Deathwish 002: Sage


“the utter destruction and death of everything I have ever known”

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8/1 Dream

I am at some sort of large gathering, a party, full of cocktails and inane chit-chat. Everyone I know is there. Red pulsing lights start going off, startling everyone, some kind of alarm. Two friends, small children, hold each hand, and we start running down a long ramp that is the only way out of the building. We pass an empty and silent street with a tricycle sitting on the sidewalk. No one else is around and the sense of urgency to get indoors and safe is palpable. We run through a library to a basement fallout shelter. Somehow I have lost the children, but there are guards now herding me past wire fences, pointing guns at my face. Downward, underground, into the dark I move. And there are bunkers, long covered trenches in the ground, enough space for one person each, sitting cold, like tombs. I jump into a hole and a wooden folding basement-type door closes over me.

Above me in the dim light I make out spiderwebs and the eggs of spiders. I reach out to crush the eggs but I stop myself.

We might be the only life left.

The webs become much clearer.

The explosion I have been expecting erupts and I remember to shut my eyes. I see flashes and green afterimages. I am terrified and realize this is a dream and try to wake myself up. Then I realize this is NOT a dream. An unshakeable feeling of reality sets in. I am not dreaming. I am awake and have just experienced the utter destruction and death of everything I have ever known.

Then I wake.

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Sage is from New Jersey, and currently lives in Portland, OR.

Matty Byloos

Matty Byloos is Co-Publisher and a Contributing Editor for NAILED. He was born 7 days after his older twin brother, Kevin Byloos. He is the author of 2 books, including the novel in stories, ROPE ('14 SDP), and the collection of short stories, Don't Smell the Floss ('09 Write Bloody Books).

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