The world was swirling, hues of orange, pink, and purple, like a sprinkling of confetti in the sky, or fairy floss trees swaying in the sweet sugar wind.

It was strange, like nothing I’d ever witnessed before. I couldn’t figure out where I wanted to look, the whole world flashing before my eyes in swirls of colour and smoke.

Then, out of the confusion, a man walked up to me. He was tall, lean, impossibly pale. His chin was pointed and his eyes where so dark they where almost back.

As I reached out for his hand, which he’d presented for me to take, the whole world shifted. Suddenly, the sprinkles of confetti turned into dust swirling in a graveyard, and the fairy floss trees turned into dead plants resembling something of sharp metal shards.

I could almost hear music in my head, ominous and reminiscing. A dark house appeared in the horizon, seemingly getting closer and closer to me, before the door opened and swallowed me whole.  

Then it shut behind me with a bone-shuddering bang. The man disappeared with a whisp and I could see nothing except for the black void before my eyes.

I could feel eyes on my back, something heating into my skin, but I couldn’t bring myself to move. My feet stayed stuck, as though they where glued to the floor.

Sounds got louder. Something creeping up on me. Goosebumps raised uncomfortably on my skin, the hair on my arms raised.

Then, the floor beneath me collapsed.

I wanted to scream, but the sound got caught in my throat.

Then, I stopped falling. I was floating.

Tentatively, I allowed my eyes to open.

I was what seemed a million miles in the air, flying high and smooth in what appeared to be a giant beige basket held by a balloon. A hot air balloon.

My fear all but disappeared, replaced by something that was freeing and relaxing.

The air felt cool on my face, blowing my hair gently in the wind. It was serene, the view below me so small, yet so beautiful.

The candy floss trees and the creepy house was gone, but it was now replaced by ranges of mountains, tall and pointing towards the sky. Snow littered the top of them, like a French tip nails, and green forestry scattered below them like an army of ants.

It was surely the most gorgeous thing I’d ever seen.

Before it wasn’t.

Heat burned at my skin, so hot I was surely melting, and a great forest fire lit up the trees below me.

Fire rain began pouring from the sky, ripping holes in the hot air balloon, and causing it to fall quickly and dangerously towards the rapidly burning earth.

The instant the fire touches me, it’s like my body stops belonging to me. Heat surges in, fast and vicious, devouring everything it touches. I can’t even scream right — the sound breaks in my throat as the pain explodes, sharp and absolute, every nerve shrieking at once.

It doesn’t stay on the surface. It digs in, crawling deeper, like the flames are trying to claim what’s underneath my skin. The smell hits — burnt hair, scorched flesh — and it’s so vile it almost drowns out the pain. Almost.

When it’s over, I can’t tell if the fire’s still there or if my body’s just remembering it. My skin throbs, my heartbeat feels like it’s pulsing inside the burn. Then, slowly, the agony dulls into something worse — an emptiness, a numb ache where the pain used to be. I can still feel the fire, even when it’s gone.

Its pain beyond pain, suffering beyond suffering, and all I want is for it to stop.

I’m running, running, running, through the burning forest, the fire licking unforgivingly at my skin.

I run until I can’t breathe, until each breath makes feels scratchy and painful, and like I’m heaving for air that just won’t come.

But then I reach the end, a cliff.

I skid to a stop, ready to turn and race in the other direction, but I can’t, with the fire chasing me, getting closer and closer to swallowing me completely.

My mouth opens in a silent scream, and just as I close my eyes and prepare to die, the force of the fire hitting me pushes me over the edge of the cliff.

I fall again.

This time, I land in water, the cold temperature soothing my burnt flesh.

It’s nice, and I smile contently, until I remember an unfortunate fact: I need to breathe.

The water presses in from every side — cold, endless, blinding. I spin, trying to find which way is up, but it all looks the same: muted blue fading into black. Bubbles scatter from my mouth and vanish before I can follow them. I twist, desperate, lungs already aching, but the water swallows my movements, dragging at me, slowing everything down.

What once felt smooth and gentle on my skin now feels suffocating — a cage made of weight and silence. My arms cut through it uselessly, my body straining against the drag, every kick weaker than the last. The surface — if it’s even there — feels impossibly far away.

The burn in my chest builds, sharp and violent. My body begs for air, but there’s none to take. My throat tightens, my vision pulses. Then instinct wins — I gasp. Water floods in, cold and merciless, filling my lungs like lead. I choke, convulse, but there’s no escape, just more water, more weight, more darkness.

The struggle fades. The sound of my heartbeat slows the edges of the world dissolve. My body drifts, heavy and still, sinking deeper into the quiet until even the thought of air disappears — and everything turns black.

I’m conscious for just a second more. I stop breathing. I stop living.

And then I wake up.