I walked out of the woods into a small, sunlit meadow. Knee-length grasses, bleached almost white by the sun, waved in a gentle breeze. All around the edges of the clearing stood tall trees, resplendent in their autumn colors. As I wadedthrough the tall grass I noticed a circle of dark flowers in the center on the meadow. When I reached the flowers' edge, I saw that they were crocuses; dead, dying, wilted crocuses. And at their very center say a girl, about my age, with white-blond hair chopped very short. She wore a floaty white summer dress. As I watched, a splotch of scarlet spread out from a point between her shoulder blades. I wanted to run toward her, fearing the worst, but something held me back. The blood spread out over her entire dress, darkening to black as I stood, entranced. She looked up suddenly, straight at me, and I studied her face, trying to avoid looking into her eyes. Even the details of her face seemed at war with each other. Porcelain skin greatly contrasted with lips of black. Strong chin, delicate pointed nose, almost non-existant cheekbones. I finally raised my eyes to hers. She was only ten feet away, and I could see the shocking electric blue irises. But a terrible sadness, mixed with pure terror, filled her eyes. Was in every chink of light, every tear-hung lash. This unknown girl obviously had seen most, been through lots, and knew even more. I could barely stand seeing the raw pain in her eyes. I stumbled backward, and as I left the ring of death I was free of her grasping, paralyzing gaze. I turned and ran, but there was nowhere to go. The ground drpped off beneath me, and I fell, fell, fell over the cliff. I hit the bottom...
Dead.
Alive.
Simultaneously.
Wait, what?
I opened my eyes, gasping to retrieve the breaths my dream-fall had stolen from me.