She lay there, motionless. Her dusty blonde hair, floated effortlessly past her shoulders, concealing her pallid complexion. Lightning bolts of Tawny gold entwined with her curls. Tenderly the placid creature draped it's body around her icy skin, lulling her into a false pretence.
I struggled to breathe, the entity clawing down my throat, as though to hinder my feeble attempts of escape. Blood pulsated through my veins, it's thunderous reverberations reaching its peak. The surging beast hauled it's heaving body through the opening, but soon the gushing echo hushed to a muffled whisper as my hearing began to diminish. My vision started to deteriorate; a cloak of darkness was stalking me, ensnaring me in its trap.
Rays of light shone down through the canopy of trees, leaving dappled patterns across my face as I slowly awakened.
"Where am I? Am I dead?" I groaned, oblivious to my surroundings.
"Don't be silly joely, we're in Newbury Park, remember?" The woman spoke in a mellifluous tone as she gazed longingly at the sky.
I recognized the euphoric harmony almost immediately, Rae.
"Wait, what are we doing in Newbury Park?" I asked bewildered.
"For my birthday! We're having a picnic," she exclaimed as a contagious smile stretched across her face.
"Huh? We went here for your 24th birthday, 2 years ago," I muttered wondering if I was going completely delirious.
"That's right," she paused, "this is just your memory."
It seemed to make sense, but then what I thought I'd imagined was in fact real. The excruciating pain, bitter taste and pungent aroma, it was all completely real. But why was I here? Had I passed out?
"I have to go. You're in danger, I have to wake up," I panicked, frantically searching through my surroundings.
Rae reached out calmly, assuring me,
"It's ok, you'll get back in time. Let's just enjoy this now. We'll worry about that later."
"Rae, how can you say that? You could die," I couldn't quite comprehend what she was saying.
She giggled sweetly, "It's ok Joel, this is just a split second in real time.
You'll wake up soon enough, nothing will have changed. I promise."
There was something about her confidence that made me want to believe her. But as I gazed into her opalescent eyes, all I could see was her motionless body, her sallow face and her sandy hair drifting freely.
She noticed my apprehensive glances and slowly interlaced her soft fingers through mine. If I was to die soon, I wanted my last memories to be of her, right here, right now.
Leading me by the hand, we darted through the forest, hurdling over tree stumps and dodging branches along the way. We finally arrived to a
