By Ceton
Michael awoke in the darkness. He sat up slowly and adjusted his eyes to the dim light. He began to stand but his ankle was caught on something. He stepped backwards, tripped, and slammed his head on a hard object.
He opened his eyes and waited for his vision to focus. He reached into his pocket for his lighter. Now he was glad he didn�t stop smoking when Julia told him to, if she could only see him now. He slid up the object until he was standing upright. It was too dark to see anything so he tried to turn on the lighter. It sparked a few times and then went out. He snapped the wheel over and over again until a small blue flame emitted from it.
This was no place like any he had ever seen before. He was in the middle of a desert. The sky was cloudy and gray. It was one of those skies that tend to make you sad and depressed. He reached around and felt the back of his head. There was a lump and he winced when his fingers touched it. He let his hand fall to his side. He was still examining the scenery when he looked down to see what he had tripped on.
�Books?�
The books brought back bad memories. Michael spent years trying to hold his memories, trying to start over again. Sometimes he felt like he wasted his life. Suddenly, he was back in his senior year of high school. He could hear cheers coming from the gymnasium and laughter could be heard in the cafeteria, but he knew he could never be one of those kids. He was always in the back of the school, burning the books that had betrayed him or watching his pain float away in the breeze in smoke rings.
As fast as the memory began, it was over and Michael was again in the middle of that strange desert. He turned around to see what he has hit his head upon before. It was a large tree. He looked above his head to see a peach, one lone peach upon a twisted and gnarled branch. He suddenly realized he was very hot and hungry. He lifted his arm for the fruit but no matter how high he reached, the peach seemed to grow farther and farther away.
Another memory flooded into his mind. He saw his concerned mother�s face again. She had died three years before but now he could see her clearly once more. She held one of his fake suicide notes in her clenched hands.
�Michael, I�m worried about you. Why do you do things like this? Please, talk to me! What�s happening to you?! You�re not alone hunny. I�ll always be there for you. Baby, you�ve grown so far away from me.�
Shows what she knew. He had always hoped to go first. He really loved her too much to see her leave, but things didn�t always work out that way for him. He reached for the peach again. It again grew farther away. He stepped on top of the books but it was still no use. He sighed and gave up his attempts.
He looked around again. Where was he? It reminded him of some kind of psycho movie. Why was he here? He tried to remember where he was when he fell asleep. Oh! That�s right! He had fallen asleep at his desk of his accountant�s job. Then, why was he here? Was this some sort of dream? He pinched his arm,
�Ow! Well, there goes that idea. What the hell is on my foot?!�
Michael tugged his foot and pulled up a rope. He pulled the rope until he saw that it was attached to a huge weight.
�When did this get here?�
Stepping over the rope he tried to push the weight but it wouldn�t move. He sighed and proceeded to try and untie the rope from the top of the weight. Each time he pulled one part, another would get more tangled.
He ended his struggle and lay back down on the ground. Shutting his eyes, and pocketing his lighter, he fell asleep once more.