Anxiety. Intense anxiety. Fear. Unabashed fear.
That's what was coursing through him at that moment. He didn't know what was happening, didn't understand what was going on around him. He knew only the taste of his own fear. It stopped every beat of his heart, froze the air inside his constricted chest, gave vile life to everything around him. He wanted to speak out against this paralyzing feeling, wanted to cry out for help, but the emerald hand that flashed before his eyes halted his voice and threw him further into silence. He cowered back, crouching against the bars of the contraption they'd called a cage, quivering in horror. Just then, his world began to darken, and a voice whispered...
o0o0o0o
Pain. Intense pain. Ache. Overwhelming ache.
That's what he felt at that moment. He couldn't speak, couldn't think, could only feel. Feeling was the worst. It was as if he lived and died and lived again, trapped in that endless moment betwixt life and death, forever embalmed in a single second of twilight. It felt as though his very insides were being torn out, being shrunken, being horribly deformed even as he stood helpless. He wanted to do something, to yell something, to stop this terrible thing from happening, and just as he moved to do so, he fell forward, unable to catch himself, his world darkening. The last he remembered was a pair of emerald arms encasing him gently and a voice speaking softly...
o0o0o0o
Blood. Immeasurable amounts of blood. Worry. Uncontainable worry.
That's what he knew. He saw their punches, saw their kicks, but his mind was elsewhere. His mind was with her, worried for her. Had she gotten away? Was she safe? Would she remember that he loved her always? He knew they were beating him, knew their fists flew against his body with heavy blows, knew they were determined to make him pay. Yet, even as he knew this, he felt nothing and was nothing. Without her, he could be nothing. And so his world began to die, began to fade, and in the growing darkness an emerald light shone, encompassing him in its loving glow. Somewhere in this portal between himself and her, a voice called out to him...
o0o0o0o
Water. Ice cold water. Fault. Total, complete fault.
Nothing could calm her as she watched the tragedy unfold. Nothing could assuage her guilt. Nothing could abate her misery. What had been done in anger was now found wallowing in remorse. Regret now burned where jealousy had once kindled a fire. For even as she listened to the piercing screams that followed the falling shower, even as she watched the dance of joy begin, she knew that ultimately, the blame for all of this was upon her. So, just as that little beat up bucket had poured its deadly contents, she allowed her tears to flow, allowed some part of her to begin to cleanse itself, although she knew her pain would never end. From somewhere in the darkness came a figure, and speaking brokenly, it handed her the most precious thing she'd ever seen. For a moment she imagined an emerald face smiling beautifully at her, but she shook away the image, knowing that the face she longed to see was forever gone. As she turned away, stepping into a bubble of joy, someone somewhere spoke...
o0o0o0o
Home. Dead hope. Oz. Destroyed dreams.
It lay stretched before her eyes, the awesome land of Oz. Far to the North, the Upper Uplands. Far to the South, Gillikin. Far to the East, Munchkinland. Far to the West, the Vinkus. Brightly winding through all of this beautiful country was one wonderful road of yellow brick. It stretched throughout the entire kingdom, leading all of Oz to its great shining center, the amazing Emerald City. It was directly above that glistening town of green that she now hovered. All she had known was changing, and she was glad for it. For she knew that all in Oz was not as it seemed. She understood something that, to her mind, the people of Oz did not, for she had heard a voice whisper in her waking dreams. Now, as she considered the words that voice had spoken, she thought now of what they meant.
The Chosen Are Protected.
They were the same words four others had heard in that place between life and death, that place between the darkness of sleep and the light of the waking world, that place of twilight, although she did not know it. She thought she understood those words, thought she'd finally found the answer.
She was wrong...