I Was Running Down A Hallway.

Everything was washed out, grey, and shades of black.

It smeared the edges of the dream, like charcoal paint brushes, leaving the edges distant and blurry. It was a dream you would forget, it’s content slipping through your fingers, once you awoke.

I Was Running Down A Hallway.

The sharp tang of fear urging me forward, faster. I tripped, stumbled, and continued to run, my body lurching forward as bits of turkey, cheese, and only what I could guess was mayonnaise covered the dark floor before I took off again.

The clock ticked overhead, drowning out my haggard breathing.

tick. tick. tick.

I was running out of time.

A brass door knob appeared  before me, so close yet so far away, and my legs trembled, burning with the strain.

I cursed.

The ground cracked, the floor falling away into nothingness, the fog on the edges of my vision growing and spreading like a disease as it ate away the walls around me, slowly moving towards me.

tick. tick. tick.

A door, as white as an icicle, frozen and solid, appeared before me, bright and alluring. I ran towards it, feet thudding along the tiled floor, breath shallow and rugged. Beads of sweat lined my brow, threatening to spill over, and my legs quivered. I’d been running for so long.

tick. tick. tick.

Yet the closer I seemed to get, the farther away it became. The smudged, charcoal edges of my dream seemed to be getting larger, yet the hallway only grew smaller and smaller, the door stretching farther and farther from my outstretched hand.

“No! Wait! Stop!” I screamed breathlessly, uselessly, as I strained to reach the glowing brash knob, muscles burning with every step.

The ice white door began to fade, blending into that infinite, barren background and the ground opened up beneath my feet.

I fell. Fingers gripping solid air. Face frozen in terror. Body submurged in an inescapable, non-surrender-able darkness.

 tick. tick. tick.

Time’s up.

-Short Story written by Jae Lei Nyght

©2012JaeLeiNyght