Never To Sleep Again

A grey mist wafts about the ground.  A damp and heavy rain pummels the dirt, forming lake-like puddles of impossible depth, splashing mud high into the sky.  Deep charcoal-like clouds hang above the earth—ominous and destructive.  The sky itself is a swirling mass of black, silver, and blood red.  Thunder slams across everything, causing the ground to shake.  Lightning slashes through the sky, slamming into the earth and sending chunks of stone and clumps of wet dirt soaring all around.
                I stand in the midst of all this.  Fear is spreading through my body like some sort of ravenous plague.  I can barely breathe.  My heart is slamming against my ribs—as though trying to make an escape from the confinement of my ribcage.
                The mist on the ground begins to swell.  It rises quickly, swallowing me whole.  I can’t see anything now.  My body is shivering from the rain and the frigid wind.
                Suddenly, everything stops.  The rain halts.  The thunder dies.  And the lightning disappears.  The sky calms—though it remains black and blood-like.  The mist settles until it’s only a little more than a foot deep.
                I look around myself, stare at the massive trees.  Their branches are gnarled, twisted, and dead.  There are bodies hanging from the limbs of these dead wooden beasts.  A woman.  A girl. 
                I approach cautiously.  I know better.  Red flags are blinding my vision, demanding that my body stop moving toward the hanging people.  But my curiosity is dragging me forward.  It’s as though a hook is snared in my stomach, dragging me toward the scene.
                My eyes fall to the faces hanging. Dead and hollow eyes stare at her.  Chapped, swollen, blue and purple lips are slightly parted.  Thin lines of thick dried blood are painted along their chins and lips.
                I feel my stomach churn.  I feel a death-like chill slam through my veins.  My eyes are fixed to those of the woman, hanging limply three feet above the ground.  I stares into the dead eyes, at the wounds along the arms, neck, face, and head.  I stare into the hollow and blank eyes of the woman I love.  And then I double over, fall to the ground, into the thick, wet and cold mist. 
                “You have caused this,” says a voice, echoing all around.
                I look up, my arms wrapped around my stomach as I rocks back and forth a little, tears falling along my face.
                The mist rises beside the hanging bodies.  It swirls about, carrying mud, dirt, stone, and blood into the air.  A body begins to form.  Two legs, long and slender.  A torso, thin and strong.  Two arms, cut and harsh.  A head—a face.  Two empty sockets stare down at me.  A cold and sick grin flashes.  Long hair whips around this being’s face and shoulders.  A long and beautifully white gown forms over the body.
                “You caused this,” it says, pointing to the hanging bodies.
                I stare, unable to tear my eyes from the sight.  A deep and complete terror swells in my body.  I can feel my muscles shaking.  I can hear my breathing coming in short and harsh gasps.  I can feel me tears still falling.
                “You killed them!”  It screams the words, drawing a sword and slashing it across the hanging woman’s stomach.
                I stare, wanting to save the dead, but unable to move.  “Who are you?” I mutter hoarsely, staring at the being in white before me.
                “I am you,” it replies, smiling and pointing the sword at the ground.
                “You can’t be me,” I whisper, staring at the Being and then at the woman I love, her body swaying back and forth from the blow to her stomach.
                The Being grins, and the sword disappears.  A small child appears in her arms—a baby.  “But I am,” it says, holding the infant tenderly.  “And I killed them.  Just as you did.  You placed your desires before their safety.  And look at what you caused!”  It screams the last words as the sword appears again.  The gleaming blade pierces into the infant’s stomach.  Blood spills onto the ground, splashing everywhere.
                On the ground, I suddenly stand and make to run.  I have blood on my face, on my hands, and on my chest and stomach.  My feet carry me three strides before something takes hold of my waist.  I feel myself being pulled back—up off the ground.
                “See what your selfishness has done?”  The Being cackles as she drags me to the swaying bodies. 
                I can’t do anything but stare into her dead and cold eyes.  I feel my stomach churning and flipping.  But then I feel something kick.  Something in my stomach kicks me.  The sky begins to clear a little.
                The Being stops laughing and throws me to the ground.  I roll in the mud a little and stand.  I want to destroy this monster, but I can’t.  Three arms have grown from its torso.  Before I can react, I’m dragged back into the mud, into the dead infant’s blood.  Something kicks me from inside my stomach again.
                It laughs at me and grins.  “We killed them.  And now we’ll kill her.”  It’s voice echoes in my ears, sending a terrible pain down my spine.  It’s pointing down to my abdomen.
                Again, before I can do anything, it grabs me.  Two hands pierce into my sides.  One hand stabs into my lower back.  A fourth slices through my front, into my stomach.  The fifth latches onto my throat.  I can feel my windpipe being crushed as four blades meet in my stomach.
                The pain is blinding me.  Tears burn and sting my eyes, slip along my face.  It lasts for eternity.  And then it stops.  I drop to the ground.  Blood is pooling around me.  I see my love’s body slip off the rope tied around her neck.  She stands with no problems, and then steps toward me. 
                The Being laughs, holding a small girl on one of its spear-like hands.  “You have killed your daughter,” it laughs, tossing the dead girl aside. 
                I stare down at the inert body.  My love sits down beside me.  She says nothing. 
                I feel incredibly dizzy.  My head is spinning—the ground is spinning.  Suddenly, the rain begins to pummel me.  It beats down and drowns me.  The woman sitting beside me stands.  And then I see it.  A sword slams through her chest, splashing blood over me.  She falls to the ground, beside the body of my daughter. 
                The Being laughs at me.                I wake—screaming and completely ensnared in my blankets.  My body is drenched in cold sweat.  I stand, leave the room, and decide that I will not sleep again.