Colorful Baker

There were flames around him. It was so hot, but he couldn’t feel the hand on his neck. He looked around, saw movement. The entire world was on fire around him, so hot. He could barely breathe. A noise and he looked.

Something was coming. It was the most terrifying thing he’d ever seen. He didn’t like it here, wanted out, had to get out. Something caught his eye. He stopped and stared at a reflection in a car window, somehow in all this chaos it was still in tact. It wasn’t his reflection that stared back, though. It was a gentleman, about 30 with thin lips, short hair, and a business suit. “Alisdaire,” Priestly whispered without knowing where the word came from.

Al’s blue eyes met Priestly’s green ones, but the boy was suddenly terrified. The same form that had just been following him was overlaid on the man’s face. He tried to turn away, but those eyes had him locked. This wasn’t real. It couldn’t be real. The man-monster thing moved away and he nearly collapsed with a sudden weight, like a backpack full of cement, was put on his upper back. He looked back and wings sprouted from his back, so long he could hardly see the ends. He heard a voice inside his own mind. “Go home.”

Suddenly he was back underwater. His Dad pulled his hands away, the water suddenly boiling around the boy and yelped. Priestly pulled away and stumbled back, falling to the floor.