I am the storm

Chapter 6 | The horrors of the mind

...I'm running.

Running down a street lined with terraced houses on either side all painted in the same repeated shade white, cars are parked on both sides of the road all in the same shade of white the wheels completely white apart from the hubcaps which seemed to be a deep shade of black contrasting the white. The street I'm running is a dark shade of grey in the centre of the road but this grey gets lighter as it reaches the both sides of the road.

I don't know why I'm running?

I don't know where I'm running?

I don't know if I running towards something or away from something?

I don't even know where I am?

I don't know why the houses and the cars coloured white?

As I carry on running the white of the houses and the cars starts fade into black as if the light is being obscured by the darkness.

I'm running and if I'm not fast enough the darkness could swallow me up whole like it does to the light of the houses an the cars.

As I run the road ahead is inhabited by figures I can't make out their faces but there is a lot of them and they are all turned away from me by something else that seems to have captivated the interests of all the onlookers.

As I approached the group of people I could now see that every person standing in the crowd was completely engulfed in a light grey colour! They all had all the normal facial features: eyes, mouth, nose, ears and the same repeated thin weak male body type with no muscle. All of them were completely the same none of then looked different from each other.

Curiously, I tried to push my way through the crowd to see what the people were so fascinated by also to avoid the ever encroaching black that was consuming the street.

After I had pushed my way to the front of the crowd I could see an giant pile of wood and sticks piled high against one singular log of wood the stood raised up to the sky. Unlike the other objects in this place the wood was it's usual colour a dark brown.

Suddenly, world was submerged in darkness and the people seemed to disappear as they were engulfed by the darkness.

The world around me was quiet there was no sound at all I reached around in the darkness but could not reach anything it was like the world around me had disappeared like the darkness had erased the world creating a void left behind in its wake the world grew colder. And colder. Like the darkness itself had taken me into a grappling embrace with freezing fingers.

Until the world grew warmer as if the cod grasp had let go of my body and my body started to feel comfortable lost in this warm darkness...

Eventually, the world grew lighter and the world resumed it's unusual colours with a few additions: in my left hand was a stick that was set alight with and orange fire and on the stood up piece of wood was a man bound tightly in rope struggling to get free!

I recognised the man he was the man who had attacked me! The man that I had killed! I could see him clearly he was a fat out of shape man he had black eyes full of fear a fat nose and a tattoo on the inside of the mans left wrist the design seemed to be a dragon that sprawled up the man arm, the man was dressed in a white gown that fell below his knees.

From behind me the crowd had stated hurling insults and curses at the man stating things like 'Burn him!' and 'Kill him!' and 'Set him alight!'.

Suddenly, someone grabbed my left wrist and leaned the fire toward the wood I tried to resist but the person made me light the wood and the flames started to rise quickly as the burned smoke filled the air as the man's cries of pain grew louder and louder!

He was burning!
I had killed him all over again!

Then all the spectators started to grow darker until they became black like the darkest deepest cave under the ground. The spectators turned their attention to me as they began to shout 'Killer!' and 'Murderer!'.

The people around me start to move closer brandishing their fists at men wanting blood! My blood!

I had killed the man all over again but now the crowd saw me for what I am a murderer and they wanted penance for what I had done!

In response I ran into the darkness the former cold that had embraced me earlier now encroached upon my body as I ran into the chilling darkness.

The darkness was cold it chilled me to the bones penetrating the the skin through the muscle and all other body mass, when I looked down at my arms while running they seemed to turn blue as the energy in my body started to fade and eventually disappeared into the darkness that surrounded my being!

It was a fate worse than death my body so weak the crowd behind me had somehow caught up to me and grabbed me by the legs and started to drag me somewhere else into the darkness while my body was helpless to resist the overwhelming force.

As the blank people dragged me further and further the ground seemed to get rougher and more uneven, the ground rough texture began to rip away at my skin even though the cold should have numbed the pain but I could feel every scratch every piece of skin being torn from my very being.

The pain was unbearable!

What was this torture?

Suddenly, the ground changed into a dirt and mud that was damp. Light started to illuminate the area once again to see a forest and a fast running stream at least three feet deep of cold murky water.

The blank figure lifted me up from the ground and thrust my head under the water! The dark liquid filled my mouth and nostrils even engulfing my eyes and ears as the water rushed down my wind pipe and started to fill my lungs they burned and suddenly the blank person lifted me out the water and I coughed violently removing the water from my lungs and grasping on to a sliver of life!

As I finally coughed up the last of the water and I fully regained consciousness that's when the blank person thrust me back under the water and the process was repeated this happened about three times that I could remember...

One final time when I was ready to give in and die I was thrust under the water my lungs felt as though they were on fire and my life fading into nothing.....

Until I awoke in a cold sweat still in my bead my heart racing good it was a dream! I'm not dead!

But what did this dream mean?

Or was I just being tortured by my inner demons wanting penance or revenge for me killing the man?

What was my subconscious mind trying to tell me?