Off to Better Places

A snippet.

I stand in the midst of a crowd, pushing in from every side. Hands and arms embrace me, wrapping me in their love. In their warmth. That warmth seeps through my skin, moves to my veins, and pulses through my heart- residing there. My eyes are closed and a happy buzzing of voices- of life, floods my head with an easing calm. Fingers brush my side and then disappear. A sharp pain jolts through me and I force my eyes open. A figure walks away pushing through the crowd- has it gotten thinner?

I whisper to the fleeting shadow, "Where are you going?"

"Off to better places," it replies. And then it's gone.

A deep red stain appears on my white cotton shirt where the hand once held me. I stare at it curiously.

But then another sharp pain rips through my back, and I gasp. Another figure walking away, leaving behind it another red stain. 

I ask the same question and receive the same answer.

More jolts of pain, one after another and the hands that once embraced me are now few, joined only with seeping red stains. 

"Where are you going?"

"Off to better places."

The same question. The same answer. One last hand remains, touching me, placed firmly on my chest. On my heart. I press my hands against it, willing it to stay. 

"Please."

The crowd that once enveloped me is now gone- completely. And it is just me and this lone indecipherable figure standing in the dark. 

"Please," I whisper again. 

Glinting eyes flare through the dark, and meet mine. I know those eyes. I loved those eyes. 

I feel his hand begin to tear away from my flesh, pulling at my skin- pulling at my heart.

And then a flash, a searing white hot pain, and my heart is left exposed, and blood pours from my body. My white shirt is now red. 

The figure steps away, leaving me alone. 

"Wait!" I shout, "Where are you going?"

The figure returns for a fleeting second, leaning in close, lips brushing my ear, and whispers, "Away from you."