Steps of Dying

Hallucination

Step 2- Hallucination

I wasn't lonely or bored in my little white room, even though I saw no one except the staff from time to time, because while my body may be still and unmoving, in my mind, I lived a life richer and fuller than many really live.  I have friends and adventures, so much happens that I don't miss 'freedom' at all.  I AM free.  As I sit there, lost deep in my own thoughts, I'm running through a meadow on a beautiful summer's day.  Jumping brambles and shrubs, laughing up at the lazily drifting, ever changing clouds, watching the insects hum over the brilliant and varied wild flowers.  Here a patch of golden yellow cowslips, some white and gold ox-eye daisies, scarlet poppies and pimpernels, purple belladonna and violet, and yellow and purple flags.  Breathless and happy, I tumble to the ground, rolling through the long grass, listening to the birds singing from the hedgerows and trees, freewheeling overhead.

Suddenly, whole mood of the place changed, the sky turned an inky black, lightning flickered across the sky, rending the once peaceful afternoon with a ferocity that made the clouds crash together with a tooth jarring crash of thunder.  Rain started pelting from the sky, feeling like bullets as it ricocheted off my skin, drenching me in a split second, chilling me to the bone.  As the sky relit with flares of electric flashes, I spied a shadow, a silhouette, lurching across the now sodden grass toward where I still lay prostrate, hugging the grass.

Another flicker of harsh light, and in this one, I saw it was my friend, my best friend.  My emerald eyed, ice blonde haired, skin pinkish with life, hotter than hell best friend.  But... something was wrong, something wasn't right. His skin... he was almost as pale and blue as me.  He was holding his head awkwardly, as if scared to move it, and his clothes were ALL red.  He NEVER wore one straight colour, except maybe black, and even then the shirt would have a pattern, not be just one flat tone.  Something was definitely wrong.  He was getting closer.

For a moment, I'm afraid he's angry.  But has he gets nearer to me, I can see that he's worried.  I stand up and wait for him to come to me.  He looks relieved that I'm alright.  When he reaches me, I can see that he's dripping, the red is dripping from him in the downpour.  The first thing he does is hug me, he wraps his arms around me, squeezing me tightly.  I hug him back, glad that he's here.  When we finally pull away, I see that i'm now covered in some of the dripping red too, I look at my hands and torso, wondering what the substance is.  Gerard smiles a tired smile, "I'm so glad that you're okay."

"I'm fine," I smile back, "But what happened?"  I want to make sense of this madness, why would I not be okay?  Why is Gerard covered in red ooze?

Gerard looks at me sternly, "They were coming for you."  His eyes are dark, obviously remembering the events that preceded his arrival.  "They were going to take you away.  So I stopped them...."

None of this makes sense, who is after me?  I put my hand on Gerard's shoulder (this isn't easy because he's significantly taller than me).  "Who's coming for me?" I manage to ask.

"Men, all in white.  I've never seen them before, they looked so out of place," Gerard explains, "I heard them talking, I heard them say that they were looking for you."

"But what happened?" This only explains half the story, what is Gerard not telling me?

"I had to keep them from getting to you Frankie," He looks at me, a worried crease in his brow.  Then he looks down at himself and for the first time seems to realize that he's covered in a red liquid.  Looking back at me, he says, "It wasn't pretty."  Realization dawns on me, this is blood.  Gerard is covered in the blood of some strange white clad men and now I am too.

I need to know more, so I ask, "What were the men like?"

Gerard thinks and says, "They were in all white clothes, talked with strange accents and mostly to each other.  There were two of them, but I heard that they were scouting for you and that more would come later.  They sounded like they would hurt you."