It was a cold night, but Vali was used to it. It was a hard day at work, but Vali was used to that too. The wound on his forehead, though, he wasn’t used to that. But he could deal with the pain. At least, the physical part. What the wound signified, what had caused it to happen… He couldn’t deal with that, not anytime soon. He had experienced familiar feelings many times in the past. But he knew it would never get easier no matter how many times he experienced it.

I did it again. He was walking home, thoughts running wild. Every step took a considerable amount of effort; it felt like he was dragging his feet through sludge. No, it wasn’t me this time. If… If I can explain myself to him, he will understand, just as he did before. He must. He took a deep breath and his lungs filled with the cold air of a fall night. Vali shuddered but felt calmer when he saw the foggy air coming out. I will give it time until he calms down. And with that, his steps hastened.

He was getting quite a few stares as he walked, and it wasn't only because there was a bleeding wound on his head. His stature was quite imposing; he was taller and bulkier than anyone on the street. The scowl on his face didn't help his situation. It screamed "piss off" to anyone who would have otherwise tried to approach him to help. He had no energy to deal with people right now, so he counted that as a win. The only thing he wanted was to get home, so he could be over with his day.

At long last, he was in front of his door. He fumbled with the keys while trying to unlock the door; the blood was getting to his eyes. The door opened, and Vali got greeted by his barebone apartment. He could make out the sound of droplets hitting the floor in another room; the roof was leaking. I fixed that two days ago. Damn it. Noting to himself he would fix it, again, another day, he went to the bathroom for damage control.

He scoffed at the reflection in the mirror. Nasty. I hope it doesn’t leave a scar. He investigated the deep gash on his head with his eyes, afraid of touching it. The cold air had lessened the pain somehow, but now that he was indoors the wound burned, demanding attention. Despite this, he had no intention to see a doctor. It wasn't because he didn't see the need for it, no. The reason was quite simple. It was because he didn't have the mental energy left. At the moment, he didn't feel like doing anything. The face of his boss flashed across his mind; even if he didn't want to, he still had work tomorrow morning. Maybe he will let me take a day off? Nah, no way, I could lose all four of my limbs and that asshole still wouldn’t give me a break. His gaze drifted towards the little wooden box right next to the mirror. The tools to lessen his pain were in there, but he hesitated when his sight landed on it. He looked at his medicine cabinet, complicated emotions surging inside. It was years ago, yet to him, it felt like eons had passed since then. He used to have a dream, and the passion to back it up. There were friends and family that backed him up.

Now, though, it felt cold. He couldn’t reminiscent about his past with happy thoughts; they had grown thorns in his mind. Every time he tried to reach for the happy past, in its stead he met a wall of thorns, ready to sting him at the faintest touch. To this day he still wondered why he didn't bring the little box down. It would've eased the burden on his mind, that was for sure.

Somehow feeling even more tired than he was before, he reached for the cabinet and opened it. Fumbling around the empty medicine boxes, he found the things he was looking for. He grabbed the disinfectant and applied it to the cut with pained grunts after wiping the blood. After patching the cut with gauze, a temporary solution, he grabbed the painkiller bottle.

There was only one pill left in it. He frowned at the bottle as if his stare could fill it back up. He would have to grab another one from the pharmacy, but he knew where the closest one to his home was. And who worked there.

He downed the pill, hoping for some respite in the coming hours. He knew he would need it if he wanted to be able to sleep.

After getting rid of his clothes, he went to sit on his bed. His hand brushed against his bare skin, in search of bruises. Touching a few of the spots elicited a yelp from him, but he didn't stop. Some of the spots felt like angry ants were chewing his skin up non-stop. The rest felt numb, but he didn't need to be a prophet to know they would be the most painful tomorrow morning. After finishing his little inspection, he threw his clothes to a corner of the room; it wasn’t the time to be tidy.

Sleep wasn’t going to come as easy as it had before, considering his thoughts that lingered on the past. The events of today flashed through his mind, causing the same anger as back as to bubble in a corner of his mind. But this time it felt distant. The next moment, it turned to regret, and then a cold feeling took over his mind. Fuck what my boss says. I’m taking tomorrow off. He disabled his alarm and relaxed his tense muscles. Everything will be better tomorrow. He tried to assure himself, but a vague feeling inside told him it was a lie. Not wanting to spend his precious sleep time brooding without a thought, he let himself fall back to his bed. It was nigh-time sleep took hold.

Before his back hit the bed, he heard a sharp crack behind him. The sound a mix of a hard rock breaking and buzzing of electricity, it sent a cold shiver down Vali's spine. As a reflex, he flailed his hands to get a feel, causing them to pass through something. The feeling caused his stomach to turn upside down. His hands didn’t come into contact with the bed, even though they were supposed to. With no grip to stop his backward momentum, he kept falling. The soft feeling of the bed he was still hoping for never came. Vali felt as if this was the end of his life, a conclusion he had no power over to change. He felt his back push through a membrane of some sort, causing him to jolt. It felt like diving into cold water, stimulating all his senses. In the second it took for his whole body to go through the membrane completely, a thousand different thoughts went through his mind. They varied from ‘Am I dying from a heart attack?’ to ‘Did the whole house fell into a sinkhole?’. He knew he was making no sense, but the situation didn’t make any too.

When his eyes went past the threshold, his vision went black. The faint smell of mold in the house, the distant sound of cars and civilization, the chilly air in the room, all these sensations were gone. Before he could even start to panic, the view changed and he found himself staring at a blinding white light and the blue skies. That’s when the singular most coherent thought he had all day formed in his head. Is that… the sky? He gasped, causing the cleanest air he had smelled in his life to fill his lungs, with a hint of nature mixed in. Before he could think anything else, a warm breeze brushed across his bare skin, accompanied by the feeling of gravity shifting. He was falling. A few swears danced at the tip of his tongue, the last bizarre feeling he had the luck of experiencing today being a hard object hitting his head.

And he was out cold.