REM DEPRIVED: Blue Petals

The sun was the perfect temperature. I took in a deep breath and let the fumes of the surrounding flowers fill my lungs. I was lying in the center of a valley filled with reds, yellows and greens. The sky was covered in a white haze hiding the sky. I was relaxed and at peace. There could be nothing better.

then she called to me with her velvet voice as she ran to me. Her smile was dazzling and her eyes were stunning blue. She stared at me from above her hands on her hips.

“Really again? Why do I always find you off relaxing when I am looking for you?” she rattled. I smiled and closed my eyes. “no answer huh well I guess that’s that’s.” he patted off her dress laid out her arms and fell hard onto my stomach with her head. It hit the air right out of my lungs. I breathed deep. She readjusted herself so that her face was as close to mine as possible. She grabbed my face looked at me with those gorgeous eyes then kissed me. I wished that she would never release from me but she pulled from contact, smiled and relaxed with her arms wrapped around me. There was nothing better, nothing more perfect then this heaven.

I must have dozed off because she was standing up looking down the valley with an expression I had never seen her use. She was scared and worried. I got up and saw what she was staring at. There were 3 metal men standing in front of large white circle.  The metal men like they were wearing armor but the armor was closed and had no way of getting in or out of it.

I stepped in front so that I was between her and them. “The hell?” I tried to figure them out but before I could one shot at me. The strange light hit me and pushed me back. I rolled onto the ground far from where I was before. My entire body was in pain. What was that? She ran to me and pulled my head close.

“Listen to me.” she was panicking. “Nothing you know here is real. Focus on surviving.” she grabbed me and kissed me again but this time was different.  There was a chilling sensation as she pushed something down my throat with her tong.  I was still in shock I couldn’t fully understand what she was saying. “I love you.” She whispered. She stood up and walked to the light. The metal men moved and made her an open path.

The sky began to shatter and revealed a blackness that I could not describe. That mattered little to me. They were taking her, the only thing that mattered to me in this world. She was leaving. What was happening?

 Just before she reached the light she turned to me and the color was sucked from the world. Everything was black and white, everything but her eyes and blue pettles that flowed around her like there was no gravity. Her hair began to float and I saw tears. 

I reached for her as she walked through the white portal. The pain was so excruciating that I could help but pass out.

I dreamed of her smile. How she flowed when she walked, her voice echoed in my head, that same sadness the same tears as she whispered, “I love you.”

I was groggy when I woke, almost like I had been asleep for days.  I looked around and found myself in a dingy apartment. The walls were water logged and torn apart that had no color. Everything looked like it had been left to rot. Again her words echoed in my head. “Nothing you know here is real.”

 I got up and went to the bathroom. The tiles were broken and washed of color as well. The sink and bathtub was grimy and covered in grey rust. I turned the fosate on but there was no water.  There was no mirror, just the frame. I pulled out a drawer and inside was a gun. Why was there a gun? I took it. It was heavier than I thought it would be. I put it in the back of my pants held by my belt.

I decided to leave. That apartment was just too depressing to be in. I walked out into the hall. All the doors to the other rooms were open but they were all in the same shape as the one I was in. I found that the elevators doors were broken. I pulled it open and looked down. It was a long way. What floor was I on? There was a high pitched squealing from above. I looked up and the elevator was falling down. I stepped back and it rifled past me. When it hit bottom, the crash echoed up the shaft.

“Stares it is.”

I didn’t get 3 flights down when I saw a young girl dead in the corner of the stares. Her blood was splashed onto the wall behind her. I held out my gun and watched her carefully. Then I saw something strange on her, besides her being dead. I crept in for a closer look and she had strange hand marks on her face.

“Survive huh? survive against what exactly?”

I backed up looked at her again then continued down the stairs gun firmly grasped in my hands. There were a few more bodies in the entry way and I passed them slowly. When I got outside I didn’t understand nor comprehend what this world was.

The sky was white. To my right was a grey ruined city and to my left was a vast desert with white sand.  I walked to where the road became sand. I shelved it up. It slipped through my fingers like a liquid. There was nothing out in that desert. I turned back to the city and saw a person.

I held my gun cautiously. The person was walking strange. Weaving and tattling like a drunkard. I got closer and called out but there was no repose. I tried to get a good look at his face but he was leaning forwards. I got within touching distance and saw that his eyes were empty and he had the same hand print on his face like the others. I backed up and kept moving. He was already dead. 

I came across more and more of those types as I got deeper and deeper into the city. They didn’t seem like they knew I was there. I experimented and pushed one over. I held my gun ready but he just got back up and kept walking around. They weren’t the treat, but who was if any? Survive? Maybe it was to survive what was doing this to these people?

