Mr. Misty-Eyed | Josh Dun

dream sequence | fifty

A heavy pressure laid against my chest as I struggled to breathe through the smoke. Sparks and ash fluttered through the air as the floor beneath me began to burn. I could feel the heat as the far wall of the tree house became engulfed in flames. My eyes were wide as I watched my shadow step forward through the fire, that grin never leaving his face.

I scrambled to my feet, my lungs burning as I gasped for a fresh breath of air. Dark puffs of smoke filled the space and I squinted through the haze as I made my way across the room. Falling back down to my knees I scraped my hands over the splintered floor where I knew the hatch had been, but there was nothing.

"No, no, no." My breathing became ragged as I dug my nails into the floor. "No!"

My body tensed, my shoulders tumbling, as the deep laugher of my shadow bounced off the crumbling walls. I shut my eyes, the smoke causing them to water, as I wracked my brain. There was only one way out.

I stood quickly, and on shaky legs, I turned and made my way toward the open window. Smoke filtered out through the square hole in the wall and my heart jumped as the setting sun broke through the smog. The heat intensified behind me, flames lapping at my heels and the thunderous steps of my shadow only causing me to move faster.

A draft of fresh air hit my lungs and I could feel my movements stager as I pressed my body against the open window and hung myself outside. I coughed repeatedly, trying to intake as much fresh air as possible, but my need to breath only seemed to get worse.

I felt a tug on the back of my shirt and I gasped, spinning around and backing up as close to the window as possible. I could feel the burning sensation through my shirt where my shadow had touched me and without a second thought I climb up onto the windowsill.

My eyes were trained on the flower, it's warmth radiating like the sun that was just barely seen above the horizon. I took in a few quick breaths, reaching out for the closest branch that hadn't caught. I jumped just as I felt another pull on my clothes. Holding tightly onto the branch, I pulled myself up. I looked behind me to see my shadow as he clambered out of the window, his claw like fingers grasping at the branches and tearing them apart as he tried to get to me.

Without hesitation I shimmied as close to the end of the branch as possible, my one arm reaching out to grab at the flower only a few centimeters away. I couldn't leave it here. I wouldn't let it burn like everything else. My body clung to the thin branch as I stretched my arm as far as I could, my breathing unhinged as the cracking of the fire behind me engulfed the entire tree house.

Sweat formed on my brow, my fingertips just barely grazing the petals before I felt a hard tug on my ankle. My shadow contorted, a screeching growl coming from deep within him at his last attempt to stop me. A yell escaped my lips as I strained my whole body and finally I could feel the soft petals between my fingertips. The branch I clung to snapped and gave out to the flames as they burned through it. And then we fell, my shadow and I together.

I held tightly to the flower I cupped in my hands, it's warm glow reminding me of a fond memory, one I couldn't quite yet grasp. But I reached for it, using every fiber of my being to picture it. Green eyes, pink lips and dark waves of long brown hair. My eyes lids fluttered shut as I fell through the branches, holding tightly onto the only life I had found. The sounds of my shadow's writhing yells near by only became worst as the memories flowed through my brain.

The fall felt like nothing as my body hit the ground. Airy laughter, timid smiles and freckled cheeks filled my mind. Just one single thing could spark it and ignite the ideas of what my dreams could really hold. I could have that beauty if I tried.

"Don't..." My shadow's low scratchy voice made my eyes fly open as he now struggled to catch his breath. "Don't leave..."

As my fingers parted the flower that rested in the palm of my hand began to disintegrate, leaving behind what I already knew I had inside me. My body tensed as I lifted myself from the ground, the smoke that still rose from the tree house beginning to smolder and die. This was my mind. These were my dreams. I had the power to shape them.

My gaze was heavy as I stared across the meadow to where my shadow had landed. His breathing was ragged and uneven as though he had been shot through the chest and was trying to catch his last breathes. I took a step toward him and watched as beneath my feet new grass began to grow. It didn't die away this time, but instead spread with every step I took.

"I'm not leaving." My voice was the strongest I had ever heard. "You are."

The grin I had been so terrified of was nowhere in sight as I took yet another step toward my shadow. His body heaved and hunched over on itself as his black mass coward away. The hazy fog that surrounded him turned heavy as it began to seep down into the ground.

Flowers and grass and reeds continued to grow over the rooted, rocky ground, bursting up through the soil as I felt myself take control. It had been inside me all this time, the flower, the glowing ball of light, that stranger. They were what I was striving for. They were tiny reminders of what I could do, what my dreams could be if I found it inside myself. I had just needed that one last fall.

His body shrunk, the pitch black my shadow used to be began to fade as he fell to his knees. I stopped in front of him, towering over his contorted body. He shifted, jolting up as a loud snarl left him. He reached out for me, but I stood strong. He wobbled slightly, his taloned hand stopping short and I watched with no remorse as he fell backward onto the fresh new earth.

It was as though the night had past within seconds, the sun that had only just disappeared behind the horizon began to rise again. The light found its way over the treetops of the once dark forest, up the face of the cliff until it streamed across the meadow around me. I watched as my shadow became translucent, his legs stretching out toward me as he flattened against the ground.

I turned toward the sun, taking a few steps before I turned back slightly and watched as my own body casted the shadow that followed behind me, mimicking my every move. My feet carried me through the still growing grass and my eyes turned up toward the giant tree by the edge of the cliff to see no fire, no smoke, no tree house, just a beautiful mother tree drinking in the nutrients coming from sun's rays.

I pressed my hand to the bark of the tree, staring up into its branches to see thousands of new tiny buds and leaves as they grew from the ever-brightening light.

A smile formed on my face as I turned and looked out over the dark forest, the pitch black that had been forever descended upon it sank back into nothing more then the shadows of the trees themselves. I watched in amazement as the dying forest began to come alive.

My eyelids fluttered shut and I tilt my chin upward toward the sky, drinking in the morning sun. It was new day. A new beginning. A warm spring breeze swirled around me, cooling my skin and relaxing my mind. 

The smile on my face only grew as I inhaled deeply, and for once, I could breathe fine.

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