Sleepy Spirits

A rough draft I did roughly two years ago when I was challenged by my (former) step-brother.

Alzarad watched his feet as he was walking outside in this cold winter night. The sky was colored black with a hint of purple, and the moon was orange. He shivered and decided to return home, hoping that it might be warm in there by now. He observed the area he was at right now and realized, to his surprise, he was actually around two miles away from home. "Have I really been walking for that long?" He asked himself. He gave a heavy sigh and turned around to walk. 

Alzarad came home after that cold, yet pleasant walk, and was greeted with warmth and the scent of vanilla blended with other herbs. He unwrapped his scarf and took off his leather jacket and placed it on his chair, then he walked to the cabinet. He grabbed a hot cocoa packet and poured himself a glass of water. He mixed the powder with the water and placed it in the microwave for thirty seconds. He waited in the dimlit kitchen of his apartment as he stared at the worn and torn chair that had a faded out brown color. 

He heard the timing go off and he rushed to the microwave to receive his treat. He took the cup out of the microwave and smelled the sweet scent of roasted chocolate. He took a gulp immediately after, and he regretted it. The boiling drink burned his lips, tongue, and throat. He winced from the pain and closed his eyes shut tight before reopening them, his eyes now watered. 

After he let it cool down a bit, he drank all of it; not enjoying it as much as he wanted to, because a quarter of his tastebuds got killed off for a short period of time as they recovered from the trauma of the hot liquid. 

He brushed his teeth, read his book, then he went to bed right after. He found himself flying in outerspace with his best friend, his mom, and his ex-girlfriend all in the same ship. As anybody would have guessed, this was his dream, though he of course was not aware of it. These were the typical themes, except they always had different people and they were always in a different galaxy each time. The only thing that changed was the plot and his actions in each dream. "Take control of the ship for now; I hear something weird at the bottom." Alzarad told his ex-girlfriend. 

He checked the bottom of the ship, wondering if a rat managed to get inside this ship while it was going at the speed of light. As he was looking through the ship, he saw something awfully strange. It had no shape, yet it was moving. It was yellow, and it had the texture of gelatin. Alzarad, as he reached to it, got devoured by the mysterious thing and he awoke in sweat. He was home, in his bed, pajama pants up to his thighs and his shirt up to his chest. Groggy and tired, yet unable to sleep, he decided to go out for a drive rather than a walk. It wasn't a smart decision, but he didn't want to freeze, either. 

He hopped into his car and started the ignition, then he took off. He liked to drive; it covered more distance in less time. As he was driving and watching the sunrise, he grew more and more tired, but tried to use pure willpower to keep awake. Like all battles of sleepiness, sleep won this round and he fell asleep at the wheel. 

He awoke after his heavy slumber, facing a tree through a cracked windshield and his chest was resting upon the airbag. "Just my luck.." He growled. He walked out of the car and slammed his cardoor out of anger. "God d****t! Son of a b***h! How could I be this stupid?!" He yelled out. He looked around, and found himself in a snow-covered forest. He sighed heavily and headed towards the direction of where he assumed there might be a telephone. After walking for a while with the only noise to keep him company is the crunching of snow under his feet, and his breath, he realized he was lost. He looked behind himself and realized that he lost the car, too. Today was not his day. 

He gritted his teeth and punched a tree, bruising his knuckles in the process. As he held his hand, he continued to walk the same direction. Maybe he can hitchhike back home? He could take the bus to and fro work while saving up enough money for a newer, better car. Though it wasn't much, he smiled at the thought at least. 

It was dusk again. His misfortune had really come at a price this time. Not only was he far from home; but he was in Canada. That didn't even feel real to him. He managed to drive perfectly (or so he thought, anyway) for three-hundred miles, then decided to crash the car at this forest. Freezing and wanting a place to sleep in, he found a cave and settled for it. He walked into the dark yet dry place and surprisingly, it was decently warm. This misfortune at least isn't too bad; it's not like he was sleeping in a cold place. He saw a light at the end of the cavern and assumed that was the source of the heat. He headed towards there, with high hopes of meeting someone who knows how to get out of here.

Alzarad finally made it to the fire, with nobody around. It surprised him a little bit and even disappointed him, but now he was comfortable. He took off his jacket and used it as a pillow and tried to fall asleep, trying his best to ignore the hunger pains and the awful taste of dirt that came from the snow he had to resort to eating due to there being no other water available. 

As he was nearing sleep, the memory of his past decided now was the time to haunt him. He fell asleep to nightmares, then he woke up paralyzed. He couldn't move his body nor his lips and could only breathe in and out. He tried with all of his might to move, but had no results. This can't be happening! This can't be happening! This can't be happening! He thought repeatedly. He tried even harder now to move; he was not going to give in to his paralysim. Then to his surprise, he saw a ghostly hand rise out of his own. His breathing stopped for a moment as he observed this hand. It seemed to move through his will, so he tried to lift it up. To his surprise, his spiritual form has risen from his body and he was now floating. "Am I having an out of body experience?" He whispered. 

He looked around and this new feeling was....pleasant. He didn't feel pain nor fatigue. His hunger has stopped, and there was no flavor in his mouth. As he thought about this new experience, he thought about spirits. "So....this is what death is like." He said. As he was examining himself, another spiritual presence entered the cave. He didn't see it yet, but he knew who it was. ".......Lyla..." He whispered as he turned around to face the presence. And there it stood, a beautiful woman with gold hair and icy blue eyes with pale, glowing skin. He couldn't tear up right now, but he felt that emotion. He walked towards her, staring at her smile that fit the face perfectly. 

He came near her and tried to touch her arm. To his surprise, he felt it. Her arm felt warm and soft, just like when she was living. He gave her a smile, but no words came out of his mouth. After this long silence of them staring at each other, Lyla finally said, "Alzarad, my one and only true lover, I have watched you since my death. You seemed sad for a very long time, and it pained me to see you like this. But eventually, you seemed less sad and more....empty. You felt emotions, but they were always hollow. You never did seem the same. I was hoping that you would get married, have kids and enjoy life, but you never did that. Why?" He looked down, intrigued by her question, but he looked up and stared into her eyes. 

"Because I wanted to have them with you alone. You were.....perfect. Sure, you had your flaws, like on how you would get more food on your face then in your mouth, or the fact that you used up all the hot water and left me none. But you were everything I wanted and needed. You were kind even through the harshest of times, and you were always so strong. Please Lyla! Let me go with you! There is no worse hell than being without you! Even hell would be a nice place with you in it with me. So please, Lyla, let's travel the world together. Like we planned such a long time ago. We'll travel to Europe and Asia! Please Lyla...." He pleaded. 

There was a long silence between the two, then Lyla began to think for what seemed to be an eternity, then she said, "Okay. I will take you with me. If that is your true wish, we shall walk this Earth for all eternity, and we'll feel nostalgia when we are reminded of our fond memories of our past back when we shared joy with each other from childhood to our relationship." She said.

He thought about this for a moment. True wish? What did she mean by that? Of course this was his true wish! Or was it? He thought for a moment, then said, "My time on Earth is over; I am not even contributing much into society, and life with you is the only happy life I can imagine. I will abandon my physical body to rot and we shall walk forever." He smiled at the same time she did, then she grabbed his hand and they walked out of the cave and disappeared into the sunset.