Dear Hazel (Diary Series #2) | ✔

One Shot Winner #1: Bloodied by @Exc_ed

Congratulations exc_ed for winning 1st place in the One Shot Contest I held 💛 Your piece was incredible and new, I love the twist you put on it. I hope you continue writing because you're very talented  😊 x thank you for all your support, I really appreciate it!

I can only see darkness, an overwhelming darkness, pulling me in but at the same time pushing me out. The feeling when you want to sleep but your body's too awake to do so.

'Where am I?', I can hear myself whisper, a whisper that echoes in the blinding darkness. I try standing up, but then realize I can't. Fear instantly grip inside me.

'Am I dead?', again the words echo until they fade, where, I don't know. I try recalling how I ended up here, wherever 'here' is but my mind is like a blank space, nothing, even my own name I can't seem to conjure.

'I guess I'm already dead', the same voice echoes again and just then I realize that it's my voice. Well, I guess it's my voice cause there's no one else here. Despite its being dark, I can somehow know that I'm alone. Alone in this dark, deafeningly quiet world.
Surprisingly, the thought makes me feel a little calm, the fear I felt earlier dimming a little, both from knowing that I'm not in any danger from anyone and that there's a big chance that I'm already dead. But the word alone makes me feel empty inside, and cold actually sums it up.

***

I don't know how long I've been awake. I've tried multiple times to slip back into the thoughtless state I was in before all the thinking and being 'awake' begin but I can't.

'Am I truly really honestly dead?', the voice, or should I say 'my' voice which have become my only companion echoes through the wall-less darkness, making me doubt my supposed deadness.

If I'm truly dead, I shouldn't be here, standing or laying or floating or whatever it is my position right now. The thought that I probably am going to be stuck in here for what may be forever makes me sigh hopelessly.

And just like all the talking and grumbling and huffing that I've done before, the sigh echoes.

Just then, I hear something, just a distant voice. The voice gets louder and I can detect the hint of exasperation and horror in it, along with a few sobs and cries.

The words eventually become clearer to me and I am taken aback by the sudden memories that flood through my mind, the place where I'm actually in, when I hear the name he said.

'Hazel'

I remember him, Hunter, the most important person in my life who had always been there for me, and me for him. I remember my family, my awful dad who's still in rehab, my once hopeless mum who's become my best friend, my sister, Iris, Uncle Willow and my friends and the bitter sweet memories I had with them, all flash in my mind like pictures and short videos, overwhelming me. And I remember what happened before my mind went blank.

*

I was walking out of the store on Christmas Eve, buying last minute decorations for the tree in our living room which was only half-decorated, when some teenage boy bumped me on the shoulder, causing me to drop the stuffs from my hands.

He apologized before squatting down and immediately started to pick up the colorful things which messily decorated the concrete floor. I noticed that he was wearing light clothes, a simple black shirt with blue stripes on it and a pair of washed jeans.

No winter coat hanging from his broad shoulders nor a scarf about his oddly pale neck, which was odd considering it's damn cold even with all my three layers of clothing. His eyes were covered by his ash brown hair and a star-shaped piercing was on his right ear. I wanted to comment on his unearthly outfit in this unearthly temperature but seeing that he wasn't even bothered by it, I just shrugged it off. Well, he was a stranger.