In the night as I tried to sleep,

I was taken again to that far away place.

The world where nothing broke the silence.

The world where nothing broke the stillness.

The world where people broke.

Darkness,

that essence surrounded my very soul,

When I lay in the silent abyss that seemed to claim me every night.

A feeling; not a sound or vision,

shot through the heavy air like lighting through a clouded sky.

It shot through my trembling breath,

every last bit of exposed, thriving flesh,

the tips of my fingers to the bottom of my soul.

It danced in nervous jerks and ,

like flames licking my skin.

Burning and smoking and cutting and tearing,

at my rosy, living skin.

Like pages ripped from a book's precious binding.

What would this creature do to me?

I wish I knew my fate.

But knowing my predators intent would be to read the last page of a book first.

It usually spoils a deliciously cruel ending.

This beast of the darkness stalks toward me slowly,

noting the rasp of air dragging up and down my throat,

the quick blink of eyelids not yet frozen,

the fear scent coming off my body in waves.

Perhaps it came to warn me off.

To excuse me of this place where nothing had survived.

To save me from this terrible place that threatened to take me piece by piece?

Or perhaps it came to kill.

To wipe the last breath off its living space.

To shed its pure world from human filth.

To know my predators intent would be to read the last page of the book first.

It usually spoils a deliciously cruel ending.

But what if this,

this world of darkness' making,

resulted in my gruesome fate?

Would the outcome be quick,

like the plucking of petals from a defensless flower?

Or, would the pain toy with me,

peel the flesh form my bones,

and the bones from my body,

and my body from my heart,

and my heart from my soul?

Disposing of me piece by piece,

relishing my screams of agony,

choking off into gurgles of rich, thick, delicious red blood.

Would I survive,

to once again;

lie in this frozen world?

To never see the light of day again?

Only time will tell my fate.

Whether I escape this chasm or not.

Whether I live or stay here to rot.

Only time will tell my fate.

For I cannot read the last page of the book first.

Because that only spoils a deliciously cruel ending.