Blueish

by Art Lawrence

It’s been a month since I’ve seen the skeletons, but the sound of their dead hands sifting through me still rings in my head. As I sling my backpack around my shoulders I glance down at my arm. The red dot has faded and now a blueish mark resides in place. I want to cry, want to curl up into a ball and pause time around me, but I can’t. I can’t let them win. I try to forget the skeletons, as I head out the door. Go to school and forget I tell myself.

I do make it to school, and for a moment I think everything will be okay. The red dot is gone and I’m on my own now. I think about how I haven’t seen any monsters lately, and in a cruel twist of fate, my mouth tightens up, and I suddenly feel sweat begin to run down my face. Head throbbing, I shudder at the feeling of electricity coursing through my palms. My hands drag against the gray walls and I grasp against the concrete trying to keep myself up. I glance into the gray abyss, my eyes growing heavy. I swear I can see a reflection staring back at me. A skull with two hollow eye sockets gazing back at me until my eyes finally close.

~

I’m surrounded by light. A disgusting yellow lights saturates my eyes, blinding me from my surroundings. I stumble around till my eyes finally allow me to see something. It’s my hand. Ghostly white a drop a blood trickles out of each finger tip to meet in the center of my palm. The pool of blood slowly grows until my palm can longer contain it, and spills off streaking down my arm, and splashing onto my feet. The color seeps into my arm, and as it finishes turning red, two figures suddenly appear to my sides. One to my right and one to my left, I’m not sure which way to look first. I choose right. It’s then I see it. A chilling sensation ripples down my spine, each arm a million splintering needles, a green ooze dripping off the abomination. I regret my choice and spin around. Looking left now I see something far more sinister. A group of skeletons gather, whispering sweet terrors to each other. Behind them my eyes lock with a haunting ghost. It clutches its phantom claws around a pitch black scythe, as I stare mesmerized by its blueish eyes. I don’t like where I am, and a feeling of unease begins to surround me. I want to leave, no, I need to escape. But where will I flee? Reality?

~

My eyes open and I’m on the ground. Beneath me sits a blueish pattern of tiles. I gasp for breath and look up. Fluorescent lights cut my retinas, almost as annoyingly as the yellow light. I’m alone in the hallway, and I thank God that no one has noticed my predicament. I fold my arms underneath my body, and push up. A little dizzy, but I eventually find balance on my feet. I look for a clock on the wall, but find nothing, as my feet shuffle along the tiled-floor. I suppose it doesn’t really matter what time it is. I do make it pretty far down the hallway...or at least what I think constitutes pretty far. I swear I’m almost to the end of the hallway when I stumble into another. It more of one of those little dead-end offshoots that’s only purpose is to stow a supply closest or something, but none of that really matters when my body hits the floor.

~

I’m back in the light. It’s too bright. And I really shouldn’t call it light, because I feel like I’m trudging through darkness. I take a step forward and my body fractures. Shit. Nothing I can do, I watch my frame disassemble into a billion shattered pieces on the floor. I rush to pick up as many pieces as I can. Clutching a pile of fragments, my hands began to bleed. Another pool of blood. This time it has a blueish glow to it. Beside me on the floor rests a broken shield. Next to the shield is a helmet split down the middle. The floor smells of rust and my feet are slowly sinking into it. My ankles slip into the ground. How far will I fall?

~

I’m back in the hallway. I try to push myself off the ground, but fail. I fail again. And again. My attempts are futile, as I feel myself slipping back into that blueish color. Can I breathe? Where am I? Can I see? Who am I? Why? Why? Why?

~

I can’t stand this light. It’s time to confront the monster. It looks bigger than before, as I watch it swing it’s needle-arms in the distance. I tell myself it is not real, but the green ooze sliding down its blackened, spiky spine still scares me. Hesitation fills me, as I take a step closer. I want to turn back, but can feel the ghost’s chill behind me, ready to thrust its scythe into me upon any wrong move. The monster grunts, as I thrust my arm into its chest. The flesh on my arm tears off, from the needles. Globs of flesh fall off my arm, as I retract what is now just ghostly white bone. Its blueish heart beats quietly in my hands. My fingers clench, reddish liquid splashes, and my chest seizes up. I drop to the ground, my grip tightening around the heart. I’m such a fool. In this moment I realize the truth. If I go any further I will die. I squeeze the heart. Another squeeze and it will break. Another squeeze and I’ll die. A chill ripples across my shoulders. The ghost holds its scythe above my head...waiting...waiting for me to make my decision.

~

I’m laying in grass, green grass. I like how very green grass the is, then again I have always preferred a bench of some sort. It has been a week since I fought the monster. A goose flies by above me, and I feel oddly at peace. In the end I didn’t kill the monster. In the end I couldn’t. I look up at the setting sun. Trails of pink and orange swirling into the blueish background. It’s kinda nice.