The Brilliance of Light

Her eyes flutter open, her brain strangely foggy. She looks down and sees the darkness of asphalt under her feet.

Headlights on the road flash, big ones, far enough away but quickly gaining ground. She lifts her hand to block the brightness.

The separate headlights now merge into one beautiful ball of light, soothing and pulsing with a soft glow. The road drifts away like mist as she steps towards the light. Behind her, she hears a ticking noise.

Tick. Tick. Tick.

She looks down at her left wrist, but she isn't wearing a watch.

Tick.

She steps towards the light. There is warmth behind her, caressing the back of her neck, tickling the curve of her spine.

Another step.

Another tick.

Fiery heat blasts on her back, blowing her hair into her face and forcing her to stumble.

The light begins to glow again, now a deep red, pulsing like the sun, and then it hits. Her body is jolted with the most horrific lightning. Raw, gruesome pain forces the breath from her lungs in a silent shriek and yanks her backwards.

She looks down. Wrapped around her chest is a tether of spikes, each one crushing into her body as she struggles to breathe. The leash jerks her back each time she steps forward, cracking her neck, dragging her away from the road, away from the comfort of the light.

The final heave of her weighted chain snaps her awake. She is partially blinded by a dark, sticky mass crusted to her face. Her arms are heavy and she can’t feel her legs.

The pain is visceral, right at the core of her very being. Every nerve ending in her body is either screaming, throbbing, or both. Her breathing is labored, but she can still see the shadow of vapor as it leaves her body in tiny clouds.

She reaches up to push aside the blackness covering her face when she can suddenly taste it. Her brain is slow to realize it is blood, thick and coppery, tiny rivers of it leaking out across her eyes.

"Miss, can you hear me?"

The deep voice startles her and her neck pops as she tries to turn her face.

"No, don't move. Your car went off the road, we're here to help you."

She tries to speak, but her voice is only a crackling sound. She attempts to reach for her phone in her front jacket pocket but instead feels a strange, foreign texture, an odd barrier. Shifting only her gaze down towards her blocked hand, her vision comes into focus on an enormous tree branch jutting out of her chest.

The blood curdling cry ringing from the car causes every responder to stop in their tracks. The tow truck driver covers his ears as the scream pierces the soul of everyone present. The wail lasts for just a few seconds, but reverberates through the snow covered forest and across the frozen pond for what seems like hours.

Then silence.