Hidden

Darkness swirled violently around me. I was standing in the middle of a midnight desert, the sky stretching endlessly above me, pitch black with a full moon hanging heavily above. All around me, picturesque sand dunes expanded, seemingly forever, a milky white in the moonlight.

It was so beautiful.

I didn't belong.

What was I doing out there? I was supposed to be on the kind couple's couch, fighting a losing battle against death. Or life, sometimes; I could never decide.

Then I noticed something.

I breathed with a practiced ease. There was no pain. And that shocked me.

I reached up, running my hand over my angular face. There were no cuts, no bruises tender to the touch.

My hand trembled. Fear was starting to leak into me.

What had happened? I hadn't died, had I?

I hadn't been put here as some sort of compromise, had I?

It was so stunning that I didn't mind.

If it were a dream, I decided, I'd rather it than my life, what I have to deal with everyday.