My eyes, which I was desperately trying to open, instinctively shut again because of the paper.
"What the?" I muttered as I hastily grabbed the paper that slapped against my face and flung it aside.
I didn't understand why the paper had appeared, or why the wind had suddenly started, but I wasn't in a state to think about it either. I just needed to descend quietly to the ground.
I lifted my head again, trying to look ahead but at that moment, another paper smacked me right in the face.
"Where the fuck are these coming froooom?" I shouted, taking the paper off my face, only to freeze at the scene before me.
The sound I had heard... The cause of it stood right there, in front of my eyes. And those first two pieces of paper? Just the beginning.
Thousands.No, tens of thousands of papers were flying toward me with the wind.
It made me panic a little. There was no tall building around to protect me, and I was still floating about 70 meters above the ground. I gave up the idea of descending calmly. Now, I was determined to get down fast, before I smashed into something midair.
As I tried to descend, papers started slapping against my face non-stop. At first, I tried to ignore them, just grabbing whatever covered my eyes but their numbers kept growing, and they began to interfere with my movement.
Papers stuck to not just my face but also every part of me. The worst part? They clung to my joints. Every move became harder and stiffer.
I had around 30 meters left to the ground. With all this wind and the damn papers, getting down was becoming harder by the second. My entire body was covered now. I couldn't even see. From the front, I probably looked like some paper-wrapped mummy. Problem was that I couldn't see shit.
Still, I kept moving, hoping I'd pass behind a building or something so I could rip these things off me.
At that point, I wanted to reach the ground fast, but the papers were adding weight. I couldn't control my speed anymore, I was plummeting. I felt that I was getting close to the ground. I realized I was nearing the moment I'd wake up.
That's when it hit me. I couldn't fly anymore. My ability to fly was gone. I wasn't gliding. I was falling, pulled by gravity, pushed by the wind. I could hit the ground any second.
I started thinking on how the fuck was I gonna survive this? From this height, it was impossible. Only thing left was luck.
And as that thought crossed my mind, everything went black. I don't remember what happened after. Did I hit the ground? Did I wake up? No clue. Last thing I recall was being about 7 meters from the ground, clinging to luck like it was my last hope.
No idea how much time passed.
Suddenly, I woke up.
My eyes opened but I couldn't see anything. But it wasn't darkness. It was like... something was covering me.
I figured I'd woken up from the dream, and whatever was on me was probably a blanket. I don't know why I would even cover my head but whatever.
"Agh, fuck! Why does that hurt?!" I yelled.
As I tried to lift my right arm, a sharp pain went through it. I didn't know why but it felt like it had been badly injured.. The pain was intense.
I lifted my left arm. It hurt too, but it was tolerable. At least I could move it. When I tried to pull the blanket off my face with it, I realized it wasn't a blanket at all. My face was covered in paper. A lot of them.
Struggling, I brought my hand to my face and started tearing the papers off. There were a lot. I must've grabbed ten at once, and even then, a few were still stuck to me.
I could see a faint light now. Not sure what kind of light it was, could've been sunlight. Maybe I was back in my room. But no, it felt like it came from a single point, like a lamp.
"I hope I didn't sleep the whole day again," I thought.
Just as I thought that, I realized I didn't even have the strength to move my hand anymore. I tried to take a deep breath to blow off the last 2–3 papers stuck to my face but pain shot through my chest. Like something was wrong with my lungs.
I slowly exhaled and brought my left hand back up to my face. As I peeled off the remaining papers, I couldn't believe what I saw.
I wasn't home.
I was still in the middle of the goddamn city, right where I had been in the dream.
Because I was awake now, my whole body had started to ache. I tried lifting my head but I couldn't. A heavy, stabbing pain hit my neck.
My left arm was still in the air, so I looked at it. Covered in scratches. Some parts had skin peeled off. I'd fallen off a bike before so the sight wasn't unfamiliar but it wasn't something to celebrate either.
When I turned my arm slightly, I saw that it wasn't just one side. The whole thing had been scraped. Some areas were not only bleeding, but also filthy. In a few spots, tiny chunks of flesh had either torn off or were hanging loose from my arm.
I still wasn't fully conscious so I hadn't even reacted. Half-asleep, I just observed silently. Until I turned my head slowly to the right.
And what I saw there made my blood run cold.
My right arm wasn't just injured.
It was shredded to pieces.