As soon as I got to the top, I was met with the large bell, but there were also hundreds of wind chimes that were attached by vines. The small ceiling was held up by four rusty metal bars at each corner, the twilight color of them having become disfigured due to the passage of time. There were also small railings to prevent you from falling off of the open sides. The thick wooden supports holding up the bell were intertwined and holding each other close, all carved with intricate swirls and curves. I guess the bell was just for a fancy display, because there was no way it could possibly swing using the design it had. The bell showed its age as well from the discoloration of once golden metal. However, the patterns and motifs of animals like deer and rams, or more flowers and leaves were deeply carved all around it to ensure they would never disappear. Moss, ferns and fungi lingered all around the small balcony, not unlike everywhere else I had been, of course.

A random lever sat firm on the side of one of the poles across from me, possessing the same swirling patterns as the wooden supports. Without a second thought, my hands found themselves rushing to yank it as soon as possible. None of what was up here was particularly exciting, so I hoped this would actually do something.

A sudden gust of sharp wind smacked me straight in the face, making me wince as my hair was driven back into a frenzy. Some of the plants were whisked away from where they once sat, soaring in a small but frantic ring around the bell. A shrill creak tore across the atmosphere as the bell attempted to function, each of the wind chimes flailing as they tried to follow the new swinging motion. Each of the supports burst into thrusting and curving glowing rays, following after the plants and wind. The whole system was communing with each other to try and play a song. Despite the sound being unnatural and out of tune at first, each second sparked a more refined note, inspiring an elegant melody to rise. My head turned around right as buckets of rain started to descend in a roar. I darted my way over to the railing and looked down in disbelief, the wounds on my hands tearing as I gripped on the metal. I had traversed way, way upwards- the houses were so miniature from up here. I didn’t even realize how far I had come inside the town. But most importantly, the water was…. rising. The flood was vicious, submerging anything under it as fast as it could, as the torrent of rain encouraged it to go on. The building I had laid in and the ground that I had stood on before were consumed by the relentless floodwaters that yanked and tossed around any plant that wasn’t drilled to the ground. The tower I stood upon was vanishing into the flood, and I couldn’t do anything about it.

A grenade of anxiety burst my insides, and I stepped back, looking around to see if there was anything I could clasp onto, but there was pretty much jack-shit. Even the railing decided it didn’t want to be a part of this anymore, because it descended into the ground, leaving me nothing to even hold onto. My shoes were drenched from the water rushing down the belltower, and I couldn’t wait to ditch them as soon as possible. I thought about chucking them into the ocean out of anger, but decided against it since all I needed right now was to be barefoot. This wouldn’t be a fun way to end, although at least it would be quick. All I could do was pray the waves stopped before it came up here, but there was no reason to believe it would. My eyes were helplessly glued to the surging waters that would absolutely kill me, and it only seemed to come up faster and faster.

Welp, I had a good run, I guess. 

Actually, that’s a bit generous. Let’s just call it a mediocre walk. 

As soon as I was ready to hold my breath, a large click echoed across the newly formed ocean, and the waves slowed to a stop right at my sneakers, or rather, the very tip of the balcony. A relieved sigh tumbled from my churning chest, and I shoved my hands back in my pockets. 

The loud ringing faded out into the far skies, leaving me alone and helpless by the sea of crystal water. The town was still visible underneath the flood, which would’ve been cool if I wasn’t stranded. I wondered if this is where I was going to be stuck for the rest of my life. Guess I’d have to start getting used to it. I’d have to pitch up the metaphorical tent and learn to enjoy eating grass. Or I’d better get swimming. Maybe if I swam for a while, the sea would just end and I’d fall off the side.

This is too much for one day. If everything below my calves wasn’t waterlogged, maybe I’d be more okay with this.

As I was about to grab the lever and pull it back to see if I could get something else to happen, a bright yellow sunflower blossomed to life on top of a glittering grass patch that had formed at some point. Then, another flower, a lily, popped up in a flash, thin petals growing from the stem. From the rippling sea, many new flowing paths were born, unfurling up into the clouds and heavens like a soaring ribbon. The flooded town was still able to be seen between each of the paths. 

