Dark

Dark. Or? No; dim. Yes, dim. And voices buzzing, overflowing the room. I can't decide if I actually want to be here or not; the fake trees and beer-stained couches are a real put off, but that buzzing...

From it I hear a singular voice rise, distinctly low, calm, joy tucked behind every syllable. I'll stay. Growing din, that voice cutting through it. I look at that tree, the couch, gum on the floor, then meet your eyes. Your eyes! But then -

My eyes have a hard time adjusting; not a cloud in the sky and it must be close to noon. One eye closed, the other peeking through my fingers, I don't understand why I'm seeing green and blue. I take a step, just out of curiosity, and my foot gets snagged. Where did all these flowers come from?

A bumblebee bumps into the hand that isn't shielding my eyes. Poor thing. I can hear birds singing far away, wind moving through the tall plants, and I think...is that? No, why would a wolf be howling right now? It's too early in the day for that. I don't know what else it could be, though. I decide not to dwell on it too much, since I have more pressing matters at hand.

I get adjusted to all this light and look around: waist-high flowers all around me, pinks, purples, yellows; I have no idea what they're all called. They look like lavender, or hyacinths, or something like that. They're swaying with the wind, brushing up against both my hands now. A row of trees off quite far in front of me, must be where all those birds are. And the wolf? No, forget the wolf. I turn around and see nothing but flowers for what looks like miles. That dumb little bee is back and bumping into my forearm now; I'm really not sure why it can't find one single flower here to rest on.

But then: low, calm, joy tucked behind prosody. How did you get here? I spin around and squint, confused at this addition in the field. I listen closely to what you're saying, my face squinched up in concentration and confusion now. It all sounds like gibberish coming out of your mouth, but finally I make out a few words:

"...not feel that? It's liter- ... -ting your arm.....and over again. Hello? Hell...?"

I take a few more steps toward you to try to make some sense of these noises.

"What, now?" I ask.

"That bee!" you yell at me. "It's bumbling around your arm, I'm worried it's going to hurt you."

You're worried about me getting stung by a bee? Odd.

"It won't hurt me," I say, assuredly. "It's just lost."

You don't dignify my claim with any remark, simply staring back at my face with your brows furrowed. We stand there like this for what feels like hours, but when I look up some time later the sun has barely moved in the sky. A hawk soars overhead and screeches, startling us back into the moment.

"What are we doing here?" you ask, much calmer than our little exchange earlier. "I'm supposed to be going on stage in, well, I guess I don't know how long anymore, but soon."

My gaze wanders a little, in some kind of attempt to gather information to give you an answer. "I'm not really sure why we're here," I say eventually. "Smells better than that club though, no?"

I get a small chuckle for that. The hawk circles back over us, silently this time, casting a shadow in the distance. The bumblebee bounces against my face now, causing both of us to widen our eyes in fear and then burst out laughing when it finally flies away, leaving me in safety.

“I think there’s a wolf over in those trees,” I say, gesturing towards the horizon. “Should we go check it out?” I glance over my left shoulder toward him, eyebrows raised in expectancy. He looks over at me, then at the trees, then back towards me, and reaches out his right hand. I raise my arm and stretch it toward him, nervous for the touch. His fingers gently graze mine, and then -

Dim. Suddenly, I can’t see anything again, and I can’t make out the sound of my own thoughts through the buzzing. Your voice cuts through the room, sounding farther and farther by the second, until eventually the buzz drowns it out completely.