The star-ced sky shone behind the city skyline. It was quiet, all for the gentle hum and shaking of the metro passing over the bridge mounted high as the skyscrapers. Us two are the only passengers, her sitting on one of the seats to the side, while I zily hang on the 3 back seats adjacent to one another.

  A longing smile fshed my way, but no words were spoken between us. She seemed completely at peace, contrasting her usual jittery demeanor. The way she dressed was much different as well, gone were the rebellious gothic clothing, instead wearing a long blue dress one may find worn by a fairy-tale princess.

  She stood up, the frill of her dress fluttering from the draft coming through the window. With slow deliberate steps she approached my seat, striking a pose as she finally comes to a halt before me.

  “It looks good.” I briefly say, almost on compulsion. The words escaping my mouth before the thought itself forms.

  Taking a closer look at her face, partially obscured by the dark, her expression was brighter than before, rejuvenated. The dark circles below her eyes had vanished. She looked just how she was 3 years ago, when she was still small.

  I pushed myself up from the seat as she stood before me. I towered above her, the top of her head barely reaching my chest. Her eyes glowed an apricot hue, sparkling as vividly as the stars that surround us.

  Her arms reach out toward me as she stands up on the tips of her toes. I gently caress the back of her long, dark hair. She stares at me expectantly, tracing her eyes toward my hand and quietly bobbing her head along, like the movements of a doll just sprung to life.

  As I stroked her hair down to the base of her neck, her eyes lock on mine. With a tug to my neck she drags me down. In a fsh, our lips are touching as the metro makes a vile sounding screech, banking to the right.

  Losing my bance, I fall back into the seats. I squeeze into her hips whilst stopping her from crashing into me. With her head making a soft thud against my stomach, I lean back into the row of seats.

  As she puts her hands on my legs she pushes herself up, before taking a seat beside me, looking a little disoriented.

  “Where are we going anyway?”

  “The end.” I sputtered in amusement at my own incomprehensible joke.

  “That’s not funny.” She pouted.

  As I looked outside the window my mind wandered. I remembered the many times I travelled in my youth, the many times I wished to do so again ter in life. I realized at that moment how often I dreamt of going away. Wanting to flee the life I’d grown too accustomed to, away from the static, unmoving purgatory I existed in.

  An eternity passes as the scenery changes, the dark dreary sky and the decrepit skyscrapers make way for the sight of hundreds of lilies amidst a swamp like scenery as the sun begins to rise and shine brightly into the window. Looking back, Eiri was ying in my p during the time I spaced out.

  “Endpunkt Halbebahn, bitte ausgehen.”

  The metro comes to a halt, saying something in what sounded to be german.

  With a puff of the door’s hydraulics, it opens to a station decorated by trees and wreaths adorned on each of the pilrs holding up the station’s roof. All is quiet but the sound of the wind.

  We step out, with Eiri hugging my arm. I adored seeing her smile so brightly.

  “Our house is near the beach.” I say, jangling the keys to the house, before throwing them over to her. She reacts immediately, bending over to catch the keychain flying toward her, and easily snatches it out of the air.

  “No need to wait for your old man. Door number’s on it,” I say, pointing at her hand, “go on ahead.”

  She quickly lunged toward me for a hug, nuzzling her cheek against my stomach. A moment ter she runs off, waving back at me as she disappears down the stairs with light, frolicking steps.

  I redirected my gaze toward the barbed wire fence separating the station and the grass sloping downward toward the city and the beach.

  As I walk over toward it, a voice calls out from behind me.

  “That’s it, then?”

  Riyu… no, a voice barely resembling Riyu’s speaks in a resigned tone.

  I grab onto it, pulling myself up. Blood starts to drip down my arm.

  “We all need to keep going down. ”

  “...”

  I turn around after hearing no answer for a while, yet there’s nobody to be seen.

  With a grunt, I finally jump over, and roll down the grass path. When I stop rolling, I open my eyes, nding in front of the trail that heads directly toward the sea. Off in the distance I hear the singing of seagulls among the crashing of the seas’ towering waves, at a gnce rising 10-20 meters tall.

  I jump down the steep cliff separating the grass from the sand. There is no one here but the roaming of ghosts and silhouettes scattered about, all of them facing me, staring.

  My vision went dark at first, before a red tint overid it. In the corner of my vision, the word ‘RETURN’ appeared in dark-green, mechanical lettering, the kind one finds in a sci-fi movie.

  I keep traversing the shore, ignoring the warning, letting my vision fade in and out as I’m walking among the faceless beings. In the distance, a pavilion stands surrounded in mist. A strange buzz appears, ringing in my ears as I keep trudging toward the building. It was an important pce, I felt. Something I faintly recognize.

  My footsteps slowed, the warning became a pulling force, trying to drag me backward, or at least stop me in my tracks.

  Even as this invisible force pushed against me I approached closer, heading toward the stairs leading up to the pavilion, until eventually, the fog and with it the force pushing against me dissipated.

  "Gave up like I have, I guess."

  I walk up the stairs, and go inside, hearing the sound of humming. Next to a firepce, that same woman from before sat there, her head barely peeking out of the top of the chair.

  I can’t see her, she sits away from where I stand, her figure obfuscated by the back of the chair. There’s nobody behind the counter, nor a single man sitting at one of the tables. However, menus are still scattered about.

  As I walk over to the table, inspecting one of the menus, the woman turns quiet. The menu itself was nothing but ink blotches, barely anything legible. An occasional word like blood, cut, roast did stand out, though it was smudged to the point it could be considered a rorschach test.

  I turn around, looking in the direction of the now quiet woman, and the crackling hearth. Her arm hangs limp over the armrest. An eerie quiet enveloped the room.

  Then, from her shoulder, down onto her arm, blood begins trickling. Drops, soon becoming a stream, leaking onto the floor.

  I approach the chair, a discomforted feeling sunk inside my heart.

  As I stretched my hand, grabbing the back of the chair, I heard a squelch. Her head fell off her neck. With a thud, it fell down onto the floor.

  Riyu’s horrified, fish-eyed stare was looking up at me.

  ...

  A moment ter, I woke up, sweat trailing down my back, heaving heavily.

  “Another nightmare…” I sighed as my heart raced. “Again.”

  It must have been the tenth time I’ve seen my wife’s demise in my dreams.