I'm encased in flowers. Everywhere. Lavender and violet, lush pink and gentle yellow. They smell divine and crisp; a cool drink in this beautiful meadow. They whisper against my skin and comfort me. I reach out to feel their soft petals, but pain lances up my arm. I look down to see thorns punctured into my skin, dark vines crawling up my body, strangling my pale skin and turning it purple. I can't seem to breathe, now the flowers beautiful smell has turned potent and sickening. I yank at my arms, pulling at the vines that wrestle with me. I am pulled to the ground, slamming into the earth and losing any air I had left in my lungs. I watch as the flowers around me wither and wrinkle, breaking off their stems and fluttering into the sky, like wicked birds. I watch them, lifting into the air and taking my peace with them. I tear the vines off my body, piercing my hands with more brambles along the way. When I'm free, I break into a run, getting out of the garden as quickly as I can. The grey sky mocks me, tossing me around like a leaf in the wind. Yet I run, my breath raw and my hands soaked maroon. The world suddenly evaporates beneath my feet, and I'm free-falling, my screams lost in the wind. Air rushes around me, and I realize I've just ran off a massive precipice. Flower petals float beside me in the air, suspended in time, and I reach out to touch them, transfixed by the beauty. My vision cuts sharply to black, and the flowers are gone.
