Transcending the Depths of Reality

Allison awoke, her head and heart pounding. She rubbed her temples as she tried to pry her eyes open, but the bright lights overhead were blinding her. She tried to piece together the events of the night before, but her memory was foggy.

She had been getting ready for a night out with her friends. Desperate for a distraction from her boring life, she had been looking for something that would excite and inspire her. For a while now, Allison had been feeling a bit lost. She had just turned 30 and was working a job that she had no passion for, and spent most of her free time feeling directionless. Although she knew going out again was not the solution, it seemed to be the only option in front of her at this time.

She had been shuffling around her apartment, getting dressed, listening to music, while fixing her hair and makeup. It was a shallow and superficial attempt to force herself into an upbeat mood, and she knew it. What she really felt like was a phony, like a fake person pretending to have fun in a fake world. She felt like an impostor playing dress up in a movie that she hated.

The last thing she remembered was gazing into her eyes in the mirror. As she looked at her reflection, her perception of reality seemed to be shifting, almost as if she was breaking from the inside out. She looked into her eyes, and questioned what was real, feeling disconnected from her body, and feeling as if she was looking into an entirely different world.

Her deep blue eyes had looked like endless pools, and in the depths of those waters, her mind escaped and plunged into darkness. The next thing she knew, she was lying in what appeared to be the bottom of a dark ocean, yet her body did not feel wet.

She could feel the rough edges of rocky sand beneath her, and could see schools of fish in a variety of colors swimming just above her as well as the gentle sway of the aquatic plants next to her. Her hearing was muffled, as if she had cotton in her ears and her breathing felt short and shallow.

At first she thought this was an interesting experience, finally something new and different in her life. But then something slimy wrapped around her body and she realized that she felt glued to the ocean floor, unable to move.

She began to panic, terror rising, but continued to lie there motionless. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw what appeared to be a giant squid wrapping its tentacles around her. Its large pinkish alien-like body was huge and oddly muscular, yet it moved with a silently eerie grace, as one of its slithering arms crept around her neck and tightened around her.

If she was able to open her mouth and let out a scream, she would have never known because no sound came out. Her body remained unresponsive as she lay there, helpless, while the squid’s grip slowly began to suffocate and strangle her.

Her eyes searched for an escape, as they seemed to be the only part of her body that she could actually move. She felt a cold creeping feeling of fear rising within her, desperate for a way out of this situation, and then caught a glimpse of what she thought was the surface of the water.

She saw a reflection of light at the surface and longed to be back in her familiar apartment, realizing how grateful she was for the life she had so quickly and mysteriously left. Even though she felt a distant memory of helplessness in her everyday life, it was certainly better than where she was right now.

Her eyes began to sting as the squid wrapped another one of its tentacles around her face, inching its way closer to her and eventually that glimmer of light turned black. She could feel the squid’s giant body engulfing her, the weight of it was overwhelming. She did not know how she could withstand this pressure any longer.

Just as Allison began to lose the remains of her consciousness into the dark abyss, she heard a faint thud and then a gradual banging. She somehow regained control of her eyelids and was finally able to pry them open. The overhead light was blinding her again, and her hearing was becoming less muffled. She thought she could hear her friends faintly calling her name from a distance.

Her vision began to clear as she took in the familiar shapes of her apartment. She realized with relief that she could control her limbs again, and she slowly began to wiggle her fingers and toes. She lifted herself to her feet, her legs shaking, with her head and heart still pounding. It was daytime. She had never made it out of her apartment the night before, and her friends had finally come looking for her.

She braced herself against the wall, and slowly placed her hands on her body, making sure it was real. Her insides were shaking, her mind confused. She went to swallow, but her mouth was incredibly dry, her throat hoarse and sore.

She caught a glimpse of her reflection in the mirror and was afraid to make eye contact with herself. As she slowly lifted her gaze, she noticed how pale her skin looked, but then gasped in horror. Her eyes had fallen on the circular mark she was born with on her neck. She gently lifted her hand to softly graze it. Although it was usually only a shade or two darker than her skin tone, it somehow appeared darker now.

The circular birthmark was in the exact same place where the squid’s tentacles had been when she was being strangled.