Bodies Upon the Gears

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by ks10438

by ks10438

Some things are unforgettable. Yet the human mind has a weird way of playing ball with our memories. It changes them; morphs them into something not quite right. They change so much that you start to think things happened when they didn't.

As we get older, we start to forget. We forget even important things. First car. The death of a family pet. The loss of a friend.

But there are some things you never forget. Things you see, that are forever filed away in your head. Every once in awhile the memories present themselves. Sometimes in a conscious state and sometimes through dreams.

I keep having a certain dream. A woman and my older self. I have a family. And she, my wife. We look ...happy. She would laugh in this dream and the whole world seemed to slow. The sun would bathe her in radiance as if to reinforce her angelic features. She was cooking breakfast. Eggs and bacon. My favourite. She would look at me. Her gaze full of lust even as we stood in what must have been our kitchen. She was pregnant too. She bore my first son. I would walk up to her and place my hand on her stomach. We would smile to one another and I would kiss her gently.

That's where this dream turns into a nightmare.

Her lips would suddenly stop moving against mine. I would open my eyes and see her pale face etched in fear and grimaced in pain. I would furrow my brows and look around as the kitchen would fall away and be replaced by a roof. We were up high. It was a city below us. I didn't live in a city. We were on the roof.

My wife fell staggered. She was naked now. She began walking wobbly to the ledge of the rooftop.

I couldn't speak. I couldn't move either. My feet were planted and when I tried to speak, no sound would come out. In fact, I couldn't hear anything at all. Everything was silent. As if I were stuck behind a pane of glass.

She was bleeding out of her side. She held her wound as she climbed onto the ledge. Her head turned back slightly to acknowledge me. She said something but I couldn't hear it. She faced forward again, her form dark against the grey sky. I wish she were an angel. I wish she had wings. I wish she were just kidding, and she would fall but then fly away laughing. But I didn't see her wings. Only the darkness she projected. It was choking. It smelt like putrid meat but was slightly masked with the scent of lilies.

She took a step forward. She was met with nothingness. What was left of her light, snuffed by the looming greyness that had consumed her.

She was gone now. But I looked up. And I saw her falling. She was falling to me. She would land right in front of me. I could catch her if only I could move. I could reach out and save them. But I couldn't.

She landed. On her stomach. She hit the roof with such an impact, that the only thing I could hear was the sick crunching of bones. I knew they weren't just only hers. My unborn son. It's the only sound I had heard this whole time. The sole source of my torment. Again. Again. Again. Over and over the sound filled my head as if it were coming from a giant speaker.

I could finally move. I fell to my knees. And right as I put my hand out to pull their corpses into myself, I awoke.

I looked to the spot next to mine to find it empty.

I sighed as the smell of eggs and bacon hit my nose.