The Day I Died

I was standing in front of a door. A black door. A very black door. It was so black you could barely see it was there at all. It opened on its own. Or at least, I think it did. It was so black it was hard to tell. I walked up to it, and tried to put my hand against it. It was definitely open. I stepped through it. Through the door, there was a gloomy dark forest. Everything had a greenish glow. I'd been here before. In fact, I had been coming here every night for a month. I crept forward, as I had every other night, and hoped that it didn't see me. But I knew that it would. It always did. It was always there, following me, stalking me. It was always after me, whenever I came. I don't know why I kept going back. I knew it was always there. Why was it always after me? What had I done to offend it? I took another step forward, always moving, trying my hardest not to be seen. I saw something moving in the shadows next to me. It had definitely seen me. I knew what that something was it. It always came, always chased me, but it had never yet caught me. I increased my pace, trying to distance myself from the creature. I knew what it looked like. I had seen it before. It had a mask-like face, with no visible eyes. It looked like it was just the eye socket. Its tongue was long, just like a snake's, except that instead of the one fork, it had four. It had five rows of needle like teeth along the top, and along the bottom, a single row of viper type fangs. The only part of the head that had fur was the back of it, from which the long neck came. It could make two 360 degree turns before it would strain itself, and was attached to a unnaturally thin and bony body. Its two front legs were probably twice as long as its body and the fur stopped when it hit the knee joints. The two front feet were more like hands, but they were missing their thumbs, and the fingers were longer, with claws equally as long coming from the tips. The back legs were two thirds of the length of the front legs, and resembled that of a dogs, except that its feet were like longer versions of the front feet. Finally, it had a long crocodile like tail, about the length of its body, with the fur on it so smooth and flat that it looked like it wasn't there at all.

After a while, I couldn't tell how long, I could no longer sense, or see the creature around or behind me, and I slowed my pace. I relaxed a little bit. It was gone; it had finally left me alone. I looked all around me, just to make sure. I couldn't see or hear anything except the noises of the forest. I walked on, unusually carefree and happy, observing where I was. For once, I enjoyed the scenery, the birds and squirrels playing amongst the treetops. Through some of the leaves, I noticed the cause of the greenish glow that was upon everything; it was the sun, which was light green in colour. The trees were immensely tall, with very slim trunks, and they were packed closely together. The leaves were a dark, rich green, and the trunks were a pale, dirt-brown colour. The ground was dry, as if it hadn't rained in weeks, and there were no plants growing, except for moss on the occasional rocks.

After a while, I heard a noise coming from deep within the forest that was hard to distinguish. It was either someone crying, or laughing. I began to head in that direction, and as I got closer the voice seemed to multiply. There was more than one person, and it was definitely laughter. I ran towards the laughter. There had never been others here before. I got closer and closer, the laughter getting louder and louder. I emerged through a layer of trees, and in front of me there was a beautiful lake, full of people playing happily. The lake was surrounded by trees, and on the opposite side to where I was standing there was a huge waterfall. The waterfall was coming from a ledge, in an area with a huge dip. It looked as though it were running off of a blanket. There were masses of plants around here, the ground looked completely green, and you could not see the floor beneath the plants. The water was a deep, deep blue in colour, and looked fresh and clean.

The people were innumerable, all seemed happy, as if nothing was wrong in the world. I began to walk towards this image of peace and joy, and one of them noticed me. He began to beckon to me to join them, and others began to join him, all begging me to come and play. A smile spread across my face, and I ran towards them, jumping into the lake. I didn't care how wet my clothes would get. I was happier than I had ever felt before. I played and laughed, as if I were a young child again, in the warm water. Again and again I went under the water, diving and swimming, without ever tiring. One of the small children challenged me to a breath holding contest, and I sank under the water once more. The lake wasn't too deep, only about two metres or so, but this was where everything began to go wrong for me.

I felt something tangle around my foot, and I couldn't get it off. I tugged and pulled at it, but it was no use. I turned, and opened my eyes, despite the water gushing around me, to try and figure out what it was, but as I did, it released. I went straight to the surface of the water, gasping for breathe. I blinked the water from my eyes, and as I did, I noticed that everything was different. The sky had clouded over, the purple clouds thick and gloomy, and all of the people were gone. I was no longer in the same place. The lake was still there, but the water was could, and no longer that clean, deep blue. I looked behind me. The waterfall had gone, and behind me, it looked like the sea, the water never-ending into the distance. I faced back forwards. The forest and the shore were still there. As I looked, I noticed something moving. It was black, long and skinny. It was the creature again! It had come back! It had planned this all along! The beauty and the people must all of been an illusion. I began to panic. If I didn't want to drown, I would have to go to the shore, but, if I went to the shore, the creature would attack me. Whichever way I chose, I would die. The creature seemed to walk away, and for five minutes it didn't come back. I decided that I would take my chances on shore, and began to swim in that direction. I was freezing cold, and there was a strong wind blowing around me. When I was about 3 metres away from shore, the creature reappeared again, and dived straight into the water in front of me. I turned around, and tried to swim away, but the creature was stronger and faster than me, and managed to get in front of me. Again I turned, but the creatures stayed in front of me every time that I turned. It was tiring me out, and making me dizzy, and I could tell it was doing it on purpose. I decided I would try to get past it to the shore, just charge into it. I could see no other option, except to give up, but I wasn't going to do that. I crashed into the creature, and somehow got past it. I think I startled it, when I suddenly collided with it. I began to put all my energy into those last few strokes that would bring me to the shore. My fingers hit the dirt, and I began to drag myself out from the water. As I stumbled onto the shore, and began to run back into the forest, the wind suddenly picked up in strength. It pushed my to the ground, and I couldn't get back up again; I was too exhausted, and the wind was too strong. I lay there, shivering from cold on the ground, and felt the creatures long, bony fingers upon my back. It gripped onto my shoulders, and began to drag me towards the forest. The forest floor was suddenly damp, covered in plants, twigs and leaves. They scratched and tore at my body and clothes, and I kept my eyes tightly closed, so as to avoid them being scratched out. After about ten minutes of enduring that torture, the creature suddenly let go. The upper part of my body, which had been slightly raised the whole way, was dropped onto the floor. I moaned, and rolled over, so that I was now lying on my back. Again the creature had gone. I sat up, and could hardly believe it. It was gone again? But why? I stood up slowly, as I was in great pain now, from all the scratches and bruises and plants had caused. Just as I reached my full height the creature landed on me from behind, knocking me, again, face first into the ground. I felt its breath on the back of my head, and the flickering of its tongue upon my right ear, as it lowered its head to just behind mine. It whispered in my ear “Today, you will die…” with a hissing voice, that grated on my nerves. It lifted its head suddenly, and plunged deep its teeth into the back off my neck. I was dead.