They all absorbed together to create a beautiful, vibrant grassland, with flowery meadows that had a rainbow striking the hills in pouring colors. As my eyes caught sight of it all, the colors of the beaming light snuck their way inside of me, giving me a bizarre, jerking feeling- it was a sudden… burst of energy? I inhaled the fresh air, letting it purge the discomfort I’d garnered inside of me. It slowly spread throughout my system, and just a few more breaths gifted me a rush of excitement. I’d never felt this cathartic before- I couldn’t help but stand and take in the purifying feeling as the cool wind brushed past me. I glanced at my hands, the scars and blisters dissolving into swirls and twirls of pink rays. Another jolt of energy struck me, sending me running up one of the paths and towards the fields. The sky embraced me with its pull to action, inviting me to come to it. Light rain sprinkled across the paths, each drop falling on my head and dripping through my hair giving me a spritz of energy.  The showers of light that struck every length of space made me feel that… this had to be heaven, right?

After I ran for a few seconds, taking in the beauty of the angelic, celestial meadows, I soon saw a small pond seeping out from between the embrace of two hills. My mind directed itself towards it immediately, a newfound curiosity making me leap towards it. Although the adrenaline coursing through me didn’t want me to stop and wanted me to keep flying through the glittering space, with the sun warming my skin…

…My desire to stop snatched those thoughts away as I saw a grand piano, laced with golden blossoms and vines, that rested on glowing, shallow waters. But an unfortunate blight stuck out- The blemish on the scene was caused by the wilting flowers that drooped to the floor, drained of every last smidge of color. Dying leaves slipped from their stems, unable to hold on. They were very out of place in what would’ve been a delightful, glowing scene. As I tried to make my way over, I keeled forward, almost falling in the dark mud that hadn’t revealed itself until now. But I managed to regain my composure without falling and dirtying anything other than my shoes. I guess the mud was cautioning me to tread slowly to make sure I didn’t do something rash.

A song rested on the music sheet holder, and I took a long look at it for any sort of interesting information. It definitely wasn’t one I’d ever seen before, not that I knew much about music. There was no title or information on it to explain, nor even a composer credited. The notes of the staff were so cluttered that I couldn’t tell what was even supposed to be happening. I sat on the black leather stool and brushed my dress off. Was it waiting for someone to play the song? It probably wasn’t for me, because I never had the chance to learn how to play music.

I still pressed down on the keys without a single thought, just so I could do… something, or hear anything. As I made a couple of random plinks to the keys, my mind started to trail off into a blank, empty state. The adrenaline no longer surged through me, abandoning me entirely to a thoughtless boredom. But my mind awoke from its slump as my ears were met with… an actually rhythmic sound. My hands started to move all by themselves, note after note being played as if it were entirely natural to me. I was brought back to what I had dreamt under the influence of the rain in this small town. The tune sounded identical, just like the thoughts I had, the memories of spring. The images were still thick in my mind, as vivid as day. Despite the fact they had imprinted on me as positive thoughts before, my resentful side started to take me over, leaving me wondering why I could never have been there. Even though I tried to go back to indulging in the positive thoughts, it was useless. Was it not just taunting me at this point? Recollections of springs that I never had? That never existed for me?

I wish I could be there.

I really wish I were there.

It’s so peaceful, isn’t it?

Why didn’t I have that?

Why can’t I have that?

My hands started to slow down on the keys, although nothing had changed at all. No, I… Why would I stop?

An awful, rancid taste coated the inside my mouth and snaked its way to the back of my throat, jabbing and forcing a painful gag. The taste was practically vomit-inducing. I retched from a stab to my curdling stomach that twisted and grinded inside of me, begging for relief. My eyes caught a glance at the daffodils around me, more dead than ever before, distilling a heavy thickness to the air. The blades and petals crumbled to brown ashes, lacing the small sea in ugly, rotting colors, completely tarnishing the once pristine pond. The taste crawled and burrowed all the way into my throbbing chest, lacing my lungs with poison. Shallow breaths started to become caught inside my tightening throat, any of my attempts to force air out returning as shallow as they started. I didn’t know where to hold to get rid of the pain, or how to fix it, and the hands grasping anywhere to find a way to relieve it proved entirely useless.

