Falling 2.0

Same as the last story, just a different focus and different ending.

Falling, falling, why am I falling? The wind rushing past me at an alarming rate, I scream, but no sound comes forth. I twist and turn as the ground below comes closer and closer. Nausea overwhelms my body. I close my eyes and await for the inevitable thud.

Some time passed before I was able to open my eyes again. I no longer felt the rushing wind passing my ears. I no longer felt the sensation one gets when they are falling. Opening my eyes, I felt alone; I felt used up.

I was in a bed, but surrounded by people I do not know. There was a needle in my arm connected to a tube that my eyes followed to a bag filled with some clear fluid. As I looked at the unfamiliar faces that were in my room- was it my room? Pushing that thought aside, I scanned those around me. They were all crying, sad faced and teary eyes.

A woman entered the room and told the others that is was time to let go. She walked up to me and stared into my eyes. They were black, black as night, as though all life has been sucked from her them. She took my hand and gave a firm grip. “You need to let go. Just let go and all will be free”, she continued, but this time was directed to me, “All suffering, all pain, all of this will end as soon as you let go. Just let go…”

Her words faded out and I was in complete darkness. I closed my eyes, but when I opened them again, I was hanging on a ledge. The wind came rushing past my ears again; I do not know why, but it was a comforting feeling to have this come back.

I was suspended by a single piece of rope tied around my chest that ran under my arms. Granted, it was not the safest way to hang from the side of a skyscraper, but I felt secured. I took in the city view. Everything was so small; everything was so far away. The cars passed by below; occasionally a street lamp would falter, but later on would return. I did not want to close my eyes for fear of this placid scenery leaving me.

I could hear the woman’s voice again. “All is a lie. There is no peace. There is no safety. There is no you.” At that moment, my arms began to tingle. It started off as a slight tickle, but grew and eventually became a burning pain striking my hands. Looking side to side, I could see my arms slowly fading away. At first only my fingers disappeared, but eventually this feelings began to creep all throughout my arms, inching its way up, stealing away my flesh and bone.

Panicking from this, I twisted and turned. I looked for any way to be rid of this place; to be rid of this woman. My arms disappeared completely and with it my security to the very thing holding me. Falling, falling, why always falling?

This time there was a thud, but it was not as painful as I would have thought. I opened my eyes and saw around me the faces of men without any emotion, but all that was seen were their faces. Plastered on the wall, some score of men, unknown to me, but a story each one held.

I noticed that I was in a single room, four walls, but no door. Looking to the ceiling, words, words, nothing but words scattered about above me. I was flanked on all sides by darkness. The words above me gave some illumination and the eyes of the men on the wall continued to stare, staring ever so deeper into me.

I tried to discern what was above me, but no correlation was to be found to tie any meaning to the random assortment. There was slight shift in the foundation and I could feel a tremble in the ground itself. The floor beneath me began to shrink. Shrinking and being replaced by a deep void with an unknown depth.

I was now trapped, isolated on my own island of a cold and unloving rock. WIth a riddle above my head, the judgmental faces surrounding me all around, and darkness underneath, I was now here, but for what purpose?

With one voice, they spoke without warning, “All is a lie. You can never go back; your time has passed. Move on from what you know; just let go.” The pillar in which I stood now split and gave way to my weight. Falling, falling, never ending.

I hit the ground this time, but I was able to recover quickly. Springing to my feet, I let out a small whine of pain. I do not remember hitting my head, but the pain that came forth from that area began to tell me otherwise. I pushed this back and focused on what was in front of me. The only real question was, what the hell was in front of me?

There was a long hallway. On each side there laid a multitude of hallways with each having even more halls. Paths, paths, which path to take? Walking forward, the lights above shut off. I was thrown in darkness yet again, but as soon as the shut off, they returned. Only half of the lights came back and even then they were not as bright as before.

