This is a little quickie I tossed up. Oneshot, of course. This was actually an assignment for my technology class (sad, I know) while our teacher was sick and we had a sub. I brought it home since I thought it was actually decent. It was originally meant to freak out our really mean substitute, but I have a feeling you guys might like it.
Disclaimer: All descriptive content property of Garth Nix, writer of the Old Kingdom Trilogy.
I woke in the black of darkness. I didn't feel my bed underneath me. I don't really know where I am. It feels like I'm… disconnected, somehow. I realize that I'm not lying down anymore, I'm standing on something. There's a weird sensation around my ankles, almost like the slightest hint of a stream or river, tugging, beckoning to me. I feel like I should lie down and float. Let the river take me, but somehow I also feel dread at the prospect.
The surroundings start to make themselves clear. There's a wall of fog behind me, seeming to stretch on forever in both directions. There's a never ending river coming out of it, from where it's impossible to tell, and it flows out of sight. Again, I feel the current's tug, pulling me away from the wall of fog, towards some misty distance.
It feels like a dream, unreal, uncaring. I could do anything- I realize, and it would have no consequence.
Somehow, I decide to walk back towards the wall of mist. It feels more like jelly to try and walk into. There are hazy shapes through it. As I strain to get closer, I see shrapnel strewn over a street. A fire's flaring to life over the remains of some metal heap. People are shouting, but the sounds are muted, and somehow slow. A force pushes me back, then, and I'm back, feeling the pull of the river at my feet.
That way obviously didn't work, so I decide to try following the current. It feels like the natural thing to do. I start slowly walking, taking in more of the 'surroundings' if you could call them that. It was gray in every direction. Suddenly, I stumble, my foot sunk into a hole in the river bed. As I'm trying to catch my balance, I feel like the river suddenly rushes around me, speeding towards the distance with a new intensity. Then I'm back up, and it's gone. I walk forward, now I feel like the river is really going faster. There's a dull roar in the distance, reminiscent of a jet engine. It intensifies as I get closer.
I see a drop off now, the roar seems to be a waterfall. There's a peal of bells in the distance. I start to walk of my own accord, closer and closer to the waterfall, obviously the boundary of whatever this place is. I'm going to fast I know, but just as I think I'll plummet over the edge, the waterfall parts in front of me to reveal a long slight of stairs stretching into the depths.
The next thing I know, I'm once again in a strange place. There are stars above, and the river now is warm and welcoming, no longer really a river but more like a huge, shallow pool. The stars emanate a sense of terror. I'm afraid to look up. If I do, I might lose myself, I know. There's a sense of power, of infinity in the sky above. It shows the very fabric of time in its being. Try not to, but slowly my head comes up. I see an endless sky. More stars than could ever be imagined. I start to… drift up towards them. I can't stop it, the sky pulls me up, and I realize-this is death.
So there it is. I hope at least some of you liked it. It's been what… 2, 3 years? My writing has changed a bit. I might do some more stories on the topic of a normal person dying. The bells were originally meant as another reference, so draw your own conclusions. PLEASE review, I want to know what you think. If you like it, or if I need serious improvement, I might write another.