Chapter 18 One
One
I’m falling. Gravity has wrapped itself around my bones, pulling me closer and closer to the dark ground below.
Air is trapped in my lungs, and weightlessness has taken hold and for just a moment, one second, I feel free. Free from the crushing weight of my mind, and the hollow shell of my chest, and the memories…all the memories of her.
The ground creeps closer. Wind whistles through my hair. And just as my throat tightens and begins to burn, and my toes graze the tall grass beneath me, reality snaps. Like a rubber band stretched beyond its limit, the cold empty room returns.
Rain patters softly against the leaky glass of the large window pane by my bed. The fireplace lies abandoned and there is a light blanket of dust covering the room. I suppose the room has technically been lying dormant, despite having me as its permanent resident.
How long have I been here? How long was I falling?
This is my every day, my every waking moment. The lines have blurred. Where is then, and when is now? I don’t remember much from before entering this large home. It was like I was asleep, and the strange man had awakened me. Now, I live an endless nightmare.
I’m not the only one here. In the few moments between, I can hear them through the walls.
Others like me stuck in limbo, purgatory, the veil…
whatever phrase you choose. The spirit world is not vastly different.
It’s more like a lens, a film overlaying reality.
I heard him say that once—the strange man. Mr. Venom.
I’m not sure why I’m here. I just wanted to feel free, but now…maybe I never will be.