The Road Of Lost Souls.

I'm walking down a road that doesn't have a name or an ending. I keep walking continuously, and the road I am walking doesn't appear to lead anywhere. I am surrounded by mist and trees, and the roads are damp and muddy. All I can hear is whispers of my name in the trees, and I see faces appear and disappear as they cry in the wind.

These faces don't appear to be human faces at all. They appear to be faces created within the fog. They have no body, just white faces, and hollow eyes. They have soft, hollow, dark holes which they whisper from, but they don't have a human mouth.

"Crystal, Crystal, Cryyystal!' They whisper in haunted voices that sound like they are coming from the grave, rather than real life.

The road looks like the road I live on, except this road has no name and no houses. There are no cars or lights, and I haven't met anybody whom I know yet.

The wind blows through my hair, and I can feel the cool, damp rain droplets on my cheeks. I see puddles, and I can hear rainfall.

This is real life, I know I'm not dreaming. I don't remember falling asleep.

The last thing that I remember was telling my dad, "Goodnight," before heading to bed.

I walk past three more trees,

"Crystal, Crystal, Cryyystal!" they greet me in the same familiar, dark, haunting voice I have now come to expect.

I try to understand, but I don't. The trees sway, I can hear the rain, feel the wind and the cold, and I know that this is the muddy street that I live on, but, what happened to life as I know it, or did until now?

I can't ask the haunting voices what has happened. I have already tried, but they do not give me any answers. They just say my name.

I just walk and walk, with no concept of time, and no purpose.

None of those things exist here.

The wind is howling now, and the rain is falling harder. It doesn't bother me though. Nothing bothers me here, fear doesn't exist.

My body feels light like it isn't attached to me, though I know I have one because I can move.

The difference is, I can't feel those movements; hell! I can't feel myself walking either, it feels like floating through space, and my movements are not controlled by me; they are controlled by the elements in the atmosphere of this different reality.

I hear the voices again, but this time they call me all at once. There is a ghost face popping out of every single tree,

"Crystal, Crystal, Cryyystal."

A dark opening opens up in the middle of the thick dense trees which form an archway. I walk into it uncontrollably, but it only leads me into more trees, and everything here looks very much the same. There doesn't seem to be a beginning or an ending.

One last time, the voices shout my name, except this time they end in a cacophony of dark, loud, haunting screams. All of the trees spin around me fast, and I seem to be in a hospital bed in daylight.

I look around me, my eyes wide in fear. There are machines everywhere, and several nurses leaning over me, asking,

"Are you alright?"

I barely hear them. Every voice sounds like the voice of ghosts, and all I can see are ghosts.

I finally breath, and I ask

"Where am I?"

The nurse tells me that I have just woken from a long sleep, and the time is 3:00 A.M.

I realize that I have been asleep for many long years and that I was traveling

The Road Of Lost Souls.

I left the hospital six weeks later, though I still have the same dream every night, in the same way. There are no changes in the dream, and I am not afraid.

I realize that I nearly lost my life at a party after I was careless with drinking and drugs.

I asked my mum about what happened, and she told me that I had been sleeping for almost 12 years.

I learned that this recurring dream was telling me that I had a choice.

I could change my life, or lose it for good.

I looked at her with tears in my eyes.

What would I do without my mum? How would she live without me?

I thought about my dad and my little brother who loved me with all their hearts.

I understood at that moment, that my family needed me.

I needed me.

I started rehab and therapy.

Afterward, I moved forward to a more healthy lifestyle because I realized that life lessons could be learned from what happened to me, and my dream, which still recurs today.

I learned my life and my family could be taken from me in an instant on one fateful night of fun, and it would be my fault.

I chose to live, and I never drank or touched a single drug again.