Epiphany

I am burning with fever. My body hurts in ways I've never imagined; I can bearly move outside for the pain inside my joints. My world has shrunk to my family's tiny apartment. I am lying in my bed, in neverending agony. I close my eyes, and behind my eyelids a vision unfolds.

I am walking up the stairs to the apartment above ours. I can feel the sun on my skin, and the rough wood beneath my bare feet. I look through their kitchen window, and it is uncharacteristically dark inside. It seems odd, but I can't stop myself from walking forward. I turn onto their porch, and the doors are flung wide. I step inside, and in that brief moment I see the rooms. They are shrouded in shadows. Everything is there, all the furniture and appliances, but they are still and dark and silent. There is a snow globe on the table in the living room; I can see the snow falling in it, but not what's inside it. Other than that, all the traces of personality are gone.

I turn to look at my hosts, for there are hosts: a woman and a man stand in the apartment. The woman is the most beautiful woman I have ever seen. She is short, shorter even than I am, and I am only 11. She is wearing some sort of antiquated dress with lace and ribbons, and she has the most beautiful golden curls that fall down her back. She smiles, and opens her arms to me, and says "We've been waiting for you." I go to her and embrace her; I can feel her arms as she hugs me, and the smoothness of her curls on my fingers. She feels good, like home and love and belonging. I step back, and look at the man that stands behind her. He has no eyes, but if he had them, we would have been locking gazes. He is very tall, and dark; in fact, his form is made entirely of dark things, shadows and death. But he protects her, and they belong together, and I can see all that in an instant. I have no battle with him; we nod to each other, and they both step back.

Ahead of me is the short hallway that is in the apartment. There are 3 doors, 1 directly in front of me and 1 to either side. In the real apartment, these doors lead to a bathroom and 2 bedrooms. I know in this shadow place that is not the case. I also know, without being told, that I am meant to choose one of these doors. When I look to the left door I feel heavy malevolence; behind that door lies Death. When I look at the right door I feel something utterly mundane; an even and uneventful existence. Neither of these particularly appeal to me, although they would both me easy enough choices. The center door though...the center door is almost indescribable in its appeal. It feels like happiness, and other things, all together...it feels like wonder and magic and amazement. As soon as I know this, I am being pushed towards it, and light begins to glow around the door's seams. The light grows and grows until the door is pushed open, and I fall into it. Everything is white light...

I open my eyes, and my body still hurts and the fever is pounding its way through my body.