I kept walking. I got to the sky scrapers in the city and found myself staring at a bay filled with white and grey water. On the sidewalk was a group of people watching and listening to a man give a speech on a large podium.  The people watching seemed more aware then the others. They were watching and listening but the man was speaking nonsense. And I ment nonsence. He went on about how they had to stop the development of rice and the government that was linked to the evasion of Brim. Nonsince.

There was the sound of rattling and popping as I looked up at the sound around the buildings came a plane on fire. No one paid any attention to it. They all watched the man with great smiles and hope in their faces. The plane turned and headed right for the people.  I tried to move them to warn them but they didn’t listen to me. I gave up and ran. As the plain hit the podium the sky went black. Shrattenal flew everywhere. I was shaking like crazy my heart was beating erratically.  From the sky came strange beams of light. The people on the ground that were scattered paid no attention the lights. The light went over a person and the person disappeared.  I ran behind a piece of the plane that was large enough to hide behind. The lights went from person to person. Each one was disappearing. I waited. The lights passed over where I was hiding. I was too afraid to look at what they were.

The lights moved into the streets of the city and left. I looked around several times before I moved out from my spot. The gun still in my hands. The handle had become slick with sweat.  I made my way deeper into the city. I hid in the alley ways to avoid the lights. There seemed to be a pattern to the lights so I finally forced myself to look at one after it had passed to see what it was. It was a circular craft. Down the street there was a line of the metal men. They marched down the road and down each alley way one turned and went down. I scampered to look for somewhere to hide. As they were right on me I found a latter that lead down into a cave under the city. I didn’t hesitate and went into the cave. Once I got In a mass of lights passed over the area. I took a deep breath and ventured into the cave.

Some ways in, there was a door with a blinking light coming from the crack. I sneaked to the door and looked in. there was no one in there. The light was coming from a TV that was just static. There were other TV’s that had running footage of the streets up top.  I looked around and there was a table an old radio and a lot of books and notes. I heard the door creek open. I grabbed my gun and turned but it had me on the table before I could react. It was a man and he had a knife to my neck.

“Hands up.” I lifted my hands slowly. He took my gun and put it in his pocket. “Who are you? What do you think you are doing here? Your way out of the safe area.”

“There’s a safe area?” I asked.

“Quiet. Boss I think we got us a nutter here.” the man called out.

“and here I thought we were going to make this quick.” A man walked in rubbing his head. He was older, had a large coat on and had a beard. When he looked at me he stalled. His eyes got wide. He walked over pushed the other man out of the way and grabbed my shoulders and stared at me. I didn’t know how to react.

 “Boss ya know this nutter?”

The older man looked at me then spoke. “Around the trail and into the woods, where is the umbrella?”

“What? Why does everyone here speak nonsense?” the man then wrapped his arms around me and squeezed me harder than I thought possible.

“It is you. Where the hell have you been? How did you get away? Why are you still alive?”

“What?”

He gerabbed my face,“ and you still look just as young. Haven’t aged a day. ah never mind that. We can talk later. We need to bring you to your father.”

“woah woah no, theres been some kind of misunderstanding. wait I am not who you think I am. I don’t have a father. Nor do I know you. Now what the hell is happening in this world? ”

“This world?”

“I need to find someone. Can you help me? If not I am leaving.”

“You really don’t remember me? What happened to you?” he started to reach for me and grab my face again. I slapped his hands away.

“Remember? i remember just fine. You and this place means nothing to me. Someone I loved was taken from me and I want her back.”

“Her?” he grabbed my shoulder and held me in place. “I was there when it happened. Me and your father were there when-.”

“I don’t have a father.”

“Listen you have been deceived by that woman. I don’t know what she did to you but its not what you think.”

“Get off me” I whipped my arm away from him and started away.

“Blue eyes that burned into your soul.” The old man spoke. I stopped as he described her perfectly. “Long black flowing hair that seemed to defy gravity itself. A voice that made you long for her touch.” I turned and stared at him in shock. “They are called sirens and in this world they are the enemy. If you want to know more come with us if not then become like the rest of the city.” He waved and the two of them went deeper into the cave.

I hated the idea. But they though that she was one of these sirens. I had to follow. Also I didn’t want to die. They still had my gun. So I followed.

When we got to the end of the tunnel they threw out strange ball into the street. It rolled quite a ways until it stopped. A light came out and holograms of people appeared above it. The lights went after the holograms and we darted past them as they were distracted.

We got to an abandoned elementary school. We went through the back door. They knocked a certain way. The sound of latches un hooking came from behind the door It got quiet and the door opened.  There were people stocked in the halls sitting waiting. All geared up and ready.  As we went down the halls I was given the oddest looks.

