Mr. Misty-Eyed | Josh Dun

dream sequence | seventeen

Tears stung my eyes as I continued toward the hole in the ice. My feet slipped as I came to a sliding halt. I shook my head in disbelief and yelled out hysterically as I crashed to the ground, my hands running over the rough icy surface where the hole had been only seconds before.

My mind was racing as I looked around the area for anything I could use to break the ice, knowing just my hands would do nothing. Mounds of built up ice stood out against the lakes flat surface and I moved toward the closest mound I could find.

Tiny pieces of ice broke and shattered like glass as my booted heel came down against it. Everything felt heavy as I continued the same motion over and over again. My mind was telling me it was too late, that the black water had already consumed the stranger and that I had no real chance in saving them. But my heart ached for me to keep going, to find some shred of hope in a situation that seemed pointless.

The built up ice cracked and split, a few large chunks sliding across the frozen lake and I chased after the thickest piece. My fingers were already numb, turning more purple by the second as I picked up the shard of ice.

I found myself knelt back in front of where the hole had closed up moments before. I raised the piece of ice above my head, that was clutched in both hands, before I let it drop down and smash against the ice in front of me. Again and again I hit the ice, but nothing seemed to break its thick exterior.

My chest heaved as the freezing air that moved in and out of my body made my lungs burn. My arms strained and shook as I tried yet again to break the ice. I didn't know what else I could do and I let out a silent cry as my head won over my heart. It was pointless.

I looked up then, my body going rigid as I squinted through the harsh white bouncing off the ice and snow that surrounded me. A few feet away hovered my shadow, the mass like a black beacon calling me toward it.

My head tilted slightly as I took only a second to observe his movements. He stood hunched over as though looking down through the ice at something. It was then that my heart leapt into my throat and I shakily got to my feet. My legs carried me as quickly as they could toward my shadow and everything inside me told me not to go any further in fear of what I would find.

"Get away!" I yelled loudly.

I skidded against the ice and stopped just as I made it to where my shadow stood. Just as I had feared there under the ice I could see the fading shadow of the stranger as they clawed at the ice. I choked back tears as I remembered the feeling of not knowing how to escape that same fate.

My nails dug into the ice, my fingertips a dark blue as numbness took over my entire body. Resting back against my knees, I whipped around toward where my shadow stood looking over my shoulder at the scene.

"Why are you doing this?!" My voice cracked as I shouted at him.

He said nothing in return as though he hadn't understood what I had said. I turned back around and began to pounded my fists against the ice, the skin on my knuckles breaking on and bleeding.

"I'm sorry!" I yelled down at the stranger, whose shadow was fading as though they were sinking further and further below the surface. "I'm so sorry!"

My eyes squeezed shut as I made one last attempt to break the ice. A sharp breath left my lips as the sound of the ice underneath me cracked and broke apart, sending me down into the depths of the lake along with the person I never had a chance to save.

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