Simplicity

You know when you dream and see a different world in your eyes? This is what I see in my nightmares.

Looking through my eyes I see my world crumbling. It looks as if a bomb exploded. Metal posts stick out of partially collapsed concrete walls. A cloud of dust fills the air as sections of the floor give way, and fall into the abyss. I can feel the particles burn down my throat as I fight to suck in each breath.

Lights burst all around me, raining shrapnel below. Small pieces of molten glass stick to my flesh and burn through, blistering and smoldering. Electric lines short out and start blazing fires that quickly engulf everything in their path. The temperature skyrockets, and concrete and metal alike, start melting and run toward the lowest point of the room - where I am sitting.

A rushing wind swirls around me carrying pieces of metal and glass with it. They cut my skin, drawing large beads of blood. Blood runs down my arms and chest, soaking into my clothes, staining them a deep red color. More blood sticks in my hair, clumping it together and creating a sticky red mass. The air is filled with the aromas of molten metal, concrete, burning flesh and blood.

The fire is almost alive as it licks at my legs where I sit. The liquid slowly crawls closer to me and speaks in a language of its own. It sizzles and hisses at me as if saying it can’t wait to burn me alive. I can hear myself dying.

Finally, the fire creeps close enough to touch me. Its races up my legs and burns away the fabric. A new smell combines with the others but it is so strong it overpowers the rest and fills my lungs. I can smell myself dying.

The fire burns through my skin, melting each layer away until it reaches all the way to my muscles. But it doesn’t stop there. The flames don’t as much as pause before eating away at my muscle and organs, eagerly devouring my life. I can feel myself dying.

My eyes burn from all the chemicals around me that fills them. All I can see through my tears are shades of blinding reds, oranges, yellows, and white dancing all over me. I can see myself dying.

The blaze burns through my face and I can taste the heat as it burns away the saliva in my mouth and each taste bud on my tongue. I can taste myself dying.

But through all of this, I don’t move a muscle, I don’t utter a word, I don’t shed a tear. I don’t control my fate. My life is insignificant when compared to those I am saving. I only hope that they will forgive me for it. The flames start to die down as the last of my life is burned away. I’m sorry.