“Next time?” He asked as I reached for the handle of the door now the car had just come to a stop. I didn’t turn to face him, I couldn’t with what I was about to say…
“Yeah, the next time…” I took a deep shuddering breath, released it and pushed open the door…
“…you fall in love.”
I shifted on the bed but then stopped abruptly as the sensation that I was on a float stopped me. The rocking my motions caused felt like I was bobbing along the water in little waves lapping at the shore. I wanted to bolt upright but remained frozen in fear. It even took all my mental strength to brave opening my eyes slowly to what new horrors now faced me.
But what I was expecting exactly I couldn’t say but the misty dull grey sky wasn’t it. It was like no other sky I had ever seen, being void of all variants of colour. There were no clouds, no differences in space and distance. There was no sun and no life discovering its vast space. It was…empty.
I decided I needed to move if I was ever going to try and understand this lost place. I slowly moved my hands to my sides and pushed myself up. It was as though I feared any sudden movements were going to send me off into a never ending ocean or floating off into an eternal abyss.
“What is this place?” I whispered to no one as I took in my strange surroundings. I looked around and the first thing I noticed was the strange black mattress I was sat upon that floated calmly on top of the deadly still lake. The water had that unnatural quality to it, almost like a liquid mirror that was smoky grey like the sky it reflected. There was no distinction between water and atmosphere creating an eerie vast space that could have gone on forever. It was almost like being placed in a box of fog and the only things you can see are the things that are immediately around you.
The black mattress crept along at a snail’s pace almost as though it knew where it was going, as there was certainly no current aiding our progress. I placed my hand down and felt the strange looking black material that almost looked like thick webbing. Like some giant demonic spider had covered the bed like a cocoon with miles of the rubbery cord the same thickness as my finger.
But what was even more startling about the sight was the blinding contrast my white dressed body looked against it. Even the difference in materials screamed out as the soft delicate folds of the skirt folded in ribbons and fell against the harsh unbreakable shell. The dress looked as though it had enough material to cover ten bodies as it overflowed the sides of the bed and floated majestically in the murky water. My hand went to my stomach and pulled at the thick, satin ribbon that was the exact colour of blood. It had been wrapped around my torso, crisscrossed over and over in tight constricting bands, almost as though someone had wanted to keep me restrained.
Even now I noticed the same ribbon binding my arms to the very top and across my shoulders ending with a bow to one side of my neck. I tried twisting my upper body and felt a tugging sensation straining against my skin from every point.
“What the …” I said but stopped as something caught my eye to my left. I left trying to tug myself free for the moment and watched as a shadow started to emerge from the mist. At first I thought it was a long thin bridge to nowhere but then I squinted my eyes and could make out it was a small rickety dock that looked ready to fall at any moment. The thin planks ran width ways, held up by thin bent poles that looked as though any weight would make them snap like twigs.
The entire dock looked black and I couldn’t tell if it was because it was burnt or just appeared that dark against the foggy backdrop. My unlikely little boat still bobbed closer to it and soon the very end of the dock came into view. I sucked in a sharp breath as I quickly realised I was not alone anymore.
The new body was only but a glimpse of limbs that could be seen sat there, facing out into the grim nothingness. I didn’t know what to do…did I call out, did I remain silent or did I try and pull myself up against the dock when I got close enough? Was this all a dream, like so many others or was this the other world’s way of trying to warn me of something? These were all great questions but all just as pointless as the energy put into thinking them.
I don’t know how long I took wondering what the next step to take was but when the time came I reached out and grabbed for it in the form of the dock. I stood on the shaky mattress and only just managed to heave myself up and over onto the dock before the mattress continued on past. The massive weight of my dress dragged out of the water with its ridiculous length and I slapped it behind me as I stood. I felt the old wood groan beneath me and looked down through the gaps with trepidation. Well I had made my decision now and I had to follow through with it.