#tlito

The ocean.

I was in the ocean. I could feel it. I was drowning. I watched my hands trying to grasp the water but all I felt was my nails digging into my palm. I tried to scream but I got even more panicked when I couldn't hear my voice. I couldn't hear my voice, no one could. And that terrified me.

I tried to fight, twist, turn but to no avail. I was sinking deeper and deeper into the ocean.

My predator had caught me, opened its large mouth, showed me its sharp fangs and readied itself to bite into my soft and fragile flesh, and devour me in seconds.

I was losing a fight with my worst enemy and all I could do was watch it, ready to swallow me whole.

I waited for the pain, the sting of its sharp teeth on my beating heart, but it never came. And when I opened my eyes, it wasn't there anymore. The black fog that I didn't notice before, moved out of the way and behind it, the surface of the ocean revealed itself to me. The light shone right into my eyes but I didn't dare to close them, not even for a second afraid that I'd lose sight of it.

At first it was just a small spark at the end of my toes but then with lightning speed, I felt a tingling sensation burn throughout my whole body. The oxygen returned back to my lungs and although I was underwater I felt like I was standing in the middle of a valley and the wind blew frantically around me.

I took my chance, and inhaled the air like a hungry vampire that snagged its last meal.

I kicked my legs into action and pushed myself off the ground inching higher. I was burning.

Burning with desire.

Burning with passion.

Burning with hope.

My whole body had ignited in flames.

With new-found strength I grasped the water like a ladder and pulled myself up faster towards the light.

I didn't know why it was so important for me to get there, but I knew I had to.

The light was getting closer and closer but the brightness of it now burned my irises making it impossible for me to keep my eyes open. I turned my head sharply at the piercing light trusting my hand to reach for the next rung.

But it didn't and I felt it before I saw it.

I fell.

The ocean had caught me. Flaunting its win pridefully at this game of seek and hide. I felt like a little child all over again. Hiding from the thundering steps outside my closet door and waiting for the moment those doors opened to reveal the triumphant sinister smile of the one who had caught me. "Found ya."

I opened my eyes the memory slipping away and going back to the locked casket that had reopened.

I felt every pore in my body being clogged, the water cutting off my oxygen once again.

I was falling straight into the welcoming tentacles of the ocean waiting to strangle the life out of me.

The dream was slowly slipping away and I knew that it was a matter of seconds before I gained consciousness.

I failed. The light was gone. It was waiting for someone who never came.

I shut my eyes closed.