The night was alive, and full of twinkling bright colored lights. I was in my apartment. Beaming faces were everywhere, dancing like there was no tomorrow, though, we didn't know that yet. I was having a little (big) get together, and around me were friends from college. We all drank, laughed and dance around, expecting nothing less than a good time just for ourselves. The New York vibe looked breathtaking outside my balcony.  The wind rushed over the light purple curtains and I could smell the aroma the city had. The filthiness of it didn’t matter, or the putrid smell of sweat & waste. I was home, nonetheless. There he was on the sofa: my crush. He looked at me with daring eyes, as did I. I smirked and sat close to him enjoying his company, ignoring the many at my party. All the sudden, everyone was out of focus except him, and I did not mind that. Anything can happen tonight, I thought. Chances were endless, right? To me, his presence was all I needed, and I looked over to him and caught him staring at me. His eyes twinkled as he smiled, as his dimples showed. I had been trying to pursue him for a while, and he knew it. I smiled back and even though no words were spoken, right then I knew I wanted to kiss him, and I did. I leaned over to him, closed my eyes, and I kissed him with such delicacy. It felt like I was looking at myself through a dream, and all I remember was the loud symphony sounds of laughter, music, and the world.

I opened my eyes.  Silence. Nobody.  Where was everyone?  I looked to my right, then to my left, then right again; not a sound not a movement.  But wait, something else was different. The apartment looked like it had been abandoned for years. Walls looked like they had been poorly treated and torn up, floors were dirty and rotting away. The light pink color in the walls looked dry and dead. I got up and took a few steps forward. The floors creaked in anticipation.  Shaking, I looked through my apartment, looking for someone, anyone. I shouted but heard nothing but my own echo. So silent you’d heard a pin drop. I walked towards the bedroom, my heart beating with fear. Every possible thought passed through my mind. Had I passed out? Was I dreaming? What happened? Every thought was plausible. I looked inside my room, insects dashed out of my room like no tomorrow, and I let out a high pitched scream. Gross. My bed had been torn inside out, and the windows were smudged and grimy. The furniture was perishing away. I tried the lights, but the room was as dark as the night was that day. I walked out, dawdling in my steps. I must be dreaming, I have to be dreaming. I noticed a bright light coming from underneath the kitchen door, it was the only sight of light I had seen all day in this filthy apartment, so I decided to go and find out what it was. Just a prank they’re playing on me, I assured myself. I hurried to the door and opened it wide. There, before my eyes, stood a pale white slender creature, its saggy skin drooled over the wooden floor. The room reeked of death and rotten meat, all together. The creature quickly turned. I froze in horror, not a movement in my body. The creature- or whatever it was, was missing its eyes, it was as if they had been plucked out, and blood gushed out of them. The creature continued to sniff and sniff, but it didn’t seem to notice I was there, and turned, with its back facing me. The creature made distinct noises, as if it were savagely devouring something, and the predator finally had its meal. I gulped as I saw sheeny blood flow through the floor. The creature rapidly turned and sniffed throughout the floor, and when met with blood, started licking the blood off the decaying blue tile. I began to shake, I leaned forward to distinguish what it was the creature was gulping down. I shrieked in horror. My eyes watered as I saw bodies, bodies, and more bodies, all of human beings. Their eyes had been torn from their faces, their skin had been ripped apart vigorously, and they could no longer be recognized. Just a nightmare, I yelled out. Just a nightmare. Just a nightmare, I repeated. I couldn’t hold back the tears that ran down my face, and I couldn’t stop trembling. The creature began to turn as it sniffed the air we both inhaled. It put its tiny ears to the floor, and began feeling for movement. The floor shook the same beat as my heart did. It pumped like a drum that could never be stopped and had no intention to do so. It scented me. It recognized my fear, and was drawn to it. It began crawling towards me on its four feet like a vicious predator going after its prey. Its white flabby skin salivated through the floor, with its crippling sharp teeth revealing to me. I ran out towards the front door. I didn’t know if this was real life or a dream anymore, but I knew, whatever this was, I wanted to get out alive regardless. I tried the door but it wouldn’t budge, it was closed shut. I looked back, shivering in dead fright. The creature steadily moved towards me with a menacing smile that I couldn’t omit. I kicked the door, but my effort was hopeless, the door was frozen in fear, too. I looked around to find anything to help me. I glanced over at my balcony door. The air and silence shivered through the curtains. As it began to move closer to me, I began to realize I didn’t have any other choice. Time was of essence. I didn’t want to die like this. I didn’t want to die like the rest. Not slowly, not in that way, never in that way. I gulped back my tears. I ran to the balcony, my hands sweated and my heart felt like it would blow up. I looked down onto the city. New York had rotten away; the gleaming stars were gone, the night was foggy and gray, and the cold wind blew through my body. There was nobody in sight, not a soul. I was really alone, and I wasn’t okay with that. A rusty torn-down car was all I saw. The rest of the streets were vacant and numb. My bones chilled to the core. The floors creaked. It was behind me. It continued to sniff, and chills ran down through my back as its breath brushed against my skin.  I took a step closer to the balcony railing. I felt the cold smooth rail on my sweaty dry palms. I grasped a deep breath of fresh bitter air. I closed my eyes, so, so tight that they hurt, tears ran down my cheeks like a waterfall gushing out, and without thinking, I jumped.

