Mr. Misty-Eyed | Josh Dun

dream sequence | thirty-nine

Everything was dark. A pitch black that I could only attest to looking at the backs of my eyelids. I felt as though I was in motion. Something propelling my forward at a constant rate. Something I had no control over.

I opened my eyes then, the scenery outside whipping by me in blurred streaks of grey and black. Sweat built on my brow in seconds as I sat in the back seat of a moving car. My hands gripped the seat cushion underneath me, the car seeming to speed up ever so slightly.

My heart leapt into my throat as I looked toward the drivers seat, the dark figure positioned there making my insides churn. I didn't want to be here.

I turned slightly in the backseat and pulled at the door handle, my breathing becoming labored when I realized there was no way of escape.

And then the car swerved as though to avoid a bump in the road, my body harshly swaying from side to side and my shoulder collided with the door. My eyes widened as I turned back to face front, but my shadow was no longer driving. I was alone on the empty road that only seemed to be going in circles.

The car swerved just like before and my fingers pressed firmly into the seat in front of me, but this time the car didn't even out. The tires screeched so loudly it shook me to the core, my hands flying up to cover my ears as I let out a silent scream.

And then I felt weightless. My body lifting off the seat as the car turned and flipped onto its side and then over and over again. At first my body turned and twisted with the metal, but as glass shattered and cut my skin, I was thrown from the destroyed remanence of the car. I rolled down the grassy incline off the side of the road, tree branches clouding my vision as I lay looking up toward the grey sky.

I let out a gasping breath as everything hit me at once. The cuts on my arms allowed blood to trail down them. I stood on shaky legs, feeling the bruises as they already began to form, but I wasn't paying attention to that. Instead my eyes were trained on the burning cage of a car that sat warped in the middle of the desolate road.

What had my heart pounding though was the shadowy figure that still lay inside the wreckage. The flames swallowing him up as he reached out toward me. I took a step back as my shadow clawed to get out, his talons scraping against the road as he did.

But I didn't move. I watched as the flames began to die down the shape of my shadow fading out along with the flames. Smoke filled the air, burning my lungs as I made my way towards the carcass of the car.

Partials of ash and dust floated around me and crunched under my feet as I stopped in front of the smoking metal. My heart began to pick up speed once again as I looked over the melted plastic and chard fabric.

There was nothing left of him. My shadow had dissipated along with the flames. I took a step back as slight relief washed over me. But did that really mean he was gone?

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