A single die lay on the ground at my feet; six-sided, white, and dotted.\u00a0 It was almost unnoticeable in the bright sun of midday amidst the concrete, yet I did take notice, and stopped to pick it up.\u00a0 Upon first touch, time slowed for just a moment, or so it seemed; quite like a head rush after standing too fast.\u00a0 The die seemed heavier than it should have, or maybe it was the heat wearing on me.\u00a0 Perhaps I was light-headed; the sun did hate me so, and I so hated it in return.\u00a0 Its great heat had drained all of whatever vigor I had once possessed, and I longed to arrive at my destination and be rid of the foul scathing beast.\u00a0 I thought it best to drop the die and be on my way.<\/p>\n
Even before I had raised upright, there was no mistaking the difference in color.\u00a0 Was this the beginning of a migraine?\u00a0 Hues of all variety faintly danced in my vision, mingling with flashes and dots of pure white.\u00a0 I steadied myself and thought it best to get away from the great ball of torture in the sky before I really did faint, and so I looked for shade.\u00a0 I spotted a small alcove in front of a building just to my right, and there I sat on the ground.<\/p>\n
I sat for a time that I do not know.\u00a0 My legs were stretched out before me and my arms were splayed out at my sides, and I was leaning against something solid.\u00a0 And, in my right hand, with palm turned upward and open, I saw the die.\u00a0 I could have sworn I had dropped it.\u00a0 It became apparent to me that I was far too weak to move even my fingers, and so I sat in petrified nothingness unable to take my eyes away from the die.<\/p>\n
Some eternity later, I began to feel emotion in my state of petrification.\u00a0 It began as what I can only describe as calm euphoria.\u00a0 Nothing mattered and everything mattered.\u00a0 Everything was perfect and also imperfect.\u00a0 Everything was light and dark at the same time.\u00a0 This turned into a sort of joy and that joy turned into a sort of pleasure.\u00a0 It was like I had taken all the good drugs in the world at once and I was delightfully overdosing on my own death.<\/p>\n
This would not last.\u00a0 All emotions came and went over my eternity.\u00a0 Pain, sorrow, anticipation, fear, surprise, jealousy, rage, love, pity, shame, and so many others became my reality, all at once and individually.\u00a0 I saw and felt things I had never before.\u00a0 Two lovers high on some unknown drug in passionate bliss.\u00a0 A young boy beaten and raped by his father while strapped to a saw horse.\u00a0 Four passengers in mid crash, their pain and vacuity at the moment of their deaths.\u00a0 A loyal dog\u2019s joy and excitement as its owner returned home after a week away.\u00a0 So many church worshipers singing in unison.\u00a0 An entire crowd of parents and students at a graduation ceremony.\u00a0 A cancer patient\u2019s pain and despair.\u00a0 I felt all of these things and so many others.\u00a0 After a time, I could not distinguish them.\u00a0 The sensory overload was too much to bear.<\/p>\n
A soft voice whispered, \u201cRoll.\u201d<\/p>\n
A distraction from my state.\u00a0 \u201cWhat?\u201d<\/p>\n
Louder it said, \u201cRoll.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cBut I cannot even move.\u00a0 I cannot even see any longer.\u00a0 I can no longer feel my body.\u201d<\/p>\n
The voice became wholly feminine and soothing, and still, it said, \u201cRoll.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI do not know how.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cRoll.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhy?\u201d<\/p>\n
The voice became louder.\u00a0 \u201cRoll.\u201d<\/p>\n
I said nothing.<\/p>\n
The voice turned into a mix of masculinity and femininity and said again, \u201cRoll.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI do not understand.\u201d<\/p>\n
Louder still, \u201cRoll.\u201d<\/p>\n
The sensory overload faded a bit and I became aware of my body once more.\u00a0 Was the die still in my hand?<\/p>\n
\u201cRoll.\u201d<\/p>\n
The die was, in fact, still in my hand.<\/p>\n
The voice became angrier.\u00a0 \u201cRoll.\u201d<\/p>\n
I was becoming aware of my own emotions again.\u00a0 \u201cTo what end?\u201d I asked.<\/p>\n
\u201cRoll.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat if I refuse?\u201d<\/p>\n
Even louder still, the voice boomed, \u201cRoll!\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t think I want to.\u201d<\/p>\n
The voice became demonic in tone and drowned out all sensory overload.\u00a0 There was only the voice.\u00a0 \u201cRoll!\u201d<\/p>\n
I closed my fist around the die.<\/p>\n
\u201cRoll!\u201d<\/p>\n
I refused to respond.<\/p>\n
\u201cRoll!\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n
The presence of the voice suddenly faded away.\u00a0 I felt the sun again.\u00a0 I felt peace.\u00a0 I felt relief.\u00a0 I felt quiet.\u00a0 Though I still could not see.\u00a0 I did not attempt to move again for some time.<\/p>\n
Slowly, the sun became hotter and brighter.\u00a0 And, was it getting closer?\u00a0 I tried to move only to find myself paralyzed once more.\u00a0 The heat gradually became unbearable.\u00a0 I began to hear footsteps.<\/p>\n
Step.<\/p>\n
My emotional void began to fill with fear and I struggled to move, but it was no use.\u00a0 I could hear faint breathing in the distance.\u00a0 More heat.<\/p>\n
Step.<\/p>\n
The heat was too much.\u00a0 I could feel malice and rage in whatever was approaching.\u00a0 The breathing became louder.<\/p>\n
Step.<\/p>\n
I could not move!\u00a0 Fear had overtaken all emotion.\u00a0 I could feel my body straining against the paralysis.\u00a0 I could not move!<\/p>\n
Step.<\/p>\n
It was as if the entire swarm of negative emotion I experienced before had converged on the approaching beast.\u00a0 Still, it approached!<\/p>\n
Step.<\/p>\n
The breathing became raspy and harsh.\u00a0 The beast\u2019s animosity knew no bounds.\u00a0 The beast was close now.\u00a0 So close!\u00a0 I struggled and struggled against my immobility.\u00a0 I began to despair.\u00a0 It comes!<\/p>\n
Step.<\/p>\n
I was burning! \u00a0There was so much pain! \u00a0The beast was at my face then!\u00a0 Its foul breath burning my cheek even more so than the rest of my body.\u00a0 It felt as if my very soul was on fire.\u00a0 I could feel its intent.\u00a0 So much unbridled rage encompassed its entire being and I knew I would never not burn again.\u00a0 I would burn for eternity.\u00a0 And then it spoke with an evil voice in my burning ear.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou should have rolled.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
A single die lay on the ground at my feet; six-sided, white, and dotted.\u00a0 It was almost unnoticeable in the bright sun of midday amidst the concrete, yet I did take notice, and stopped to pick it up.\u00a0 Upon first touch, time slowed for just a moment, or so it seemed; quite like a head […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":true,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"The Die","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-horror"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p7UkFD-b","jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/jasonclement.me\/stories\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/jasonclement.me\/stories\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/jasonclement.me\/stories\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/jasonclement.me\/stories\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/jasonclement.me\/stories\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"http:\/\/jasonclement.me\/stories\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":527,"href":"http:\/\/jasonclement.me\/stories\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11\/revisions\/527"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/jasonclement.me\/stories\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/jasonclement.me\/stories\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/jasonclement.me\/stories\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}