Sirens. Echoes. Chaos. I couldn’t exactly distinguish what I was hearing, but I was hearing! The sunlight stunned my shut down eyes, and I could slightly see something. I was disoriented and cold. What was it? I dreamt all this, didn’t I? The rambles slowly made sense as the broiling heat stroked my eyes. I could make out some of what the incoherent noise was. It was a man, hollering in panic. A loud beeping noise that I had tried to ignore got louder and louder until it was difficult to ignore it. I gradually began to open my eyes and listen to the racket that was upon me. I looked around, there were people everywhere around me, looking at me like I was some sort of sad display. “Well,” said a loud candid voice. “It appears so this was clearly an accidental suicide. The woman was at a party, she has a little too much to drink and decides to goof around the balcony and falls to her death... about 13 stories. Case closed, try to hurry it up, there’s a murder down in Baker St.” I looked up at him in horror. What? I was here. I was alive, and okay. My eyes were open wide. I opened my mouth to talk, but no words seem to get out of me. It’s okay, I thought. I’ll just get up, say this was a misunderstanding. Yes, I probably had a little too much to drink and wound up here. I tried to move my legs to stand up. But my body was motionless and I couldn’t feel anything other than my head which was in critical pain. I was paralyzed. “Alright, take her body to the coroner.” The detective uttered. No! I’m alive! What’s going on? A million of thoughts ran down my mind but I couldn’t yell them out. I just couldn’t. My breath began to move faster and faster. My mouth felt so dry, and bare. I closed my eyes. The beeping sound was in my head. Its loud shrieking sound made my head hurt even more, the noise was stuck in my head like glue that wouldn’t stick off. It’s a dream, I persisted. Please wake up! Please wake up! Tears rolled down my face. I opened my eyes.

The foggy night was just as before. There I laid in the abandoned street. The noise in my tormented head was gone. New York was once again dull and lifeless, there was nothing to fill in the void. The cold misty air shivered through the hour of darkness. I looked up into the obsolete sky. A light from underneath struck my eye, and I looked down over to see a seemingly bright light come towards me. It was the creature. Its hollow dark socket beamed at me. I wanted to run, run as far away as possible, but my powerless body wouldn’t let me. It grinned as It got closer. It trudged over to me and let out a vicious loud sinister smile that had blood pouring from its mouth, and flesh between its teeth. I closed my eyes.

I could feel the breath of the wind around me whistling a melody that rhymed with the movement of the dark grey flowers.