Destined Love

Destined Love - Chapter Two

Note: This is not a religious/fantasy story, this chapter is just a very important part of the plot, so please bare with it. Oh and, please, stop complaining about the length of this chapter.

Chapter Two:

A whirlwind of flashing images sucks me effortlessly through a tunnel towards a blinding white light. As a brilliant haze swirls around me, the movie-like images play out before my eyes, scenes from my life. The good—as rare as they were—and the bad, blinking and then fading out; I only have seconds to recognise them before they disappear and dimmer into the next.

Various emotions rush through me as each image flickers; some I'm all too familiar with, others are unexpected and foreign. A surge of anger followed by a wave of melancholy. A flood of regret that is then replaced with hope. A sense of ferocious power and malevolence that's soon after dominated by compassion and love.

Suddenly the light disappears, the images vanishing along with it. Now as if weightless, my body feels like it's floating on invisible air. An overlay of blackness takes over my vision, my senses muffled and blurred. Timeless moments pass before my skin starts to prick from a cool breeze; Earthy scents invade my nostrils, a hidden breath of air weaves through my hair. Abruptly, I'm breathlessly gasping as my eye lids forcefully spring open.

I cough and splutter as my hands clutch at my shirt; with each harsh intake I beat on my chest. As my blurred thoughts clear and a sense of tranquility forces its way through my veins, I grit my teeth and curl my fists to try and push the sensations aside; only a coño would accept these sedative and placid emotions. 

Forcing myself into a sitting position, I notice I'm laying on an area of grass. As if my body understands the physical demands from my fists to my chest, my breathing finally smoothes out into a semi-normal rhythm. With one final thrust at my torso, I force myself back into focus and control. The tightness in my throat is the only evidence of my coughing fit.

I swallow built up saliva for a few moments until the refreshing scents from earlier reach my nose once again. That’s when I notice warmth shining down on me, across my tanned skin, so intense and calming. My eyes droop shut, as if the warmth has me under a spell, but then I quickly shake my head and bolt into a standing position, squaring my shoulders and clenching my jaw.

What the fuck is this place? I spin around and gaze at what looks like a meadow, flowers surrounding almost every corner, the grass a vibrant green and trees that seem to drift up far towards the sky, the saggy branches drooping with fruit. I loathe the feelings that are swirling inside me; feelings that I shut out long ago, and no matter how hard I try to control the fuzzy emotions, they just won’t go away. I narrow my eyes as I stare around the meadow, looking for an exit of some sort—I need to get out of this place, these emotions aren’t me, I don’t want to feel them.

I notice no opening around the perimeter of the meadow, no signs of a way to escape. I stalk towards one of the large fruit trees, pulling off a ripe bright red apple and taking a chunk out of it before springing my arm back and throwing the apple as far as I can, watching it fly through the air until it disappears out of sight in silence. I crane my neck and look up at the tree, noticing how thick the dark brown branches are. I reach out and jump, grabbing hold of one of the branches, and using my strength, I lift myself up, swinging myself around the branch until my feet replace my hands.

I sit atop the thick branch, turning my head from left to right, hoping to find a way out of this strange and annoyingly calming place. I don’t believe in a higher being, it’s all a load of bullshit, and so being in this place is confusing—is it some sort of Heaven? Because I sure don’t belong here if it is. I know I’m dead…that is for certain, so why am I not in Hell? Why am I in this warm and quiet meadow? This shit is just not me, and I need to find a way out of here, as soon as possible.