Cloak of Ashes

Commune

"Something's scratching at my head.

It whispers softly it says,

Are we alive or are we dead?

I don't believe the things I see.

It's only dead and misery.

It's only death and misery."

~Am I Dead? By Anti-Nowhere League

A girl stood, her back to Colby. Silky black hair billowed out among her casual clothing, a faded gray shirt and a pair of rolled up jeans. The cold didn't seem to bother her as the harsh wind nipped affectionately at her exposed legs, and she stood amidst a pile of ashes, a couple still alight with red.

The cool grayness of the ashes encircled her being, the little fire left in those ashes extinguishing themselves as another wind swept through the abysmal clearing. The ashes scattered, leaving dusty trails in their wake. Her slightly tanned face, warm from the Floridian sun, was calm and serene, eyes closed gently so that the remnants of ashes danced atop her long eyelashes as they quivered in the breeze.

Colby knew he was dreaming, of course. But he didn't want to wake up as he stared, fascinated, at the girl amidst the pile of ashes. The city around her had been decimated, houses and broken brickware in ruins; yet she seemed perfectly calm as the ashes whispered around her. In the agony of the faded screams of the dead, the town hovered, perfectly still and trapped in the thick of the haze, where the stomping feet and shoving elbows and piercing screams were loudest. These ghost imprints left their remnants on the startled shell of ground that was the Earth, fog floating through and playing tricks on vision. A dead body, alive and animated, foul mouth open to reveal a set of crooked teeth, floated its way over. A shell of a man, body thin and bony, carried a stick in the pure white rage surrounding him, ready to hit very hard. These mirage, however, did not faze the girl standing in the middle of all the action of the past.

Colby stared at the peaceful girl, chocolate brown eyes wide.

"Um."

He cleared his throat, raspy from crying and from inhaling the smoke and sulfurous fumes of the fire that had risen up again the city.

"Who're you?"

His voice was rough and a bit scratchy, maybe even the slightest bit frightened of this girl.

The girl did not register any signs of having heard, her back still turned to Colby as her small pink lips mouthed a few words, the thought unsaid hovering at the tip of her tongue, ready to be cast out into the void of the world. 

"Depends," was all she said as she, not breaking focus, continued to murmur words under her breath.

"Why are you here?" Colby was undeterred by her vague answer, and resolved to continue the interrogation.

"It's the best place to commune with the dead. Right after a tragedy, when the souls are fresh out of this universe." Her words were an unbroken chain, smooth and connected. It seemed like she was responding absentmindedly, the answers so deeply ingrained in her brain she did not have to think to look. Holding her thin arms in front of her, her grey sleeves slipped away to allow her arms, too, to feel the biting cold. She seemed to be sensing something intangible, arms hovering delicately in the air as a stillness came over her expression, as her sensitive fingers felt something shimmer into existence for a brief, flitting second before fading back into the ashes.

She opened her eyes, finally, her eyes large blue orbs, practically luminescent in the dimness of the setting, gazing around as if realizing her surroundings for the first time. Her eyes were, Colby decided, a darkish blue, a crystalline blue that seemed to reflect the chlorinated pool waters of his childhood, except a darker, sapphire color. It was a fleeting moment in which she turned to him, blinking to take him in, before she turned into profile again, black hair obscuring her face.

"Oh, hello." She said pleasantly, as if this were a normal matter and an occurence with which she ran into quite often. Turning to face him again, Colby got another glance at her startling blue eyes, which had settled into a more muted tone, as if reflecting the somber mood of its surroundings.

"Um, hi." Came Colby's rough whisper, as he gazed at the girl standing so nonchalantly in front of him.

"So, are you dead?" She asked casually, plucking a piece of imaginary lint off of her gray shirt.

Colby blinked a couple moments, almost not  comprehending the question. That, and the strange setting with which they were placed into. He had just realized that this city was not the city he had fallen asleep in. This city seemed to once have had towering skyscrapers, judging by the crunch of his sneakers on glass and the few steel structures looming haphazardly towards the sky. The rest were torn down, iron bars littered the street and clumps of brick and mortar strewn about carelessly, as if this ruined city were no more than a messy room.

And the sky- Colby had just noticed the sky, the most different thing so far. Above him, open sky loomed, dotted with a few gray clouds. Forked lightning sliced through the air, a pulsating red color that demanded attention. The current storm brewing seemed impossible considering the chilling wind whipping through earlier. But of course, this was a dreamland, and Colby did not know what he should expect.

Turning his attention back to the girl, who stood, waiting patiently, he formulated a response.

"Um, no? I don't think so...."

"That's funny," she said, frowning slightly as she glanced down at her hands, which had dropped to her side. "I must have said something wrong. Forgive me for disrupting your slumber, stranger."

The girl turned again, and Colby could see a faint marking on the back of her ankle. It was a scar, pale and pink and shaped like a diamond with its sides curving in, making it look like a sparkle commonly seen in cartoons. It would've been laughable save the solemn, harried expression on her face.

She raised her hands once more, muttered a few more words, before the world dissolved like smoke around Colby, rising up to the now non-existent sky, wisps of ashes and steel and glass, before Colby awoke, lying face first in the ashes of his own ruined city.