At the end of the hall there was a figure there illuminated perfectly by the light above. This creature was not a man nor any beast I could tell. It was on its hind legs and held some sort of an axe in its hand. As I came closer to the creature,  I saw that there was blood dripping from his weapon. It was wearing some sort of fabric around his legs and waist, but it left its hairy chest bare for all to see. The head was that of a bull with a thick heavy ring piercing its nose. The eyes were red as blood and continued to stare as I came closer.

There was a noise that caught my attention to my left. Looking back towards the end of the hall, I noticed that the beast was gone. Fear took me into her grasp and I ran. Running for what purpose, I did not know, but my instincts told me that I should run, so I did.

The lights shut off completely and when they returned the figure stood no more than five feet in front of me. I could now hear its breathing; sucking in with little consideration towards those who might find it annoying.  I dashed to my left and it followed close behind. I could feel the ground shake with each hoof hitting the smooth floor. I wondered from hall to hall with no particular direction in mind; there was not much of an escape, just to be away from this horrific thing.

All of these avenues looked the same; all of them were the same. The lights continued to dim as I continued to flee from my adversary. WIth each new step I could feel it closing the distance between us. Disappearing completely, the lights above left me in darkness yet again. I was still running and so was whatever was behind me; its breathing was still the most predominate noise, echoing off the walls.

The lights came back, but not before I ran straight into a wall. I felt quite proud of myself; I left a very sizable dent in the solid concrete that made up the walls. Before I could admire any further of my achievement, the beast I was fleeing from pounced on its prey. It was already tall, eight foot by my reckon, but towering over me furthered my fear of its stature.

It lowered its head to speech into my face. I could not understand what it was trying to say, but that was not what bugged me the most. I do not know what death smells like, but now I can safely say I do. It seemed to understand that I could not understand what was said. Tilting its head, it shrank back and began to transform.

The lights again turned off, but they came back just as fast. A woman stood in front of me, the same woman from earlier. “It is time to leave this place and move on. You are causing more pain to you and those you love. Just let go.” She had the axe that was once wielded by the beast. Her arm moved and I felt a sharp pain in the back of my head. Collapsing to the ground, I found the woman towering over me with a smile across her face. She stomped her foot down and all became dark again.

I awoke in a bed, but I was not alone. The room was the same as when I first met the woman, but the woman next to me was not her. She was holding my hand and was silently sobbing next to me. I squeezed my hand and she looked up with both surprize and relief. I recognized her, but from what I could tell she was still a stranger to me. I looked to the table next to me and saw pictures. The pictures were of a better time when life was at its fullest. Focusing on the people who made up the pictures, I could see myself taking a bite of what seemed to be a wedding cake. The woman next to me in the picture was the same woman next to me now.

I tear ran down my cheek when I realized that she was what I assumed to be my wife, but I knew nothing of her nor the cause of me being here. She whispered to me, “Do you know who I am?”

I responded, “Of course I do. How could I ever forget you?” Obviously this was a lie, but I did not know what else to say. I saw that her face relaxed and she softly leaned forward, resting her head on my arm. I breathed a sigh of relief, but when I attempted to breath in I could not manage to do so. As I panicked, I could hear a machine next to me begin to beep faster and faster.

Trying so hard to breath in, I simply just could not. I could hear the woman next to me call out for help, but no one came. My vision began to blur, but before my eyesight was taken from me, I could see the woman that haunted me this whole time rushing through the door. My last memory was that of her looking into my eyes and telling me to let go, just let go.

I single monotonous beep now filled my head, but eventually that too faded out. Time passed and soon after the wind began to rush past my ears again. I closed my eyes and simply let myself fall; I simply just let go. Falling, falling, now I know why.  

Reviews

[Chafino]

I actually liked it but my one criticism is that it felt a little dragged on. The first half was really good describe what I would say someone who is dying in a hospital room, that's what I got from it. But after that it seemed like you were just dragging the story out and seemed redundant.

[Caleb]

I completely agree with you. The previous version of this story was deeply seeped in religious metaphors and not so much of a story. I had some people who told me that I should actually have a story so I spat this out just to see if what would happen. Thank you for reviewing my piece; I really do appreciate any criticism.