Redlayn

“Is it really okay for us to be here?” I ask, my voice trembling as we pass a ‘Private property! Keep out!’ sign. She just glances at me over her shoulder and keeps moving on, slowly, yet with no hesitation in her step. “What, are you scared of a sign? Don’t worry – no one comes here, there are no guards nor cameras either.” She exhales. “Were you always such a coward?”

I furrow my brows and look down, burnt by her words. “I guess so.” I murmur under my breath. I start walking towards her to shorten the increased distance that she put between us and sigh. “Why are we trespassing on private property a few minutes after you magically come into town after so many years?” I ask, glaring at her from behind. She just chuckles, not even thinking about turning around to look at me. “There’s something I want you to see here. Trust me, you won’t regret it.” “You sure about that?” I scoff at her. She pays me no mind and keeps walking on. Guess there’s no helping it. I got myself into this mess, so might as well follow through with it. The silence between us feels suffocating. Why did I even agree to this? “It’s been a long time. You got nothing to say to me after all that you’ve done?” I hiss at her, much more aggressively than I had intended. This time, I grab her attention and she looks at me, yet I regret seeing her face at that moment. Her expression was full of pain and sorrow. I’ve not seen her like that ever before, and I am glad I didn’t. I raise my hand to catch hers, yet she moves away and looks the other way again. “Nothing in particular, I suppose. Nothing yet.” After a short pause, she interrupted the silence. “We’ll be there soon. Hang on a little longer, okay?” A 'Mhm' as all I could reply with. I was still shocked from what I had seen earlier, and it unsettled me. Soon enough, after more silent walking through a dense forest, we arrived. Where? Somewhere beautiful and surreal. “Woah.” I gasped in surprise. We were, quite literally, at the edge of the world. She stood on the edge of a cliff, embraced by a galaxy. Looking down from the cliff, below us was a pitch black abyss that a little bit higher seeped into a dark blue that further joined with mainly a light blue and a dark-ish purple color. Over this canvas, shiny dots were scattered everywhere, forming a dazzling sight. “Welcome to the edge of reality.” She remarked, tearing me apart from the fact I ignored her and just gawked at what was in front of us. “I told you you wouldn’t regret it.” She chuckled. “You were right. Absolutely right.” I nodded. “Now then, back to business. I know that my visit was sudden, but I have something I need to do.” As she said that, she grabbed me, pulled her lips to mine, and pushed us off the cliff. I had no idea what to do, yet her warmth was so comforting I closed my eyes, embraced her, melting from the feeling of her lips as we fell. When I opened my eyes, she was gone. I was sprawled on the cold, hard ground. I sat up, and then I realized where I was. In front of me, a grave – and on that grave, a familiar name was etched into the dark stone, reminding me that all that happened was just a fantasy – my escape – from reality.

Made with love by Red.