“ why are they looking at me like that?”

“what  not every day a victim comes back alive and kicking ya know. Come one this way.”

I saw through one of the door that the windows were covered with wood and tarps. The old man went into one of the darkened rooms and I heard a deep irritated voice through the door way.

“Karl I am not in the mood for your wise cracks, gets out.”

“But you’ll miss out. I brought you something interesting.”

“Not now.” He growled.

“Brandon, I found your son.”

There was silence.

“And?” he said as if he was unfazed by the news. But it was obvious he was jolted by this.

There was laughter behind me and a guy around my age smacked my shoulder. “hey ya ass, here have you been? I was told you were dead. Been hiding like a shrimp?” he continued to laugh.

“Michael.” I heard the deep voice from behind me. The man was warn and looked like he needed sleep badly. He walked to me slowly. The laughter stopped. He reached for my face. And stared at me then hugged me. I was frozen again. “ thank god you’re alright. How is this possible?”

“’Alright’ isn’t the word I would use. “ Karl said.

Brandon let go of me and had a confused look on his face. “What do you mean?”

“we should go inside for this.”

We went inside the office and I told him that I don’t know him and that I didn’t have a father . Karl told him about the siren.

Brandon had his face in his palms. “I swear they are doing this to spite me.”

“I am not your son.”

“yes you are, you have the same face the same voice, you even have he scar that you got the first time you shot my gun when you were 8.” I grabbed the scar on my arm.

“ that’s coincidence.”

“then tell me who are you? Who are your parents? Where’d you come from? Why do we know more about you then you do?  You were gone for 4 years and now you are telling me that my own son is rejecting me. Stop denying it and accept the fact that that woman has messed with your mind.”

“No I will never blame her. The time I had with her could never be fabricated. I loved her and now she is missing.”

“Oh god, she’s a siren, sirens can’t love. They only destroy and kill. That’s it. Kid if you’re not my son then who are you?”

“I-“when I really thought about it I couldn’t think of my name, what happened before I met her. “The last thing I remember was waking up in the field with her next to me.” I looked to Brandon. “I don’t even remember her name.” I couldn’t think of one time when we called each other by name. I went to the door. “Excuse me.” I walked down the halls and found an empty one and sat and thought.

Was she really tricking me? Why would she lie to me at the end and tell me that she loved me if it was a lie? Was what I felt for her fake too? Where was I for all that time?

Karl sat next to me and was quiet.

I asked him, “What happened to me?”

“Do you really want to know?”

“Probably not but I need to know.”

He sighed. “Alright, you, your father and I were with a small group that were trapped by the siren in city hall. There was no way that we were going to get out alive if we continued to stay in that same spot but there was nothing we could do. Then you got the bright idea that you were going to lure her away. What an idiot you were. You ran out and met her face on. Your father ran after you of course and I had to follow him. Okay so normally the sirens suck out your energy or soul or whatever and drop you and leave or continue hunting but that didn’t happen.  You were standing in front of her as she floated down at you. We tried to stop her but she put up a field and we couldn’t do anything. Then she started singing. Her voice was muffled from the field but we could hear it and its melody. It was mesmerizing. Had never heard anything like that before. Your face changed from fear to relax. She wrapped her arms around you, and there was a bright light and you both were gone. We didn’t know what to think. That had never happened before. When I think about it, we were getting hunches that she was following you around for a while before that. Don’t know why. “

“I can’t remember.”

“Don’t force yourself. It will come back. If not then oh well. “

“thanks.” I said sarcastically. Suddenly my throat started to get cold.  I rubbed it and cleared my throat.

“What up? Throat  hurt?”

“Not really. It’s just when she left me she forced me to swallow something and it makes my throat cold every once in a while.”

“hmmm weird and gross.”

Out of the corner of my eye I saw a blue petal coming from out of one of the halls and into ours. I got up and caught it. I looked to Karl who was pointing and shaking.

I waved my hand at him to move. To go. He ran to the others to warn them. I looked down the other halls and there was a path. I was curious. What it her? I wanted to ask her so many things. Then again she might kill me if she sees me again. Grrrah I don’t know. I passed another hall and in the center was a little girl. There were a lot of petals moving around her. Her face was down. I watched her cautiously.

“Was it you?” she asked. “Was it you WHO STOLE HER FROM US?!!!” She looked up and her eyes glowed blue. She charged at me and hit me down the hall. I got up as quickly as I could and looked around for a weapon.  She walked towards me and stared at me with such fury. She looked like just a child. 5 maybe 6 but that was not the stare of a child.

