Misery Made Beautiful
Chapter 4
*This isn't hell* were his first thoughts when the oblivion that had engulfed his mind like a protective blanked finally retreated.
It didn't sound like hell, no cacophony of screams and thunder. Just the staccato beating of a far away drum and the sound of waves.
It didn't smell like hell, didn't smell anything like scorched flesh of beings who were burned alive penetrated the air. Instead the salty smell of the ocean surrounded him.
It didn't feel like hell. And he knew hell. Actually been there, done that - literally. Hell was fire and pain, darkness and scorching heat, not warm breezes gently bathing his skin in light.
*Light? Daylight???*
His eyes snapped open and he found himself lying on the pier, gazing at the sunlit horizon. Slowly and unsteadily he stood up, still not fully comprehending as he watched with fascination and awe the ascending sun.
Suddenly he felt his lungs constrict, cry out in need for oxygen and he gasped, finally understanding what had happened.
Something snapped inside of him and he threw his head back and laughed.
Just a few weeks or even a few days, hours ago it would have been joyous laughter that wrecked his body until he couldn't hold himself upright any longer and collapsed on the hard wooden pier.
He would have run back to his friends, run back to her in order to tell her, to show her the miracle that had taken place. The future that once could have been, the one he so often dreamt about would have been within his reach.
But now there wasn't anything left he could have run to.
Now the sounds that were coming from him were soaked with desperation and hopelessness and he felt his mind slowly slipping away.
Nearly choking on his own tears he turned his head towards the sky and cried out.
"Why???"
Why now?
Why now, when everything he had once hoped for was gone?
This should have been his reward.
The one thing he had strived and longed for since the PTB had planted the hope for it deep within his treacherous heart was his.
His wish had finally come true. He got his second chance. But where joy should have been there was just sorrow and emptiness and the pain that washed over him anew like the waves of the ocean.
He was in hell after all.
TBC
Chapter 4
*This isn't hell* were his first thoughts when the oblivion that had engulfed his mind like a protective blanked finally retreated.
It didn't sound like hell, no cacophony of screams and thunder. Just the staccato beating of a far away drum and the sound of waves.
It didn't smell like hell, didn't smell anything like scorched flesh of beings who were burned alive penetrated the air. Instead the salty smell of the ocean surrounded him.
It didn't feel like hell. And he knew hell. Actually been there, done that - literally. Hell was fire and pain, darkness and scorching heat, not warm breezes gently bathing his skin in light.
*Light? Daylight???*
His eyes snapped open and he found himself lying on the pier, gazing at the sunlit horizon. Slowly and unsteadily he stood up, still not fully comprehending as he watched with fascination and awe the ascending sun.
Suddenly he felt his lungs constrict, cry out in need for oxygen and he gasped, finally understanding what had happened.
Something snapped inside of him and he threw his head back and laughed.
Just a few weeks or even a few days, hours ago it would have been joyous laughter that wrecked his body until he couldn't hold himself upright any longer and collapsed on the hard wooden pier.
He would have run back to his friends, run back to her in order to tell her, to show her the miracle that had taken place. The future that once could have been, the one he so often dreamt about would have been within his reach.
But now there wasn't anything left he could have run to.
Now the sounds that were coming from him were soaked with desperation and hopelessness and he felt his mind slowly slipping away.
Nearly choking on his own tears he turned his head towards the sky and cried out.
"Why???"
Why now?
Why now, when everything he had once hoped for was gone?
This should have been his reward.
The one thing he had strived and longed for since the PTB had planted the hope for it deep within his treacherous heart was his.
His wish had finally come true. He got his second chance. But where joy should have been there was just sorrow and emptiness and the pain that washed over him anew like the waves of the ocean.
He was in hell after all.
TBC
