Revenant

REVENANT

It happened again. I can't believe I have to go back into that stinking box. So much pain. Too much to bear.

At first, I thought this was a nightmare. Imagine what it must be like: you wake up in complete darkness. There is no sound. Hard, cold walls are pressing in on you from all sides. Fortunately, I'd escapes the feeling of gasping for breath. I realize I'm not breathing. I can't feel my heartbeat. Is it moving?Is there blood pumping, coursing through my veins? No, there is not. This must be a dream. A nightmare. To be alive, but not living.

I clench my teeth, hard enough to cut my lips. I don't taste any blood. But my flesh is torn, split. What has happened to me...?

I some strange way, I feel the combined sensations of vertigo and claustrophobia. These walls are too close. I want out. Do I climb? Am I lying down? Standing? Why is it so cold in here?

Finally, I suck in a gasp of breath, only to shriek into this echo chamber. The grating noise pierces my eardrums, raking my skull. The stale air shreds my lungs. I flail in all directions, press against all these walls.

\

\One of them yields, slightly. The last of my breath escapes my insides. Gathering my wits, I press against the wall in front of me. It yields again, and I persist. The sound of stone grating on stone, a blast of fresh air, and the fragrance that rushes in. Dandelions. Water. Dried leaves and the fungus that infuses them. Wood dust. The musk of a fox. Of a dog. And something else.

My nostrils flare, and I'm instantly obsessed. The odor is the only reason I move. I scan my new surrounding and nearly trace those vapors through the air.

I'm sprinting. Through a stone threshold. Now blades of grass lash my bare shins. Stones gash the soles of my naked feet. Like antennae, my arms lunge forward, twitching, grasping at any trace of the scent.

A dark, narrow causeway, open to the stars and the budding sunrise. Now I see it. Where the smell comes from. Its wellspring. Something is huddled in an alcove, doubled over like a deflated bouquet of flowers. I must have it.

Hands clasp. Mouth gapes open. Teeth find substance. I bit down, and the casing is pierced. Warm, lovely life seeps into my mouth, flooding my throat. My hunger is sated, one parched gulp at a time. The resistance of the thing stops. It wasn't strong enough to resist my hunger anyway.

Then the pain. First on the back of my neck. It's too much light. It burns. I must escape. Must return to safety. My prison is my only hope.

I race back as quickly as I can. The flesh seems flayed from my bones as I return to the stone tomb. In desperation I shove the stone cap on the box, with me inside. I hope I never wake up again.