The sky was cold and dark, but I liked it that way. The gloomy weather had always been, somehow, calming and pleasing to me. I laid in the grass of a field located in the middle of nowhere. It was my field. I hadn't paid for it or inherited it, but it was mine; I had claimed it for myself. I closed my eyes in my field and listened. I listened to the tall stalks of wheat crackling in the wind; to the far away sounds of the bustling city; and to the small, barely audible sounds of the souls of those who once roamed this field and the fields around it.
I talked to these souls and some days they talked back to me and told stories of what once was. Other days, they listened as I spoke about my life and the ever-changing world around me. These souls had always been friendly to me; offering companionship and warm conversation. This day, however, was different. The souls didn't speak to me. I could hear them and I tried to speak to them, but they didn't respond. I sat up and tried harder to connect with them, but I failed. I was very confused as this had never happened before. I stood on my feet and walked towards the creek at the edge of my field; the place where my connection with the souls was the strongest. I heard their muffled voices clearer near the creek but they still hadn't contacted me. I sat down on the muddy bank and watched leaves and twigs get caught in the creek's current. As I was watching the pieces of nature slip away silently down the creek, something on the other bank caught my eye. I looked up and saw a rabbit with a strange charm around its neck that was glowing a brilliant blue. The charm was mesmerizing. So mesmerizing that I reached out to touch it and fell in the creek.
When I opened my eyes, I was lying in the ever so familiar smelling field that I had laid in day after day. I was lying in my field among the same wheat stalks that had been there year after year. Except now, I was lying amidst a crowd of people. Or were they people? They looked like people, and walked like people, but they weren't quite here. They were distant and foggy. I stood up and felt a shooting pain in my shoulder, knee, and head. I reached a hand to my head and touched the place where it hurt. I looked at my hand and my fingers were covered in a thick red liquid; blood. All of a sudden, there was an annoyingly loud ringing in my ears and tingling through my body, like the harsh static feeling of your foot falling asleep . I sat down, drew my limbs close and pressed the heels of my hands to my temples, trying to keep the pain, ringing, and tingling under control. None of the figures around me stopped or hesitated in the slightest. I looked around, searching for someone, or something to help me, when I saw a flash of blue. I shielded my eyes from the bright light.
When I opened them again I saw a child standing in front of me. A child with the most brilliant, ice blue eyes I had ever seen. His eyes were like those of the charm around the rabbit's neck. Aside from his eyes, he looked just like the other figures in the crowd; gray, lifeless, and basic. He looked at me with an unchanging expression and placed a hand on my chest. Instantly, the pain, ringing, and tingling stopped. I studied the boy. He looked friendly now, but still lifeless and distant. He wore only overalls over a bare chest and rocked gently on bare feet. His hair was scraggly and I imagined it to be a dirty blonde. And then there were those eyes. Those crystal clear, yet mysterious blue eyes seemed to hold the secrets to the world. As I was looking into those eyes and memorizing this strange boy's face, I felt a tug on my shirt. I looked down and saw a grubby hand grabbing hold of the fabric above my waist. It was the boy's hand tugging on my shirt. I looked back to his face, plastered with a smile, and he held out a hand to me, intending for me to take it. I looked once more into the deep blue eyes that seemed to be glowing and I found trust in their depths. I took the boy's hand and he led me through the crowd of figures that seemed to be slowly fading; becoming grayer and seeming even less like people. I watched the figures around me as I walked past them. They acknowledged the boy and I. Some waved, others smiled, but most just stared.
