I'm having a dream, I tell myself. I'm an Eraser. I'm chasing Max. She is wearing a green dress and her hair is combed. She has a bow on the back of her dress and she is running barefoot. She is screaming at me in fear. I reach out with my claws and rip the green bow off her dress. I stare at it in my hand. It turns blood red in front of my eyes. I look at Max. She begins to change. Her green dress turns into a hoodie. She changes into Fang. He looks at me and I realize his eyes are gone. They are just bloody sockets. He smiles at me. "Don't die. Don't die. Don't die." He repeats it over and over, like a chant. His smile grows wider. His teeth are pointed and as he chants, his tongue slides out between his teeth. The tip of his tongue is a snake. It snaps its jaws and then, over Fang's chanting, it says, "We're going to make you even better." It says it in the White Coats voice. I open my mouth to scream, but instead of sound, an ant crawls out. More begin to crawl out of my mouth and cover my face. I scream louder, but only more ants crawl out. I see a small bird through the ants. It twitches and the looks at me and sings one out of tune note. Then ants cover me.
"Dammit! He was supposed to be able to see better! Not be blind!" It's the first White Coat yelling. I blink. I can't see. Maybe I'm still dreaming.
"Well it's not my fault! We still have the other four!" the female White Coat says.
"One is three years old!" He answers angrily.
I wonder if they know I am awake. Wait. He said I was blind. No. I can't be blind. But I am. I can't see. I freak. I scream at nothing. I pull at the restraints. They loosened them for the surgery. The kick against the restraints and my feet slip out. I yank my wrists through and push off of the table. I feel numb all over and my mind is foggy. I scream again. I can hear the White Coats yelling about sedating me. I flail my arms and hit one of them. They scream. I scream. I begin to move out of terror. I hit a counter and move towards where I think the door is. I push the door open and an alarm sounds. It scares me and I begin to run. I turn left. I run away from the sirens and the loud growling of Erasers. A door slams open and shoves me against a wall. I wince and keep running. I run for what seems like forever. Then forever ends.
I feel the cold air as I topple trough a window. I crashed into it and pushed out. I fall. I try to snap my wings out, but I can't. I'm too numb. A piece of glass cuts me. My eyes are wide, looking for something even though I will never find it. I feel free for a second. Just falling. Nothing else. I cry out in pain when I hit the ground. Pain pushes through the drugs and cuts me. I hear my bones snap. My arm won't move. I wonder what happened to it. I can't see what happened to it. My wings are open and they hurt. I realize I'm lying on glass. I breathe and whimper. My ribs are broken. I lay there. A fallen angel, that's me. I have fallen from Hell, into a deeper Hell. I pass out.
"Max?" I ask. I can feel the plastic digging into my wings so I know I must be near her.
"Yeah?" her voice sounds weak. Like there is something wrong with me.
"I had a dream that I was blind. I hated it. I think I died in my dream." I murmur. I needed to tell someone.
"Iggy." It's Fang. He was listening silently. "That wasn't a dream. You aren't dead." He says it so evenly. I stare at nothing. I am blind. It wasn't a dream. I am blind. I didn't die. It wasn't a dream. I didn't die.
"Can I die?" I really wan tot know this. I can't be blind, yet I am. I need to see. It doesn't seem like much, but it is everything. If I'm blind I will never see Max or Fang or Nudge, the little girl who is three. I haven't seen her. They haven't put her in a cage yet. I will never see the sun. Or the moon. Or the sky. Or the grass. I will be living a dead life.
"No, Iggy." Max is still there. "You can't die."
Honestly? I hope she's wrong.