Prologue ~ The sky descends
Death. Such a short word, yet it carries such a heavy meaning. Have you ever experienced the death of someone you love? When it does happen, it feels like the world's colors are drained and your heart is being sucked in to a dark bottomless pit in which no one can reach in and no one can help. As much as I tried to think of it as a nightmare, every morning I woke up to the truth. I got fed up... tired of this... too tired of the same thing over and over.
I tried to run away from that place, but the memories kept me tied down. I had no more family to go back to, nothing to hang on to in this world, so why would I want to stay there? With that in mind I ran many times before, but I never really got far. I felt like today was one of those days which I just needed to run and hoped that this time would be different. I didn't think much of it since I had done this before so many times and had wished for the same thing to no avail. Every time I ran like this I always ended up back to this old house covered in dirt and sweat. This is the old house I had grown up in, the house I was so used to, that house that held so many good memories… I had to get away from that house. I looked back from time to time to see that the house was getting smaller as I ran faster away from it and the memories it held. I wanted a way out of it all so I just… ran.
I could not hold it any longer; I wanted a way out of this insanity. I ran as far as I could and then some more and for a moment I started to feel better. I ran until I couldn't see the house anymore and after that I stopped to breathe. I sat on the edge of a cliff that was where I always rested when I decided to run like this. The breeze from the sea caressed my skin and filled my lungs with humid, fresh air. It was relaxing and refreshing, yet by staying there I knew I would go back home at night, like I always did. I sighed defeated by my own cowardice and decided to lean back and look at the sky. I smiled when I saw the clouds so freely above me. They could drift along the world and see everything while I remained here suffering from longing and emptiness. Never the less I smiled and wished I could be like them. I stayed like that until the sun started to set.
I sat up and looked down at the waves that hit the rocks at the bottom of the cliff. Unlike most people I was not afraid. I looked at the waves and how they crashed unto the rocks making a constant sound and relaxing me. I got up slowly and turned to head back home regretting my failed attempt to run away once again. But then without notice I felt as if someone held me from behind and whispered in to my ear "I will give you your way out" Right then, I began to fall.
I waited to crash on to the rocks at the bottom of the cliff and tint the water red as the waves made my body crash on to the rocks, but nothing happened. I opened my eyes and saw only darkness. I tried to hear the relaxing sound of the waves, but it was gone. I was now falling in a deep hole that seemed to be bottomless instead of the quick demise to the bottom of a cliff. I felt so confused as to what had happened. Had I fallen asleep and this was just all a bad dream? Had I really slipped and was now in my afterlife? I realized that at that moment I didn't care. I welcomed the crash and the end of it all in a deep dark pit where no one would find me. I welcomed the end even if it was a dream, but to just hold that feeling of relieve made it all better. It would end when I hit the bottom of the pit and then I wouldn't have to wake up in that house again. It felt good to smile and welcome death like so. I thought of how it would feel to die and how would the afterlife be. Was this it? Would I see them in the end of this pit? Could I be happy again this way?
As all of these questions started to eat away at me then I noticed I had been falling for a while. My dreams had never been like this. I would never dream of a fall so long. I wondered who was it that pulled me off the cliff and why he wasn't falling with me. It sounded familiar, that voice… but also unlike anyone who I had ever talked to before. As I looked around all I saw was darkness. I laughed then thinking any normal person would have shouted as they fell, but not me. I just kept falling and thinking of my imminent death, like it was meant to be, like this was what I wanted all along... My way out.
I heard a laugh coming from the darkness. It was laughing at my thoughts. At least that was the impression I got. Was I going crazy? Did I finally snap? As I thought about that, the laugh grew louder.
So it wasn't me "H-Hello?" For some reason, my voice sounded broken as I shouted that. And, as I expected, no answer. So I was going crazy. Then the laugh again, but this time it was right behind me. I turned and looked at the darkness behind me. No one. I sighed, exasperated, and then I heard a voice. The same voice that was laughing at my thoughts earlier. The voice was that of a man, but not the same as the one who pulled me down.
"You think you're dying?" It was a mysterious voice, but not scary. It welcomed me to search for it. But no one else was there. No one was falling, just me "Who are you?" The voice laughed again and answered "I'm a caterpillar" He laughed louder after he answered. I was now sure this must be a dream "Okay then, caterpillar... when will I stop falling?" It laughed and then I felt alone again. At that moment I knew I would reach the end soon, but before I could feel the floor destroy my body, I lost consciousness.