Death stalks the night. (Open)

Smoke fills my nose. Salty heat. liquid chill. Eyes open. Gasping for breath. water rushes in my lungs. choking. Sputtering, Shaking violently. Dancing with tightness around my neck. dancing like puppet. Players pulling stings. unwraveling tapestry. eyes refusing to open. sealed shut with the force of a thousand feathers. tired, so tired. Mother's mercy. not today. Please stranger tomorrow. let it be tomorrow. Drip drip drip. forhead wet and warm. iron in my mouth. peck peck. eyelids tearing, oh the pain. Walton Dulver, grabbing at his entrails, trying to pull them back into his body. Short tom tinker swung across from him, still dancing a merry jig while the world burned behind him. suddenly the heat at my back grows more intense. White. HOT. I'm falling. I stop but do not hit the ground. I don't understand Then I SEE. daggers surround me. envelop me. hold me like a sweet lovers caress. then pressure, pleasure. then nothing