by: tenshi_serenity
It has always been like this.
She lives and breathes routine like her second skin. Maine survives every day clinging to her dose of reality; a thread of sanity she has always been familiar with. Days come by quickly, a repetitive task she is well aware of. Mornings remind her of a cycle she goes over and over to endure another day of asking herself things she shouldn't think of.
Over and over.
Everyone passing by seems like a blur to her. She looks at them, smiles and nods like she's supposed to but it seems like she's always in a trance. That everything she hears pass by her like yesterday's memory. Over and over, she watches them like a movie in her mind.
.....then night comes.
Maine dreads the night; the uncertainty it brings, the darkness and the void it leaves her every time she closes her eyes. She holds on to the hope a new day brings as she grips the necklace that's been with her for quite some time. Maine holds on to a reality she's most familiar with, every time she closes her eyes.
It has always been the same dream.
She, running along a dark corridor; panting and frightened of someone or something who isn't there. The dread in her chest just keeps on building every step she takes as she runs into the unforeseeable unknown. Not until she crashes into a wall and wakes up, sweating. Yes, it has always been this way; over and over, she wishes for the moment she could open her eyes. And every time she does, she utters the same name: Richard.
"Maine...."
She turns around that night, her steps getting heavier as she prepares for bed.
"Maine...."
She ignores the voice and continues on.
"Maine..." there it goes again. She clutches her necklace and sits on her bed. She looks at the darkness enveloping her as her heart beats erratically at the shadows dancing all around her Okay, Maine...you're being to unreasonable right now. Nothing is there....everything is just a figment of your imagination. She closes her eyes and wait for the dreams to come.
She opens her eyes and sees that she is at the same corridor as always, darkness looming over her like those nights before. Maine stands up and prepares to run like what she does every night but stops. Something's different she muses. She walks toward the same hallway that haunts her dreams. Something's entirely different.
"Maine..."
She reaches out at the end of the hallway, a definitive stop to the dreams she's been having every night. She reaches out to the same wall she crashes into and wishes to escape this alternate reality she resides in every night. Maine shuts her eyes in hopes of waking up once more in her room, her safe haven. She opens her eyes expecting everything to disappear but is startled upon seeing that she's still trapped in this place, she badly wants to escape from.
"Maine...." She hears his voice once more.
"Who are you?" she backs up against the wall, looking at the darkness making her heart stop and frantically beat at the same time. Maine stares at the great unknown and a name crosses her mind: Richard.
Richard.
Richard.
Richard.
"Who are you????" she screams as her voice echoes throughout the darkness. "Why are you doing this to me? Leave me alone!" tears escape from her eyes, which startles her.
Richard.
"LEAVE ME ALONE!" Take me back to my safe heaven. Take me back to a place where everything is certain. Maine backs up closer against the wall as she blindly feels the concrete. With trembling hands, she turns over the door knob, badly wanting to escape this nightmare. She steps within falling into a void; screams shattering the pieces of sanity she has left.
Richard.
Richard.
Richard.
"Richard....." someone calls over him and he turns around seeing Flora looking at him, hopeful. "Is she alright?" she walks over as she hears Maine's screams from across the room.
He sighs and looks at Flora, eyes filled with sadness. He looks over at Maine "Maybe tomorrow..." he says as he leaves Maine strapped down in a trance of her own doing.
Maybe tomorrow.
T H E E N D
