by The Author
I had a dream that I buried myself where I belong.
Hiking through a rugged and isolated forest, I was following a trail that ran along a stream. At first, everything seemed normal, and the terrain was mostly even. I was alone, or so I thought.
After a while, a growing sense of dread and anxiety came over me, and I couldn't shake the feeling that I was being followed. I looked back, and sure enough, there was a gang briskly walking behind me. They were moving at a faster pace than I was, rapidly catching up to me. Perhaps I was paranoid, but it seemed they were discreetly recording me.
Feeling uneasy, I disappeared off the trail, hiding in a dense bush. The gang brushed past the bush, seemingly not noticing me. I waited several long moments, then got back on the trail.
The further into the forest I went, the more the terrain began to slope downward. Before long, the stream was now in a deep ravine, and the trail was narrower and more treacherous.
From lack of food, I grew weary. Suddenly, I slipped and fell into the stream, which was around six or so feet down. I hit my head on a rock, and passed out.
~~~~~~~~
When I regained consciousness, I found myself staring up at other hikers who were staring back at me from the trail. I tried to climb out of the stream, but the soil was too steep and too loose to do so. My onlookers never offered help, and they all just left me there.
I made my way down, looking for an easier way to climb out of the ravine. The more I continued, the more I found myself in a labyrinth of interconnected streams in highly eroded terrain.
The trenches became increasingly stranger, and I found that there were a variety of strange timepieces embedded in the banks of the intertwined streams. These varied, ranging from simple watches to clocks and hourglasses, some of which were a combination of these.
As I wandered, becoming ever increasingly lost and hopeless, I saw more hikers come along the trails. Not one of them stopped to provide aid, ignoring me.
The relentless ticking of the timepieces began to drive me insane, and I felt increasingly weaker, my body in a constant state of aches and pains.
Finally, a blonde woman came along, and she was the only one who offered her hand to pull me out of the rut. Perhaps it was my paranoid mind at work, but I did not trust her, and so I said that I didn't need help and could get myself out on my own.
By now, I had been in the depths for so long, that I no longer cared if I had connection or not. Everyone along the trail was passing me by, and I could see that they were making memories together, living their lives in freedom, while I remained lost and stuck.
It was time to end things.
I began clawing at the loose soil, which collapsed into the stream. The timepieces fell in as well, creating an avalanche that blended with the flowing water, and I found myself stuck in muddy sludge.
The rest of the surrounding soil collapsed on top of me, burying me in a mixture of timepieces and earth. As I began to suffocate, I faded away as I could hear the relentless ticking of time.
Then I woke up, disappointed that I was still alive.