User:Khandivya/Nightmare Number 2

''(( Am I allowed to give myself gold stars? It is my challenge after all...Smiley ))''

''“The walls were closing in… I sat in the dark cell…the only opening the grimy iron bars that constituted the door…and they moved. No really, they moved…I saw the walls move by a smidgen, just a smidgen and the cell got smaller. They did that every night.”''

“No dey dint, dat’s not right. When was I in jail?”

''“I escaped eventually, escaped I did out of the cold dank cell and into the light. The light was so glorious and I felt it warm on my skin. Until the end of the second day, when I felt the sun blister my skin. I had been in that cell so long I hadn’t seen the light of day for years, and it was too much…I was red and raw for days, I saw my skin turn black in my dreams every night and every morning I woke up and walked on under the killing heat of that ball of fire in the sky.”''

“Dat’s not right…ma skin ‘as always been perFECT.”

''“I walked across the desert for days. But this wasn’t the beautiful desert like Tanaris or the Shimmering Flats, no, it was more like the Barrens. Hot, oppressive and dirty. No clean sand to wash away your sins, just gravel and dirt and grime and dead plants and rocks and endless skies. I walked for days.”''

“Where am I? ….’oo are joo?”

''“Eventually I found an oasis, but again my analogy fails me. It wasn’t like the Barrens, filled with life and water and moisture. Oh the moisture, how I missed that. It was a small pool of water, no wider than a doorway with four sickly little shrubs growing desperately at its edge. It didn’t matter though, I bent down and I drank as much of the crunchy brown water as I could. When I left, the puddle was as small as those small yappy dogs people sometimes have, and I knew that I had killed those four plants. I didn’t care.”''

“What is dis? ‘oo is in ma ‘ead?”

''“I collapsed one day, I don’t remember which. I licked the ground and I thought it tasted like iced cream. I ate the dirt and the desiccated plants and just once when I came to my senses briefly I thought ‘Why am I eating mud?’ but even then I was out of my mind. There wasn’t enough water for miles to make mud.”''

“What’s goin’ on?”

''“The gods had mercy and I fell unconscious. I would have died there and been happy, but it was not to be. A Centaur patrol found me lying there and they took me back to their encampment. I was put in a cage, which is where I woke up some time later. I don’t speak Centaur, so how was I to know what they were talking about when they stood outside of my wicker cell and talked and pointed.”''

“Mercy?”

''“They fed me, and after my trials across the desert I was famished. I ate and ate and after a week of eating I started to feel more like my old self again. Strong, healthy, like I could do anything and the world would bow to my desires.”''

“De world WILL bow to ma desires.”

''“Three days later they pulled me roughly from my confinement. I didn’t try to struggle, what would be the point surrounded by Centaurs. They ran faster than I did as well. If I’d known now what I knew then I’d have run, maybe they’d have killed me in the chase.”''

“Fight. Always fight. Joo gave up, joo weaklin’. Joo’r ANGER fuels joo’r surviVAL.”

''“I was tied to a tall pole; I figured this was an interesting diversion from sitting in the cage all day. They gathered wood around my feet. I got worried. Surely you can see where this is going? They lit the wood and I caught on fire.”''

“…”

''“First my feet got warm, I screamed before it even really got started. I’m not ashamed to admit that I pissed myself. You would have too--”''

“I would not!”

''“—the fire ate my feet as my torso got warm. I could feel them still, my calves, and I tried to move them. The muscles responded, but slowly and they scraped along the inside what was left of my skin painfully. I could feel the crispness of my flesh. I tried to move my toes, but the meat, meat, meat, it had burnt and fallen from my bones.”''

“Oh god…”

''“The fire crept up further and I begged for unconsciousness, but it wouldn’t come. I don’t know how I stayed awake, or alive, but I did. They stamped out the fire after the flesh had dropped off of my calves. I imagined my thighs were well done, my buttocks medium rare and my torso rare. Such descriptions ran through my fevered mind, but it wasn’t until they untied me and lay me down on the ground, hungry and joyful looks in their eyes that I realized how real it was. Centaur delicacy I’m told.”''

The feeling of having to vomit comes over Keishe, but because it is just a dream there is no action to go with it, just an incredible sense of decay and disgust.

She wakes up and realizes that today is going to be a glorious day, a day filled with adventure as she goes off to visit her new gnomish friends in their secret headquarters. She looks over at the sleeping form of Tati, so calm, so peaceful in her sleep. She’s probably dreaming of rainbows and ponies and glitter. Keishe’s dream is forgotten in minutes.

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