Myths Shrouded in Mist

[Rtex]

Here it is folks in all it's typoed, and incorrect grammar form! Myths Shrouded in Mist Myths Shrouded in Mist by Leoj Fidel awoke to the sound of gentle raindrops and harsh wind gusts against his half-broken window. Fidel sat up and looked through it. "Just like me," he thought. "Almost completely broken, but not quite." Luckily for Fidel it was a double-paned window, so the rain was still repeled by the cracked glass. Fidel slowly rose from his bed, struggling to shake the constant weariness that seemed to weigh on him these days. Rubbing the sleep from eyes, a glimmer of hope sparkled in the back of his mind that today would be better than yesterday. He didn't know where thoughts like this came from, and most of the time they were wrong. Yet he welcomed them, and prayed that they wouldn't go away. Regardless of how bad things got, he never wanted to lose hope... Shouts rose through the floors, his parents were fighting again, Fidel furrowed his brow, he disliked going to sleep with his parents fighting, but in the morning they had usually made up, and got along... But to wake up to this tension was more than he could take today. He looked at his cellphone, his once "best friend" had sent him a message. It read, "Don't talk to me until you have your own life figured out.". "Great!" Fidel thought, "Another one bites the dust, that brings the grand total of list of people I have on my side to... -5?" His own thoughts were sarcastic to him. But they had validity, his so-called "friends" were getting fewer. After he had finished dressing, he turned to leave his prison-like room, but he noticed a letter that had been slid under the door. The pink lettering on the front told him who is was from, his good friend Tracy. Fidel smiled as her words of comfort played in his head, they were from a conversation they had had many months ago. "Fidel I will always be a friend to you, no matter what. You can count on me." She had probably written him an encouraging note and slid it under his door earlier that morning. She did things like that. However, to his horror, the letter was not filled with words of hope and encouragement. "Fidel, I'm sorry to have to write to you like this. It was the only thing I knew to do. I heard some things, everybody has been talking about you. I tried sticking up for you, but I couldn't prove anything they said wrong... Then I realized, if I couldn't prove it wrong, and no one else was saying anything against it, I must be the one who is wrong. You need to get some things straightened out in your life. I don't think it would be a good idea for us to spend any more time together until you get things figured out. Goodbye Fidel. Signed, Tracy." Fidel felt weak, he stumbled and sunk to his knees. How could all this be happening at once? He felt numb, his vision, distorted. Sounds were far away. A sob rose in Fidel's throat, but he swallowed it down and made his way down to the table. As he had heard earlier, his parents were shouting loudly at each other about something. Fidel wasn't really listening to them, he went to the fridge, got the milk out, and the cereal from the cupboard. He slowly ate his breakfast. Mechanically putting the spoon in his mouth, chewing, and repeating the whole process. He was oblivious to the words being screamed over his head. Completely numb to his surroundings, Fidel got up, and slowly walked out without so much as a goodbye from his parents. When he reached his car, he got in, and leaned back against the seat, and for the second time that day, a sob rose in the back of his throat. But again, he swallowed it down and started his car, the engine roared to life, and he sped out onto the street. It started raining harder as he drove to college. A place where he was sure to go unoticed. He welcomed this fact, when no one cares, nothing matters. However, Fidel did care, yet he was determined not to cry, no doubt some strange looks would be shot at him for crying in a public place. But from his effort to restrain his sobs he was almost shaking. He reached the college and started walked toward the Health and Science building where his class met. The watery haze kept on coming down, Fidel was getting soaking wet. And then, he lost the battle, the tears began to flow, the pain from his best friend, from Tracy, from his parents, from all his enemies that had told him, "I told you so." From all his failures he had made lately that had only made the situation worse. The tears, however numerous they may have been, were completely unoticable, they were hidden by the raindrops streaming down his face. His sobs could not be heard over the roar of the thunder. And so he stood there, completely drenched in rain, crying. People hurried past him, on their way home, or to class. Hiding underneath their umbrellas. Fidel felt despair creeping into his mind. He did not make any attempt to stifle it out. As he stood there a young girl walking with her mother pointed at Fidel and cried out, "Mommy! Why is that man standing there getting wet?" Fidel looked up at the young girl, wondering if she could tell that he was crying. However, the young girls mother whispered something to her and pulled her past him. Fidel looked up, and stared at the sky, without hope, and without spirit. Fidel slowly sank to his knees, something inside him had snapped. The furrows in his brow, smoothed to a cold glare. His eyes fixated upon on the ground, seeming to bore a hole where his gaze was set. He was trembling