Chapter Ten

Chapter X

Benedetto.

             I'm falling headfirst, deeper and deeper into the unknown.

             I am plunged into a familiar, comforting darkness that cradles me like a mother nursing her newborn babe.  

             My eyes are wide open, and I cannot see a thing, yet I feel at ease.  There's something reassuring about this inky blackness. I stare blindly into the abyss, letting a soft, gentle smile spread across my face from cheek-to-cheek.

             There's a slight tick, tick, ticking sound, like a pocket watch, reverberating in my ears. I focus on it, and relax more and more at every echoing tick.

             I feel so peaceful, yet I've never felt so.. wide awake. Alive.

             I let my thoughts ponder on where I could be. What time it is. If time even exists in this dimension. Am I dead? I don't think so. There's something enlightening about this place, but it's not the afterlife. I can feel it in my bones. I'm as alive as I ever have been.

            My hair tickles my face playfully and my coat flaps wildly in the wind as I plummet through the air (I'm assuming that it's air). It feels like there is a brief pause; and suddenly, as quickly as lightning appears and then disappears, the rate at of which I am falling speeds up drastically.

             I stop and am placed gently on my feet. I'm standing in nothingness. 

             I walk in no particular direction. I assume that I'm moving forward. Or am I simply stepping back? I do not know. This world is as empty as a Nobody.

             I ponder on a theory that I am alone. I can't bring myself to truly believe it. Even though I am feeling sublime, I still can't help but feel like there are two black daggers piercing into my back as I move onward (or backward; I'm still not sure where I'm going).