Chapter 2 - Waking Up in the Cemetery

As I opened my eyes, I immediately noticed how bright the surroundings were, totally blinding me as I tried to protect my eyes from the light.

“W-what is this?” I muttered, still trying to block my eyes. I blinked, trying to adjust to the light.

After a few seconds, I could open my eyes more clearly. “This is…” I froze at the sight, seeing countless gravestones scattered around. “Am I still dreaming?” I rubbed my eyes in disbelief, but it didn’t do a single thing.

“What’s this!?” I shouted in surprise. “Why are there no colors!?”

I tried rubbing my eyes multiple times, hoping it would change something, but it only failed. I can’t still see anything other than black and white color, there are no other visible colors other than that.

No no no no no no no! This can’t be happening… I’m dreaming…That’s right, I am dreaming right now!

Even when I tried blinking multiple times, nothing changed, the monochrome-colored vision stayed the same.

I violently rubbed my eyes once again, but it was all for nothing. “I can’t believe this is supposed to be my eyesight now.” I muttered.

I tried pointing to my eye. “Should I poke it?” I said, asking myself an extreme question. With my unstable finger, I pointed at my right eye slowly as it approached.

Should I? Should I? Should I? I repeatedly asked myself, only to back out at the last moment, realizing it was a dumb idea. “Why would I even think of that… Hah…” I sighed deeply, trying to collect my thoughts.

Still… How and why did this happen? I can’t remember anything…

How did I end up in the cemetery? And why I can’t see any colors now?

This shouldn’t be possible right? There is no way… Right…?

I turned my head above, looking at the sky. As expected it was bright even in the black and white vision, but other than that, everything below the sky seemed lifeless.

Am I color-blind now?

But why? I don’t have any conditions like that… I knew I was perfectly fine… But the fact that I was sleeping in here, waking up in here, and realizing I can’t see any colors, might be the proof that I was dreaming all along… I tried to convince myself.

“If something doesn’t make sense, then it’s a dream.” I muttered, convinced that it was the case.

But then… Being aware that I was in a dream, is something I also think wasn’t natural… Because why in the world I am aware that I’m in the dream right now, I never had that one before!!!

I placed a hand on my chin, pondering about it, “Then it must be my first time being aware of a dream.”

“But even so, the fact that I was aware, means there’s something wrong about all of this.“ I nodded, ”I guess this is going to be a long kind of dream then…“

Trying not to think about it anymore, I looked around, not seeing anything other than grass and the sea of graves.

“This is not normal.” I was convinced that there was something wrong, not only because I am now color-blind, but also because this was my first time in the cemetery. And what’s worse, I was sleeping in here without my knowledge.

“I was really sleeping in here?” I whispered, noticing I was sleeping on the ground with nothing on it. “In a cemetery, really?”

No matter how I look at it, sleeping in the cemetery is something a normal person wouldn’t do.

It’s not like I was homeless or something, there shouldn’t be any reason for me to sleep in here.

This is creepy as hell! As I was preoccupied with my thoughts, I noticed something odd about the ground. Why is the grass scattered around?

But not only that, the ground looked like it was freshly dug.

And why I was sleeping on such dirty ground? What’s wrong with me!

I stood up to have a clearer look at the area, only to realize that it was more than that. “…” I frowned at the sight of the ground.

“Is that… A coffin?” I took a step back as I saw a glimpse of the coffin beneath the ground. There was a small gap in the ground that made me able to see at the bottom. “Wait what?”

As I was staring at it, a scary thought came into my mind. “Did I dig it out?” I whispered. “No that can’t be!” I shook my head in disapproval. “I have no reason to dig someone’s coffin!”

Well, it doesn’t change the fact that I was sleeping on the ground above it, and it also looked like I was the one who dug it.

Even with my color blindness, I could tell this part of the ground was different. It was the only one without grass, and the scattered grasses around it made it clear that someone must have dug it up.

“Obviously it’s not me.” I crossed my arms, fully convinced it must be someone else. I looked around once more, “With no shovels in sight, I’m sure I was not the one who did this” I convinced myself once again.

I should cover this up properly.

I stomped on the loose ground and flattened it out enough for it to look a bit more civilized compared to earlier, when it looked like some stray animals had dug it up.

“It should be fine now.” I muttered as I took a deep breath. “Now what… I still can’t see any colors…” I said as I looked around the cemetery once again.

“Hmmm…?” I noticed something getting closer from afar, but something was noticeable in it. “Red?” I muttered as the red figure slowly approached.

“What is that?” I squinted my eyes to look at it more clearly, still couldn’t see what is the thing that was approaching.

Slowly, the figure became more clear, and the red color became more noticeable. “Is… that a fire?”

Wait wait wait!!! A fire!?

Immediately I ran way to one of the large gravestones, enough for me to be able to hide. It was an instinct, because seeing a fire in the middle of the cemetery is not normal.

The fire slowly approaches, making a sound as it moves closer, a sound that’s like someone is walking. I don’t know the reason for that, but it did sound like someone was walking and slowly approaching me.

It didn’t see me right? The fire has no eyes right? Why in the world there’s a floating fire approaching me in here!?

As I was freaking out, the ball of fire finally arrived closer to where I was hiding at.

It’s really a fire… A red fire… And it’s not just a fire, it’s floating in the air!

Despite being scared, the sight of the fire was somewhat calming. Seeing a color in this colorless world was a sight to see. But then, that doesn’t change the fact that a floating fire is terrifying.

“Cemetery really does have this kind of calm feeling.” a voice suddenly appeared.

Huh? Startled I looked around to find where the sound came from. But there is no other person in sight, only the floating red fire.

Did it come from the fire? Hahaha… That can’t be—

“I’m here.” the fire said, facing the gravestone where I was earlier.

WAIT WHAT!? THE FIRE IS TALKING!? HUH!!!???

No no no no no no no…

This is a dream…

This is a dream…

There’s no way that this is real.

As I shook my head, the fire continued talking in front of the gravestone.

“Is this from his family?” it muttered, grabbing a piece of the flower bouquet.

The flower is also floating… How is that even possible…

Not only did there was a talking floating red fire, but the flower also floated for no reason at all. How!?

“What’s this?” the fire said.

Hm??? I continued peeking from the gravestone I was hiding from, not missing a thing.

“No.” it said, then it looked like it was shaking. “That can’t be.”

What is the fire talking about?

“I hope it was n-nothing…” it added.

I frowned as I continued peeking at the fire, not understanding what it was talking about.

“I wonder where you are now.” it whispered. “Haaah…” the fire sighed.

I can’t believe even the fire can sigh…

I’m sure by now, this is not a normal fire at all… And if this is a dream, then I’m not going to waste my chance to try and talk to it!

I stood up and slowly approached the fire. “Hello?” I greeted.

“Huh…?” the fire whispered in a low voice, but I wasn’t able to hear it.

“Hello, can you hear me?” I continued, wondering why it wasn’t answering me.