The Kiss of Shadows

    Something was wrong.

    Something was very very wrong.

    Heat burned its own path. My screams were unheard and unknown. The numbing cold suddenly melting as a fire raked sharp claws across my body. Glowing tendrils of pink seared their way over me, the colors changing and shifting as I thrashed to escape. The smell of smoke made me cough and gag, my lungs burning as I gasped for air.

    And then, it was darkness. The hissing fire slowing, dying. The heat becoming nothing more than a soft warmth. The colors dissipating, whisking away as darkness reclaimed its position over me. The throbbing pain subsided as things went back to black. The shadows slipping their arms around me as they pulled me into a sea of sorrow and guilt, then nothing at all. No emotions, no feelings, no pain. My existence became nothing. And that is what I preferred.

    Clinking. The sound of metal hi