It hurts to move my hands. They are stiff and as I try to extend my fingers they move sluggish and painfully. My eyes are heavy and as I open them I cannot manage to hold them open for long. I force my hand in front of my chest and look down into my palm as I will my fingers to unclench. My hand shakes and I feel hot tears stream down my cheek. My breath rips from my lungs in short painful bursts. With each inhalation sharp stabs of pain attack the middle of my back. I force my eyes open to look at my shaking hand.
It is glowing.
I grit my teeth as I stare at a luminous blue tint that emanates from my palm and surrounds my fingers. A flame emerges from the center of my hand and then is snuffed out as my fingers bear themselves down. The glow does not dissipate but it is no longer brilliant.
My eyes close again and it hurts to breath. I can no longer hold my head up and my chin wilts to my chest. Something clicks just beyond the darkness of my vision. It clicks again and then again. I open my eyes and try to raise my face to see but I don’t have the strength. I am weak.
The clicking sound cracks again and my head lifts. It is being moved not by me but by the thing that is making the clicking noises. My eyes are to remain open. Not by me but the thing that has two black rounded eyes staring into mine.
The small thing stands below looking up at me with what I imagine is curiosity on its blank emotionless face. I am suspended before it as it continues to look up at me. Its eyes and head lean slowly to the right, then to left as if observing me from every angle.
“My…,” I try to speak.
Hand? Back?
“Legs. I can’t feel my legs,” I whisper.
Three slender black appendages reach out from the creature’s body and hover in front of my face. I am not afraid. They remind me of tentacles but are round and hollow like the barrel of a gun. The creature presses these tentacles to my face. One above my upper lip and two on separate sides of my lower lip then applies pressure.
I feel a vacuum sensation inside my mouth and hear a whirring sound in my mind. I feel the skin of my mouth draw taught against my teeth across my face. The tentacles are removed and my mouth is gone. I am not afraid and do not panic.
I close my eyes in the darkness behind them I see the blue glow around my hand and I see the flame that rose from my palm. My eyes are forced open and the eyes of the creature are close to my own. I am tired. I am weak.
“Rest,” I hear in my mind. “Rest,” then all fades to black.