slightly from the combination of rain and wind. His clothes were completely drenched. Unconciously his muscles began to tighten, like a spring being compressed, Fidel was tensing up. He felt a hand gently touch his back, it wasn't much, but it was enough to make him jump from surprise. He whirled around, his head reeling from an unknown rage, his breath was coming in gasps as he saw the concerned look of a young girl, no more than 8, standing there in front of him. She looked very worried, and his reaction had only served to frighten her further. She took a step back, looked up at the furious expression that was frozen on Fidels face. A tear welled up in her eye, and Fidel had to strain to even notice it, and once he did his mind was spinning once again, he couldn't concentrate, the girl standing there in front of him made no sense, and neither did the tear in her eye. It was all just making him ache with frustration. In a timid and quiet voice, the little girl asked "Sir, why are you crying?" her voice was barely audible over the rain, but Fidel did not have the presence of mind to even register her words. He needed to get out of here, he needed to escape. From all of this. . . He quickly stood up and began walking toward his car, he heard a faint call from the young girl, her voice seem to follow him. "Sir! What's wrong?" Fidel broke into a run, he couldn't stop and think about the things she was saying, he just had to get away. The overwhelming desire to escape was irrepresible. Fidel sprinted through the parking lot to his car, fumbled for his keys. Too many things were running through his mind, the trouble in his family, his friends turning their back on him in a time when he needed them most. He was in his car now, still dripping wet. The light patter of rain has grown into a thundering roar. Fidel could barely hear his own thoughts... So much the better, Fidel didn't want to think, he still was influenced by the irresistable need to escape. He slammed his keys in the ignition and turned, the engine roared to life, and he on his way. There was no destination in particular, anywhere would suffice. Anywhere but where he was. He slammed the gear-shifter into the next gear. He was still breathing heavily, and his hands were trembling on the steering wheel. The vein in his temple was bulging from stress. And the needle on the speedometer kept climbing higher and higher. All the pain and hurt from his recent events washed over him like a tsunami, emotions and memories flooded through him. To stifle the surging emotions Fidel tightened his grip on the steering wheel, and unconciously his foot slowly forced the pedal down to the floor. The cars weight shifted more towards the back and the engire roared to keep up with the demands Fidel was subjecting it to. The light up ahead turned yellow, Fidel didn't notice, he was intently staring as the road, he barely noticed that in just a few seconds there would be cars obstructing his way. Too late, it registered in Fidel's mind that the light was red. He saw for a brief second out of the corner of his left eye, a car coming through the intersection... Silence, a seeming eternity passed, memories sped by in instant flashes. Of his life, of his family, and then the cars collided. A piercing shriek of metal upon metal as the black SUV plowed straight into the driver's side door of Fidel's small coupe. Instantly Fidel shook back to reality. He was back in his car, his hand on the key, water dripping from his hair, rain still pelting the outside of his car... He was breathing is quick, sharp breaths. He could almost still feel the intense shock of being hit by the SUV... "Only a dream... It was just a dream..." visibly shaken Fidel slowly turned the key in the ignition. Wondering why he had fell asleep, he hadn't felt any sleepiness at all. He backed out of his parking spot, and started driving, a little slower this time... The intense feeling to escape was gone, and he didn't really know why he was leaving anymore... He was confused and lost. Searching through his mind, again he unconsciously pressed the gas pedal without realizing it. He was gazing through the traffic, rather than at the traffic, his mind lost in his own thoughts. The light up ahead turned yellow, again, Fidel did not notice, but stared thoughtlessly ahead. Drawing closer to it, the light changed to red... he would be at the stop light soon. Then his mind clicked back into reality, and he slammed on his brakes, only to find that his brakes had failed. He was still hurtling through the intersection, and again he saw the black SUV, Fidel turned his head left to face his impending death.... again... But the black SUV had put on his brakes, and Fidel glided through the intersection unharmed. Confusion mingled with great relief flooded through Fidel, he turned his head back the road, only to realize that in his acceptance of his fate and looking at the SUV he had drifted into on-coming traffic, an 18-wheeler was tearing right at him, the driver, apparently distracted, wasn't honking. Again, Fidel slammed on the brakes, but to no avail, it was too late to swirve, another piercing clash rang through the air, and Fidel felt vibrations, he felt as if he would be shaken apart. And then blackness. Fidel had thought that the vibrating couldn't get any worse. . .He was wrong, he didn't feel as if his body was shaking, but that every molecule in his body was trying to break free. He felt a lurch in his stomach as something was drawing him seemingly up, he