Candles flicker, and everything just fades to black. You are now stuck, stuck in total darkness, with seemingly no way of escape. No one can hear you, and for a second, you even wonder if it’s all real. You have had countless nightmares and sleepless nights over this. You knew this was coming, yet it all seems so surreal, as if the world is just playing a cruel joke on you for a few moments. The dead can’t come back, can they?

Still, your head tells you to be calm, even while your heart beats faster and faster, maniacally, like a freight train flying off the tracks. You feel a presence in the room with you. You swallow the hard lump in your throat and gather some courage.

“H-Hello…can you help me?” you ask weakly, knowing full well what the answer will already be.

You wait one beat, then two. You start to speak again, but are cut off by wild malevolent laughter.

You scream once more, not quite accepting your fate. All fate does is lie and twist things and contort your life any which way it damn well pleases. You want out; you want your own path. You shouldn’t still be paying for all those stupid, immature things you did so, so long ago. It can’t be too late, can it?

So now you run, faster and faster and faster until you just can’t anymore. You reach a door and pound your fists against the cold, unforgiving metal, struggling to breathe. Footsteps calmly approach and you realize this is it. In a last desperate plea, you say what you never could before.
“I’m sorry,” you whisper gently.

The footsteps stop, and you breathe a sigh of relief. The door unlocks and flings itself open…but right as you go to step out, it slams in your face. No, it wouldn’t be that easy, would it?

So now, you just give up. You accept your long gone future. You slowly turn around to face your fate, all the while cowering in fear. Another ghastly laugh from your visitor. He’s been waiting for this for a long time. Eyes wired shut, you pray to every deity you can think of that this will all just be over with quickly. A thin, bony finger tilts your chin up from your trembling form, clearly relishing in the moment. Impatience and a strange, burdening curiosity move you, and you open your eyes for just a moment to confirm your worst fears. You get met with a scowl that soon changes into an eerie grin once he sees the look of defeat in your eyes. You close your eyes again out of fear, but not before you hear those uncanny yet chilling words: “Hello, darlin’. Miss me?”