Scattered Dreams & Dragonflies

The figure, the man and the dog

Under the dark sky, I found myself walking at a steady pace, doing so, I remained in total silence as I was being pulled by the hand by an unknown woman. Her hair, a glistening crimson red, occasionally reflected the lights below us as we passed. To my recollection, her face was etched in an unknown abyss. Regardless, I was continuously pulled by the lady along the sidewalk of a small bridge that night. Just below her hand, a tattoo of a waning crescent moon adorned her skin. A lady bathed in mystery, and yet, I followed, carried through like a siren song. The warmth of her hand mercilessly pulled me towards the unknown, and I was along for the ride.

Our destination was a park right across the bridge. I could see the end approaching as we walked through the bridge's sidewalk. The lights pointed across the slightly lit path with ease; our destination was not far away. Silence, as an uninvited guest, adorned the space between us. A gap made wider regardless of our physical connection, only the sound of our steps was present as witnesses as we approached our destination in quiet discomfort.

But a few steps from exiting the bridge, a man with a rather hasty pace approached us. He seemed slightly desperate, his eyes unavoidably filled with fatigue and worry. His hair was long and grayish. In a matter of moments, his eyes crossed with mine, and in desperation, he approached us, gesturing to stop our advance.

The man, stopping right in front of us, skipped any kind of pleasantries or manners and proceeded to speak. He warned me about impending danger to my life. Failing to add any more detail to such a crucial and unfounded piece of information, he proceeded to tell me how much "her" dog hated me for some reason.

The girl, hearing the same words as me, lifted her voice at the man in frustration, attempting to repel and negate such claims regarding her dog's feelings towards me. I found this rather odd, as the most important thing at the time I would consider to be the mention of potential danger towards me, and her by proxy. In this particular scenario, the oddities as well as the accumulating pieces of information began to raise awareness and an uncomfortable sensation in me. The girl, who continued to argue with the man, still had her back towards me, so by this point, I still had not gotten a chance to see her face. Regardless, I touched her slightly on the shoulder, in an attempt to stop her from arguing. She stopped momentarily, allowing me enough time to tell her that it was time for us to go.

With a subtle nod and the old man's silence, we continued our walk towards the end of the bridge. We were but a few steps away from the end. The man, who we had left behind, stood still right where he had stopped us. He stared into the distance with an eerie look, closely watching us as we subtly moved out of his line of sight. Just before we could leave the bridge, I looked back one last time towards the man. I saw him in the distance once again moving towards us. This time he never reached us, as from afar he uttered the following words:

"Your time is up."

At the sound of these last words, the unknown redhead and I were suddenly surrounded by unknown creatures. By instinct, we began to fight them off. In our hands, we wielded giant long hammers that stretched a few feet. They seemed rather heavy, but to us, they were like carrying a straw around. The creatures attacking us had human shapes; however, they were all covered in a dark color, resembling the night. They seemed, in hindsight, very sturdy. However, with every swing of the hammers, they felt like hitting cheap plastic. With every push and strike, we avoided being reached by the creatures around us. With every hit, I could feel them bend, sending them over the bridge in groups of five or six. As we continued to fend them off, the landscape shifted, pushing us once more to the center of the bridge. The exits of the bridge closed, and we were left at the mercy of the unending hordes of beings attempting to attack us endlessly.

Our struggle continued for some time. However, I would never see the end, as my eyes opened to greet yet another day.