Looking up to the heavens above, I could not see clearly the starry sky that I have always admire and loved. Pain and sorrow filled my eyes with tears, blurring the last moments of my life.

Images of a horrid past flashed before me as Death stood at my side. My body was battered and bloodied, but I was numb to the pain and to the pain inside me.

I mumbled in reluctance, "If only I had been normal maybe life would have been more kind." 

With the last ounce of my strength, I struggled weakly to clear the tears from my eyes. For one last time, I took in the wondrous expanse of the starry night sky. I wanted to imprint this moment forever into my soul and forget all that happened. 

Every night, I silently looked up to marvel at the cosmos, but tonight I wanted to make a request.

"I pray if there is a next life, may it be more merciful to me."

As if waiting for the words of my wish to pass, I finally felt Death's touch. He was cold yet gentle, tucking me in for a long sleep. My eyes grew heavy as I drifted away into eternal slumber.

I dreamt a strange dream. At least it felt like a dream.

I was walking barefoot and naked on a meandering stone path with nothing around but bright light. I couldn't tell how long I had traveled, but for some reason I could only keep walking forward. I was curious and fearful at first, but the walk seemed like forever and my fear dulled.

The curves of the meandering road began to look monotonously the same, and I grew bored and weary.

To pass the time, I tried to recall the little amount of good memories that I had. However, my favorite memory of my mother was fuzzy. 

She was in her spring hat that she adored, bedazzled with colorful gems and lustrous feathers. Sitting under the large blossoming peach tree, she was teaching me from a large and old book. I could not remember what she held in her other hand, but I remembered it looked like she was softly caressing something in the air. My mother smiled as her lips gently moved, but to no avail I could not hear or remember what she said.

The further I walked, the more I forgot. I was starting to panic, but eventually I forgot that too.

Bits and pieces of my memories subtly disappeared. When I finally forgot who I was, the path came to a crossroad.

The stone path split into multiple directions and the surroundings ahead was no longer enveloped in light but shrouded in darkness. For some reason I knew I had to choose a path, but I hesitated because I knew not were I should go. There were no signs, no indication of the correct path, and the darkness blocked what I could see further down the pathways.

There was no one there that could help me, but I instinctually asked, "where should I go?" 

In an immediate response, a slither of speckled light sparkled in the darkness, illuminating a path. It looked like a piece of the starry sky that I somehow knew I dearly loved.

That was the path I needed to traverse.

With a step onto the new path everything else vanished. All the other possible paths and the one I was previously walking on all disappeared.

The current road was still enveloped in darkness, but the slither of the starry sky above me casted a slight glow around me, guiding my way. Step after step, I endlessly walked. Never have I ever walked so much.

My repeated walking was halted by the echoes of footsteps far behind me. The taps on the stone path broke the eternal silence. I did not notice before, but there was never any noise the entire time I walked from the previous path enveloped in light till now. The taps once again became silence.

An eerie silence.

Suddenly, thunderous stomping broke the awkward calm. Whatever was behind me sprinted powerfully towards me, like a predator chasing down prey. The slither of the starry sky pulsed with alarm.

Fear jolted through my spine, and I broke into a panicked run. I frantically ran away from whatever chased me, but I could hear whatever it was closing in on me. I began to despair of what would happen if I was caught, but I saw the small light in the darkness where the path ended.

I rushed forward with all my might. The light was right before me, and as I was about to run into it, a something sharp and cold suddenly pierced the front of my right abdomen, trying to grab ahold on me. I screamed at the sudden sharp pain, and instinctually, I grabbed whatever stabbed my side to pull it out.

I looked down and saw a large veiny hand with long thick fingers that oozed and fizzled with a black aura digging into my side. Scared out of my mind, with all my might I screamed and pried the creepy hands out of the side of my body.

The retraction spun me around, and I fell backwards into the light. I caught a glimpse of what it, no, what HE was. I saw the outline of a tall burly man whose muscular physique was enveloped in a burning dark aura.

As I saw his face, memories flooded my mind, reminding me of my past I had forgotten.

I recalled that facade of a handsome in horror. He had the image of the perfect man. Chiseled with inhuman precision. His face was gifted the perfect proportions. The angular and powerful face was paired with his wavy hair and seductive almond eyes. Not many could resist his charms. However, hidden inside the illusion of a gentleman was a black and twisted heart. He was arrogant, sadistic, violently quick to anger, and the cause of my death.

Yet as I fell into the light, i was confused by the face that was supposed to be evil. Instead it looked pained from sadness and reluctance.

Never would I be fooled again.

I wanted nothing to do with him, and yet he still somehow followed me even in death. I was in fear and angry that even now I could not free myself from him.

The man's face soon contorted with anger and rage as the light acted as a barrier that he could not enter. No matter how the man rampaged and smashed, he was unable to enter the light.

The warmth of the light was comforting and slightly eased my terror-struck mind. He stayed at the light's edge unable to cross.

I hoped and prayed he stayed there forever, never again able to hurt me.