felt space rushing past him as he began to speed up, he felt as if he was falling, but straight up. He didn't even try to think about it. It wasn't exactly pain, but it was almost unbearable. It was like there was too much force being exerted on his body, yet no nerves were sending pain signals to his brain. He started to feel warm, like he was immersed in water at a perfect temperture... But it didn't slow him down, he kept rocketing upward, as if falling. Fidel could sense some kind of barrier up ahead, something blocking his path. Like a sheet of glass up ahead... something he could see right through, but he couldn't get through.... When all at once he felt as if every atom in his body hit a brick wall. Completely stopping him. He felt as if he would be torn apart. But after the brief halt in his motion, he felt the barrier give way... Veritably exploding into splinters of whatever it was in the first place... The warm washed over him again and he continued falling upward. When all of the sudden, he stopped, he had tightly closed his eyes. but now he opened them... But immediately shut them as all he could see was a blinding light... However, strangely enough his eyes did not hurt, he only flinched out of habit. Timidly he opened his eyes and looked through the blinding light. He saw a spectacular city... Gleaming with a golden aura that made them seem unbelievably beautiful. A pure white wash coated every facet of the grand city. A mist seemed to be clearing at Fidels feet. He realized the path he was standing on was made of solid gold. A vast body of water lay between him and the city... It looked like liquid crystal. Taking in the seemingly unending light, and recasting it out into a million directions. Shimmering like a sparkling diamond, only you could dip your hand into it, and let it stream out onto the ground. The water beaded up on Fidels hand, each droplet of water looked like a precious jewel, that would be fit for kings and emperors. Fidel had trouble tearing his eyes away from gorgeous water. And turned his eyes upward at the sky. It was like looking at lava, except it was morphed into a purple, blue, orange, yellow, pink, and pearl colored meld of colors. Flowing smoothly back and forth. twisting, changing, and gliding across the sky. Fidel felt as if he could stare at the sky for a lifetime, and still feel as if he accomplished something great in his life. But again he tore his eyes away from it to look at the path he must travel. It was right then that the blissful peace of just being there ended. And questions started flooding through Fidel's brain. Why was he here? How did he get here? What is this place? Was he dead? Was this heaven? So many things he didn't know. The last thing he remembered was being in his car, driving home from college, and he was broadsided by an SUV.... No, wait... His brain began to remember more, he had hallucinated that right? He was actually back in his car when that had happened.... "But then I left the college for real... The second time." His own voice seemed to echo in Fidel's head. "If the first time I was in an accident just a dream... Couldn't this be a dream as well?" Fidel was getting more confused as time went by, he stood there debating with himself what was the case. He decided that he would just have to travel down this road to figure everything out. So he started walking. He once again noticed the sheer beauty of this place, then all the questions didn't matter. If he could just stare at this place forever... No, something was wrong, he was being pulled away from here. No... Torn, ripped away from the most beautiful things he'd ever seen. He wanted to stay, to remain in this place forever, but he couldn't fight the force that was drawing him back downward. Then he once again... fell.... Blackness, Fidel felt cold, he dared not open his eyes. He felt life slowly flooding back into his body... And along with it, an intense sharp pain. He slowly opened his eyes. And again, a piercing white light blinded him. But this time his eyes did hurt. The feeling of bliss was fading by the second. Fidel didn't want to face this. He was in a place of ultimate happiness, and he had been ripped away without reason... Anger, pain, fear, hatred filled him. He wanted to scream at the person who had done this. His eyes slowly came into focus, and he saw pure white lights passing above him, he tried to move, but he was strapped down. He looked around, and saw people in blue clothes, and white coats... It took several moments for it to click in Fidel's mind. Doctors... Hospital lights, nurses... So he was in a wreck, it was all real. Relief mingled with despair washed over Fidel. He mind sorted out what was real and what wasn't, as the medical staff shouted things in another langauge. A langauge where things were measured in CC's and had strange names that he didn't recognize. Again blackness, Fidel felt dizzy and weak, he closed his eyes, giving up on trying to fight away the weariness that consumed him. When Fidel awoke, he found himself in a hospital bed, an IV attached to his arm, heart monitors and various devices to keep him alive no doubt... But again the hopelessness filled him. He barely could remember what it felt like to see that perfect sky, that gorgeous lake... The memories were fading. A sense of emergency came over Fidel, he couldn't lose these feelings. He had to return to that place. He quickly pulled the IV out of his arm, and pulled the sensors and monitors from his body, and stood up to