Fever Dream || Frank Iero

PROLOGUE

 It was dark. And when I say dark, I mean dark; the kind of dark where you continuously open and close your eyes to test if there's any difference. I desperately felt around the room, or whatever it was that I was in, for some sort of handle, or light switch, but every bit of space in front of me was completely empty. Strangely enough it didn't even feel like I was walking when I moved forward, more like every time I lifted a foot I simply hovered a few inches before picking up the other.

As I was staring down at more empty space where my feet were supposed to be, a sudden flash blew through my eyelids down to my very core, sending a devastating shock through my feet and into the ground. I opened my eyes to see that I was outside, surrounded by wild electricity dancing like it was en pointe in circles and through the grass and trees. I wanted so badly to let out some sort of cry. Not even a fearful cry, but perhaps a cry of feeling. The lightning was beautiful, although entirely threatening, causing me to quickly draw back my feet when I thought it was coming too close.

I kept opening my mouth to scream, but nothing left my throat. I could only feel the pressure of my organs forcing themselves upwards trying to create a sound. All I could do was stand and stare while the electricity played shadows on my face like taunting little puppets. Hearing a faint voice behind me, I twirled around only to face more electricity.

"Mel..."

I gasped at the sound of my name, and turned once more. There was no one in sight but myself- I was completely alone.

"Mel-... Melissa..."

A quick sob left my body as my knees began to feel heavy. Slowly I descended towards the ground, clutching at my hips and my stomach for some form of relief from the fire burning the inside of my bones. Another crack of lightning hit close to my feet and I threw back my head in attempt of avoiding the blinding streak of light. When I tossed my face back, I saw a feeble hand birthing from the darkness, reaching out to me. My instincts were flawed and I had no gut to follow. Should I grab the hand? What do I do?

Before I had time to ponder further, more lightning began raining down rapidly, and a hard wind blew hard through me, whipping my hair around my neck and face. Hearing one last desperate call of my name, I gave into the fear and grabbed the foreign hand, my fingers immediately interlocking with that of the stranger's. Tears streamed down my face as I took one last look at the chaos surrounding me, and when I turned back I locked vision with a pair of bright green eyes, steady and unblinking.

"Melissa. You're home."