Poveglia

Darkness surrounded me, not a single beacon of light greeted me. The air seemed heavy with smoke, choking me as I searched for a light, for an escape from the blackness. I could feel the fear spreading through my limbs, through my blood, weighing me down. I can't move, can't breathe... can't think.

                I just want to leave this darkness behind, this fear, the impending feeling of doom. I can't see anything, not the hand in front of my face, not the beasts that hid in the darkness. I feel like I'm drowning, the fear pulling me under, weighing down on me.

The pressure only seems to increase as a faint, white light graces the distance. I watch, first with wonder, then horror as the bird-like mask of the plague doctors came into focus. The eyes of the mask glowed red, smoke curling from them. My lungs feel filled with it, I gasp for air, trying to force it into my lungs.

                But nothing happens.

My head feels faint, the mask wavers before my eyes and all I can think of is how the white mask is turning black, glinting from some unseen light source. The black feathers of the crow ruffle in the non-existent wind, blood tipping the beak and dripping into the darkness.

Scarlet rain.

Black, beady eyes stare at me, the smoke now curling from the corners of the beak. I want to turn away, to run away and hide. But I can't move, can't breathe, I'm frozen, eyes glued on the mask. The beak opens, the shrill caw of the crow splitting the silence of the darkness. Flames pour out from the beak, the heat baking my skin, making it even harder to breathe.

Thunder rumbled in the distance, the crow, startled flew off into the distance where a fork of lightning lit up the sky. An island appeared on the horizon, smoke pouring from it, flames licking at the blackness  as more lightning rips through the sky.

I stared in shock as I recognized the island.... Poveglia... the place those thought to have the Black Death went to die.

Air suddenly filled my lungs long enough for an ear-splitting scream to wrench itself from my lips.