints from where I'd walked. I heard my breathing, calmer but still agitated, and still I screamed. 

My head was throbbing with pressure, their voices appearing again. I shrieked--the wind picked up in the room, glass of a thousand tiny pieces whirling and sparkling through the air. Blood flew and scattered between them, tainting the delicately blue glass, tearing up everything they touched.

Nothing was right.

Nothing here was right.

Blood-soaked, my fingers fumbled on the door in a desperate attempt to open it, even as I fell hard against the dark wood. Sharp locks of hair fell in front of my eyes, dripping and wet, tossing in the sharp wind as I fell over myself again in an attempt to escape from the tempest in the room.

I stumbled as I stepped through the stained and dripping door, catching myself on the handle and heaving burning gasps as I slipped my way from the rough stone floor and into the smooth tile setting. The tornado of glass and red slowly faded behind me as I closed the door, falling against its back and sliding slowly to the floor.

I couldn't control anything.

A flickering yellow glow in the room reflected against the blue tiles, disorienting though pleasant. My vision calmed. The floor no longer moved, the walls only trembling and vibrating against me. My bloodshot eyes placated, a growl in my lungs slowly fading into normal gasps allowing air into my lungs. I felt tears in my eyes.

The room was falling into darkness over what must have been years later yet only a few seconds both at once. By the time I had fought myself out of the vertigo and half-conscious state, I awoke to a pooling of blood around me, mixed with duly red bile and half-digested meat.

My head swam at the sight. The shadows all around grew like sharpened like knives almost as if they had form, harsh and demanding against every object in the room. Everything was dark, the source of light in the room blocked out by no visible object. My vision trailed as my head fell to the side, double-vision and skipping frames succumbing to the frightening calm that rushed over me.

*~*~*

I didn't awake until the third slap of water. Startled, I gasped in surprise and choked on a mouthful of something vile, coughing until I gagged and emptied my stomach unceremoniously. My eyes slowly opened.

The walls of this room look as if they were witness to hell with a paintbrush, the floor submerged beneath an inch of what could only be described as liquid tar, crusted over with dried blood and bits of flesh. I sat up in a rush, disturbing a charge of water that slapped from the tub to the floor.