Gun fire came from down the hall. The girl just looked at them. The bullets did nothing. You TOOK HER FROM  US!”

she screamed and charged them. She hit all of them into the walls. A couple flew out towards me. I grabbed a gun and fired at her. She turned to me with those flaming eyes.

I swallowed my fear and yelled back at her. “That’s what I want to ask. You took someone from me. I don’t care if she is a siren but I want her back.” I fired at her again. She got really irritated.

“YOU, You don’t have the right to speak to me like that. Human!” She jumped at me and I dove out of the way. She went right through the wall and in to the street. She appeared in front of me and crushed me into the floor. While I was distracted with pain she decided to sit on me.  She grabbed my neck with her small hands and didn’t squeeze instead she pushed down.

“What did you do to her? You are mean. You kept her from us.” I saw that she started to cry. I put my hand on her arm and the pressure stopped. I looked at her and she was missing an arm. Her flesh was blue crystal her arm shattered around my face. She stared at me then at her arm. She started to laugh and cry at the same time.

“Your arm. I am so sorry. I didn’t mean to-.” She hit my chest hard. I coughed.

“You’re the one. You’re the reason why she’s-“rest of her arm falls off.” Oh that’s just great. i am dying. now how am I going to find her.” I couldn’t stand it anymore. She was a crying child. So i hugged her.  She was still for some time the she started to cry more.

“ I am sorry that she was away from you. I truly am. .”

 “Why do you care so much?” she said under her weeping and sniffling. I could feel her falling apart.

“I loved her too?”

“I see now. No wonder she chose you. Maybe you could be our salvation.”  She smiled at me. She was cute when she wasnt crazy with emotion and trying to kill me.  I found that I wasn’t able to move. Her eyes glowed and she opened her mouth next to mine. That same cold feeling flowed through my mouth then throat. My body shook as it made my whole body have chills. “Don’t waist it.” she glared at me again then changed to a smile as her face cracked and turned into petals.

My hands were out holding nothing but air. I turned to see my father staring at me. The others showed up behind him.

“Was that? Did you just kill a siren?” one of them asked.

My father walked up to me with purpose and grabbed my face and stared at my eyes.  “Oh my god.”

“What?” I asked still having trouble breathing.

“Your turning.”

“Turning?”

He pointed his gun at me. “They have been turning you into a siren.”

He fired at me and hit me but it didn’t hurt. I looked at my hands and I wasn’t hurt. 

“No no wait I didn’t-“ he shot at me again. So I ran. I ran out the hole that was made by the siren girl and into a sky scraper. They fallowed me and shot at me as i ran up the stairs. I heard them speaking as I ran.

“We need to kill him before the change is 100 percent.”

“Are you okay with this? I mean he is-“

“Don’t.” he reloaded and ran after me.

What is this shit? I finally accepted him now he wants to kill me? I don’t under this at all.

I got to the roof and ran around to try and find a way down from the outside but bullets hit me and stopped me. There he was. My dad with a gun pointed at me. No not a gun. A rocket launcher.

 “Aren’t you my father?”

“My son died 4 years ago in the arms of a monster. You’re just a monster wearing my son’s skin. Please just die.”

Then he pulled the trigger. The explosion sent me flying off the roof. Was I going to die before I got any answers? Was that it? Nothings resolved. I have more questions now than I did before. DAMN IT.

I felt someone catch me and then the sensation of flying. I looked up and saw a man with black hair and blue eyes. He smiled at me and took me back to the roof. Three other sirens joined him as they flew around Brandon. He shot at them as they landed around him.

He placed me down and I saw that among the sirens was her.  She was the one from before. The same perfect face, just how I had remembered it. The male went to Brandon and grabbed the gun and crushed it with his bare hands.

The woman from my dreams came to me and turned to watch as the male confronted Brandon.

“Hey I have a question.” I asked her.

She turned to me and smiled. What is it?”

“That all wasn’t a dream right? You and i-“she kissed me as passionately as I remembered.  When she let go I knew I was blushing but she smiled.

“What do you think?”

“Yeah, also what’s your name?” I asked. There was a tussle as Brandon attacked the male. I could see that he was worried and sickened by seeing his son make out with the enemy.

“What did you do with my son you monsters?”

“What are you talking about? That is your son.” The male pointed at me.

“Liar.”

“Why would I lie?”

“Then turn him back. Now.”

“Why would I do that to a new brother? Before I was reluctant. One of our own had fallen for a human. But when she stole him and created a separate reality for him, I realize that she was serious and accepted him. We don’t abandon family. And we don’t take requests from food.” There was a yell and my father’s body fell to the ground.

“Talia.” My love spoke. “My name is Talia.”