"Where am I?"
The darkness was surrounding him and leaving no room for escape.
"I'm sorry! I never meant to hurt you! I never..."
A light appeared from the darkness that once embraced him. The light blinded John for several moments, making him blink rapidly. The light faded and surrounded him. It was in the figure of a woman he knew long ago.
"What are you doing here? I thought you died!"
The woman's figure slowly took a more physical shape, the shape of his lost lover.
"Lisa...I'm sorry..."
Lisa put her hand on John's face, and she burst into flames. Her hand left a burn mark on his face, which blistered and turned black. The light was gone, and John was now alone again. He grasped for anything to guide him, but he was suddenly being choked by a heavy smoke. His eyes watered and he started to sweat intensely. His eyes bulged outwards, and his feet could no longer support him. John lied there, helpless against the sudden inferno that was closing in on him. Through the blisters and suffocating heat, he crawled away from the flames, only to have a large burning support beam fall on him. It was too heavy to move, and the heat became overpowering. The structure crumbled, as John fell five stories down into the apartment lobby.
John could only produce a small whimper, "Please...forgive me, I wish I had been there to save you...."
He was suddenly in another world, where the clouds didn't move on their own, and ponies talked. At the moment he arrived in the world, John was starstruck by a majestic white figure with horns and beautiful white wings. She reminded him of Lisa, and her heartwarming smile that struck him into a wide smile. John made his way through the crowd of animals, and reached forward to touch the figure. The crowd gasped, and the guards pinned John down with brute force.
The white pony had motioned for the guards to let him go. The crowd uttered things like, "What is that?", or "Such an ugly creature shouldn't be near the Princess...".
The white pony now looked into John's eyes, and saw his sorrows. She had now raised her head to speak, and with a calm voice, she said, "You needn't be afraid, we ponies have had things like you appear. You seem different from them, you have no evil within your eyes. You seem sad, may we take you in to help you?"
John was shocked at her voice, but he responded with a "No." The pony smiled, indicating that she understood, and sent him back home.
John was back in his apartment, only it wasn't in an inferno anymore. He headed outside to clear his head. That was some weird dream, it even involved her. Why does she torture me with these dreams of an inferno? Is it a reminder of last year's fire? I wanted to visit family, and I left her alone, I'm such an idiot.
Last year, John had spent the New Years with his family, leaving his lover, Lisa alone. He had called her at midnight, to wish her a happy New Year, but there was no response. John had sped through three intersections and construction zones to get to their apartment.
He had smelled smoke when he got there, but nevertheless ran inside. He took the five flights on foot to their room. All the doors were opened, except for her's. John tried to unlock the door, but the key wouldn't fit right. He broke open the door with a powerful kick, and saw her lying on the floor. Lisa had a knife sticking out from her back, but she was still alive. "Lisa! We have to get you to a hospital!" There was no response. John picked her up over his shoulder, and carried her out into the hallway.
The smoke from earlier burned John's lungs, to the point that he couldn't carry her anymore. He had collapsed on the floor, and he clutched her hand. She had no pulse, she was gone. John neither wanted or could move from the flames that beckoned him into eternity. A crash of glass from the other side of the hall way brought John to his senses. A firefighter had come to get John out. John struggled to tell the man that Lisa was a priority, and to take her out first. The firefighter looked into John's eyes and saw the desperation, so he took Lisa out first. John smiled, he was helping his lover out one last time. The flames won't touch you, as long as I'm here. See you on the other side...Lisa.
The floor underneath him collapsed, as he fell into the inferno. His body was burning up, but he did not feel a thing. All he felt was the warm embrace of Lisa's arms. John heard an echo from the flames, "It is not your time, my love..." He knew now that he mustn't die here. He ran towards the nearest window, and leaped out into the street. John fell on a trampoline, and he was safe.
John headed over to the ambulance. He saw the EMT try to revive Lisa, but nothing happened. He tried for five agonizing minutes, but there was nothing that he could do. The EMT and the firefighter from earlier gave John the news. "I'm sorry for your loss, your friend is gone..." The words sunk in, and John cursed at the sky. He cursed out the heavens, sun, the moon, himself, but in all of his agony, he never blamed her. Tears welled from his eyes, as he took a sigh and he laid down for awhile, as voices echoed in his head...
"John! Are you alright?"
"Does it look like he's okay to you? He's sweating all over the place, and shivering like a madman!"
John woke up, and looked at the two women staying with him.
"What was that all about?"
John looked away from them and said, "I don't want to talk about it..."
The two women sighed, and spoke to him, "It's about time that we tell you our names, since we heard you in your sleep."
The blue-haired woman said her name was DJ Pon-3, "Or you can call me Vinyl Scratch, whatever suits you."
The other woman said her name was Octavia.
John only sighed, and asked for them to go back to bed, since it was midnight.
"Alright, but please, you don't have to hide things alright? You can rely on us to help you with whatever you need. Goodnight John..."
John bid them goodnight, and laid back down on the couch. He didn't sleep for the rest of the night, thinking about the fire one year ago...