Wake Me Up

1. Dead Awake

Eddie Munson

As soon as I accept my fate, the pain of a million needle-like teeth feels like nothing.

The fluttering of leather wings becomes music.

The searing pain in my stomach vanishes.

I told Dustin to go, and I'd meant it.

And then there is nothing, the world around me disappearing as if sinking into black water. Enveloped in silence. Darkness.

Then suddenly I am falling. And falling. And falling. Deep into a black pit. My senses are stunned — like a good high gone bad.

But just as quickly, I stop. But where? Disoriented and blind, I try and gather my senses. Am I alive?

Well, conscious I guess... But where the fuck are my eyes? Can I... can I open them?

"Ughhh," I groan, flickering my eyes open, taking in various shades of red and grey and black.

A sky?

An ominous looking sky?

A pained groan escapes me. 

Of fucking course it is. This is bullshit. I thought I was gunna die. I was ready to. But for some god-forsaken-reason, I'm here. Alive (I think)

So what the fuck just happened?

If I'm dead, shouldn't it be impossible feel the dense, hot air blowing against my cheeks? Or the pressing of pebbled sand beneath my body?

I shoot up from the ground and press a hand against my thumping chest, feeling the warmth of my skin and smelling the dirt in the air, carrying with it the grittiness of dry, dead leaves.

"What the..." The words escape me.

How is this possible?

One moment, those nasty bastards were tearing me apart, and the next...I'm here.

But where is here?

I scan the area, taking in an expanse of grey desert with thunderous dark clouds barreling away from me, orange lightning flashing within the mist.

My heart sinks.

Am I still in the upside down?

But if I am... I'm not in pain anymore. I'm not even injured, dressed in the same clothes I threw on before the fight. Yet my shirt is untorn, as if nothing happened at all.

Makes no fucking sense.

I take a deep breath, my shoes crunching into the dirt as I shakily stand up and scan the vast desert. A desert of grey sand stretching for miles.

What happened after the bats?

Did somebody save my sorry ass?

Did I black out and get away out of pure survival? Unable to remember how I did it?

But I'm unhurt. I remind myself.

Which would be impossible. Unless... unless...

"Dustin!!!" I shout into the wind, unable to bite down on the panic in my voice.

Nothing.

Maybe I am in hell, and my punishment is a destiny of being completely and utterly alone.

I always knew I was on the road to here. To hell. I've never deserved otherwise.

I'm alone again, like I always have been.

My stomach twists into a knot

If I am in hell, I will inevitably ramble to myself and become insane. (We're all a little insane aren't we?)