This hurts, it hurts.

A last painful breath left me as my arms went numb, dropping to my sides. I tried to focus on just staying awake, but not a single part of me was under my hold any longer, and the corners of my vision started to blur into mocking shapes. My heart started to sink, tearing from the hold of thin, poking threads, slowly drizzling thick blood down the inside of my chest. It tried to find sustenance, trying every beat it could muster, but there was absolutely nothing it could do to keep me up. The blood that was once pumping through my limbs froze, turning completely as raw and dead as a pale corpse.

The sight of the keys, the piano, and the wilting flowers all disappeared to millions of clouds flying away from me, tears slipping from my numb face and collecting in the ether. Wind blasted against my back and neck as I cascaded through the atmosphere. 

What did I… do… wrong…?

I watched the heavens pull farther and farther away from me between tired eyelids, relinquishing me no comfort or mercy as I plummet away. I imagined being able to hold up a hand to signal for any sort of help from the clouds or sky, or to even make a small noise, but even I knew that there would be nothing up there caring enough to pull me back up or even listen to me.

A gasp broke from my lips and I flung myself upwards, to find that I was back to… reality. I pulled the strings of my hoodie, twisting and tugging at them to ground myself. A gentle wind cools my sweat-ridden forehead and makes the long grass brush against me, as if trying to comfort me. I release the tension from my grinding jaw, a few teeth shooting throbbing pains throughout my mouth.

Oh, fuck. It was just a dream. A little too vivid for comfort.

I rubbed my eyes and looked around to see I had passed out under the same oak tree, the flowing of the creeks down the roads and chirping of animals returning to me. The house I sat in was veiled in drapes of sun, instead of the irregular downcast I had woken up to before all that dream bullshit happened. I scanned the sky for the bell, which had entirely vanished, leaving nothing but a few mindlessly floating clouds where it should’ve been. Apparently it didn’t want to take responsibility for its actions. 

What the fuck was that, even…?

I stared at my stained fingertips for multiple seconds as if it could tell me the answer to my questions, but of course it couldn’t. I couldn’t even know if it was a dream or not. The flooding houses still existed, but the bell was nowhere to be found. Did I seriously hallucinate an entire ass building? I really doubt that. Was it some sort of test? I’m not sure what the test would’ve even been for. To test how well you can survive suffocation, perhaps. I genuinely had no idea what any of that could’ve meant. Maybe there wasn’t a point. I guess that’s just the nature of dreams.

I stared at the mossy brick wall for a while, the biting annoyance trickling out of me until I had nothing left inside of me to care for an explanation. I didn’t really know what I was even that upset about before, but I guess I didn’t know what else I was supposed to feel about all that.

I stood up and shoved my hands back into my pockets, cringing at the sound of crunching moss and vines while I walked out of the house and the town. I tried not to look at anything but the ground, since it was like everything was pointing a laser at me and trying to sear my eyes off. I wasn’t even sure why. Overexposure, I guess. Not that I would’ve stayed anyway, even if I didn't mind the sun. I really didn’t want more freaky dreams. I can have those at home.

Once I stepped out, it was like I was moving from one world to the next, leaving behind the bitter sunshine for the normal cloudy, grey skies. The dense, thick forest for a normal urban area. The latter was infinitely more comforting, more inviting. The deadly rays of sunshine, entangling nature and burning skies were just a trap, huh? Even if the dream didn’t really happen, it was still like… like it would hold me close in an illusion that was too good to be true, and then toss me out whenever it wanted. I think I was being made fun of, really. Maybe I was right about the curse thing. One win for me, I suppose.

The light was acid to my eyes at this point, so scalding that it might as well have entirely hidden any possible merit the world had left. It was obvious I wasn’t needed here anymore. I didn’t think I wanted to go back anyway, but I’m sure if it really wanted me here again, I’d find my way back someday. 

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