leave the room, but collapsed. He was still weak from all that had happened. "I can't lose it... I've got to hold on..." Fidel grunted as he began pulling himself across the floor with his arms... "Must . . . get . . . back . . ." he said as he pulled himself into the wheelchair that sat on the opposite side of the room from his bed. He settled himself, then directed his chair out the door. Thoughts were racing through Fidel's mind, he had to figure out how to get back, how to return to that place. He went to the elevator, and pushed the "Roof" floor button, and the elevator slowly began to rise. Fidel felt the pull of gravity slightly increase as the elevator pulled him upward. He closed his eyes and tried to imagine seeing those colors, feeling that water, but already he had begun to lose it's picture in his head. A faint ring of the elevators alert telling Fidel that he had arrived on the roof. Fidel pushed his wheelchair out of the elevator, and onto the roof. slowly making his way to the edge... It was pitch black darkness above him. The city below was completely dead, sleeping in complete ignorance of one young man on the edge of complete oblivion. Back in the hospital room, the worried parents and sister of Fidel had arrived, finding their son missing. They were even more alarmed. A security guard had been notified about the missing patient and he was reviewing the tapes from the security cameras in the hospital. He discovered the Fidel had gone into the elevator, and gotten out of it on the roof, but he had gone out of the cameras field of vision after that. Fidel's family raced to the elevator. The exasperated security guard had given up trying to stop them. Fidel had pulled his wheelchair to the edge of the building. The edge itself was raised from the roof about a foot. Fidel would have to stand up to jump off. "I got there by death once, maybe I can do it again..." Fidel thought to himself. He slowly got to his feet. His legs quivered from exhaustion, but were able to support his weight. He placed one foot on the raised edge of the roof. Fidel's father wished he could make the elevator move faster, he could sense that something was wrong. An intense sigh of relief escaped from his lips as the tell-tale ring of the elevator let him know he was at the roof. He burst out of the doors. And looked around, he saw the wheelchair near the edge. And right next to it--Fidel. Fidel heard the heavy footfalls of someone to his left, he looked over and saw his father, his mother and sister a few steps behind him. He wished he could explain it all to them, but there wasn't any time, if he stopped now, he would forget completely the place where he had been completely happy.... No, there was no time... Fidel's father realized what Fidel was doing, he sprinted in his direction, hoping and praying that his legs could carry him fast enough... He made eye contact with Fidel, silently pleading with him to stop. He realized he wouldn't make it in time, and just then he saw Fidel's weight shift... "This is the only way....." Fidel said as his center of gravity slowly traveled to the empty air on the other side of the ledge. "Fidel!!!!!!" he cried as he watched his son plunge over the edge... But the sound was muffled by the air rushing past Fidel, he couldn't even understand the words his father had said, he was falling, the ground beneath him was coming up, growing larger by the second. Fidel's father sank to his knees in complete disbelief of what he just saw. Fidel's mother covered her mouth in complete horror, a barely audible whisper escaped from her lips... "Why? Why Fidel? Why?" And Fidel's sister who was standing just outside of the elevator felt as if she would faint. She put her hands against the wall and began to scream. She was confused, sad, and in intense grief, she couldn't form words, so she just kept screaming. Trying to speak Fidel back onto the ledge. The buildings, the windows, the surroundings all around fidel began to blur as he neared the ground. He braced for the impact, a smile began to write itself of his face, he was going to return to that place. Fidel jerked back to reality. He was back in his room, standing next to his bed. The gentle sound of rain pelting the window met his ears. He let out a long sigh, and glanced at his cellphone. No message for him. He turned his head towards the door, but there was no piece of paper slipped underneath it. Fidel stood from his bed trying to gather his thoughts. "So it was all a dream. Well, at least I still have a few friends left." he thought with a glimmer of cheer. To make sure he flipped open his cellphone and scanned the latest recieved text messages. And there, at the top, was the message from his once, "best friend". He walked over to the rubbish-bin and overturned it. There among the various useless college notes and failed attempts at drawing was the pink piece of paper he'd found the day before. "Oh, not a dream, it was yesterday." Fidel blinked twice letting it all sink in. And then, Fidel began to get ready for the day. . . .The Beginning

[nina]

Well I was lucky enough to have this story read to me with my eyes closed laying in bed. And I already told you what I thought about it. It's an amazing story...frightening, but very revealing. I couldn't imagine what it would be like to forget a whole day, or to spend your life attempting to sort out what is real and what is...not... Your writing always draws me in...I can't wait to hear more about Fidel. Hopefully first hand. <3 -nina