Silent Lucidity

His heartbeat is slow and steady but serenity eludes him. Eyelids droop to narrowed slits; he can see, but cannot turn his gaze in any direction. He keeps trying to speak, to move a fingertip, but nothing works. He can rouse no response from those around him, despite his internal screaming and panic.

The medical staff stand nearby in hospital scrubs of washed-out blue-green. He can hear them chatting in casual tones as they prepare.

Although his eyes do not dilate and do not widen, he can see the doctor pick up the scalpel. The first contact of knife's edge brings a burning sensation, turning to intense pain seconds later.

He couldn't even begin to detail the pain in words after the incident. Pain was exploding inside his brain but he couldn't react. Even flinching wasn't possible. He couldn't protect himself at all. He could only lay and watch as they opened his flesh.

Flickering at the corner of his vision, a figure appears. Moving into view with eerie ease, the nightmare man mimes a great inhale. His back to the man on the gurney, he mimes taking in a deep breath, reminiscent of a swimmer long submerged. Smiling, he turns towards the patient, his arms outstretched as if to catch non-existent rays of sunshine.

The grin, it's terrifying. Unmoving, too wide and too sharp. It is here to swallow him, eat him alive. The visiting entity has features toned dead pale, cheekbones shaped too sharply, and flesh too smooth. He smells like freshly turned earth, the perfume of death cloy. The voice, when it speaks in his head, is gravel being crushed, nails on the chalkboard, painful. The horrible, smiling, lipless mouth has not moved from it's toothsome grimace.

"They're not listening to you."

Word Count: 295