The world’s gone dark. I can tell that my eyes are open but I’m standing in darkness. I have no idea where I am and can’t separate reality from fiction. I walk forwards praying that I won’t fall into a trap. I’ve only moved a few feet but I can hear a static crackling in the distance. It gets louder. The static seems to be coming from a radio, and there are voices in-between the static cracks. A dull white light is visible in the distance and the static has become almost unbearable. With the light I can tell that I’m in a basic, four-walled room that was painted white, but has chipped in places revealing a wooden frame. The radio is sitting on a small wooden table in the middle of the room. The static turns to screeching sounds, like a Raven with the elegance of a city crow. I walk closer to the radio and slam the palm of my hand on it as hard as possible with hopes to end the shrieks. The static screeching fades away, and a voice comes over the radio.
“They’re all here you know. All of them. They’re here for you. But just to visit,” a women’s voice calmly says.
Surely she can’t be speaking directly to me. I look for a plug to cut the radio off, but when I look down it seems that the cord has already been cut.
Still the lady continues to speak, “Turn around look at them. Isn’t that what you wanted? You wanted to see them again you said. To the right,” she tells me.
I cut a quick glance right and a spotlight comes on. Under the spotlight stands a boy. He’s about my height with muscles entirely too large for his body. He smiles at me like he’s known me forever, it’s a smile similar to that of the Joker. Sinister yet proud. His eyes are blue, but show hints of green closer to the pupil. His jeans torn at the knee, and the denim has been faded. I don’t know who he is, but I know that I’d be scared of him. As the light above him fades out I see a golden tattoo above his wrist. It looks like a dragon or maybe a skull, it’s too hard to tell in the quickly fading light.
The lady’s voice comes back on over the radio, “Did you recognize him? He’s the one you fell in love with first. He’s the one who stole your heart and ran with it. But when he ran away with your heart, you couldn’t chase him. Someone was holding you back. Do you know who was holding you back dear?”
I feel a presence. Someone’s close by and I can feel them at my feet. I look down, another boy kneels on the ground grabbing at my legs. He can’t reach me but is clawing at the air hard enough to make a breeze. He looks sad and also terrified. This boy is skinnier and more fragile. His blond hair is thicker and his skin is darker than the first boys. He looks up at me and moves his mouth. It looks like he’s speaking to me but I can’t hear anything. There’s something that he’s trying to tell me but the words aren’t coming out, all he can do is move his lips and clutch the air. I reach down to try and help him up, but when I do he turns his head down and falls forwards landing directly on his face. I want to scream and cry and run but I don’t know why I would feel so horribly about a boy that I’d never known.
“Don’t worry; he’s ok,” the voice says, “you should be more pleased that he left you alone. You can’t forget about the rest. The ones you wanted attention from. The ones you craved. The ones you needed. The two that you told you loved and knew that they would never love you back. The boys that took what was left of you, crushed it, and none the less smoked it away.”
I gasp. What she’s saying couldn’t possibly be true. Another spotlight comes on in the room revealing two boys sitting together on a dark green couch. One of them has a tan so bad that his skin is similar to a tangerine. But his freckles still show even in the harsh lighting. The boy to the left of him has a lighter skin tone, and his eyes are a light brown color. He looks more innocent than the boy on the right of the couch. He and the other don’t look at one another. The tension between them is evidently thick. Between the pair sits a gun. That’s when I notice their boots which have a red tint on the bottom. It seems that they’re lined with blood. Beer bottles line the bottom of the couch and smoke makes the image hazy. The one on the left turns his head and looks towards me and seems to be saying something. I can’t hear him, but his face shows regret. It terrifies me to imagine what it might be that has made him so horrified, only to imagine the stories he could tell.
I close my eyes in hopes that it will all go away. That this image around me will fade to black. I hope that when I open them I’ll be on a beach listening the waves where the sun shines bright. But I have no such luck.
“Be wary of the first boy, he’s a charming heart stealer. The one’s you concern yourself with are the worst to be with. The one’s who hurt you the most. The one’s who make you cry at the foot of your bed. Look to the one who you think is holding you back the most. The boy who’s standing behind you, ready to catch you when the others’ let you fall. He’s the one waiting for you to love him. Yet, be wary of him. He plans to steal your heart, but I cannot tell you if he’s willing to give you his. Run away with the one who catches you and never look back.” The lady’s voice fades out and the static screech comes back on, but louder than it was the first time. I cover my ears and fall to the ground waiting for the noise to stop. There are at least thirty seconds before the noise fades out. I look up around me as I hear what sounds like stage lights. Four loud and very bright spotlights come on around me as I stood up. Under each spotlight stood one of the boys I’d seen earlier. Each one had their hand extended to help me up. I don’t know which one to choose so I fall to my knees and weap in hopes that whatever this is will end soon. Hoping that I would never have to go through this again.