I’m not dead, I’M NOT DEAD! By the holiest fucking shit of the virgin mother of god I AM NOT DEAD. I throw my arms up into the air and spin while I laugh, but my initial excitement quickly wears off. I am bathed in indescribably utter blackness; my prior laughter swallowed up by a profoundly disturbing degree of silence. What the fuck is going on? I touch the back of my neck with my hand and I feel smooth skin; no bite marks, no stitches… and I’m naked. WHY THE HELL AM I NAKED? I walk forward into the darkness with my hands ahead of me, like the kind of idiots that play marco polo. For several minutes I walk in a straight line, only to find nothing. Fed up, I bend down and touch the floor. That is NOT floor. The hardened calluses of my feet couldn’t feel it, but my hands tell me I am standing on something absolutely and perfectly flat, and whatever it is, it doesn’t transfer heat. A tingle runs down my spine.

  “Hello?” I croak into the darkness. I clear my throat.

  “Is anyone the-ere?” I shout much louder, voice cracking. There is no reply, not even an echo; its absence chills my bones. My heart begins to thump in my chest, and my legs start to itch. They command me to run, and I’m compelled to obey. They take me as fast as they can carry me, driving me through the darkness at inhuman speeds. At first I feel them burn, and then I feel them scream. Faster and faster I push them and I feel them cry out in protest to what was originally their own suggestion. The pain blossoms within me and I feel again the power, the power I had so arrogantly believed could save me from that cougar. But what happened, where am I now? Why am I still alive? Am I even still alive? I guess it doesn’t matter, I am now running for my life. I will escape this dark infinity.

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  It seems like an eternity before my sweat soaked body finally collapses onto the floor, at last unable to heed my suicidal commands. My chest heaves against the strange surface I am sprawled against, face first in a growing pool of sweat. The conflicting urge to vomit and the need to breathe tortures me as I struggle not to drown in my own perspiration. My muscles one by one cramp and lock painfully, lashing out against their cruel master. The agony reaches a crescendo with the entirety of my body locked in pain, including my diaphragm. Panic seizes me and my eyes widen as I realize, I can’t breathe. I try to force myself to take in a breath, a wisp of salvation. Instead, my tormented body struggles for air, a breath, a sip of hope, but can find none. Instead the darkness that surrounds me begins to enter me, and I slip into oblivion.