I was lying down in the big green grass field behind my school one day when a man, maybe pushing his 50s, came up to me and asked me if I wanted something or if I wanted the truth. I sat up, simply puzzled, “The truth behind … what exactly?” I already knew talking to him was a mistake considering he looked shady, with a dirty but chiseled beard, bags under his eyes that looked like that of a teenage girl who had just cried her mascara off, and a slender body in what looked like some sort of uniform, maybe…fast…food?, “Behind this faded world filled with a gruesome … .gray?” he said, his voice almost croaking at his own words. “What the actual fu–” I thought, ya know if I walked away maybe things will go back to normal or be less strange than this. I politely refused and grabbed my bag to scurry away when he gripped my wrist, turned me around, and looked into my eyes with black yet clear liquid pouring from his slipping on his cheeks to then down his throat, “LOoK aT MeE!!” 

I froze, I didn’t know what to do. So….I looked into his eyes and will never forget what I saw…

A broken, black, and gray world. Fire and trash everywhere. It was sad and…..terrifying, I wanted to run but I couldn’t. He wasn’t holding me anymore but I couldn’t move. Then my eyes started to burn and I began crying. Black liquid from one eye red from the other, screaming I look around for that old man who’s now gone, “COME BACK HERE YOU LITTLE–!! WHY’D YOU DO THIS TO ME!!!! Why!!” *Sobs* A mix of black liquid, what I thought was blood, and crystal tears poured from my eyes then rolled down my cheeks, I fell to my knees in agony. I got lightheaded then hit my head on the cold cement ground and passed…out. 

I woke up to nothing but the lovely grass field from before. The sunset kisses my face and I lay down laughing and crying. Glad to be back to what I knew before, I made a sigh of relief. 

To this day I have not seen that man and don’t plan on it. I’m happy to be in a world where the truth is hidden from the public eye, it keeps me sane. I still have nightmares about it though….I tremble in my sleep sometimes. I even whisper “Please stop..Please…”