He couldn’t stop hearing everything when his eyes were closed. The howling winds, scraping nails on walls, and ghostly words whispered, “I know where you are,” haunted him. His right eyelid nervously lifted to unveil these hidden sounds. Except, only light crept in, blinding him momentarily enough to cause him to squint his eyes again.

He attempted to open his eye again, this time allowing the other to join in on the fun. But, the sounds had stopped. It was bright outside and two birds could be seen flirting with each other in the blue and cloudless sky in front of him. Beneath it was a field of golden wheat fields that spread as far as his eyes could see. As he turned his head around, only fields could be seen with a small windmill in the distance. He closed his eyes again and the howling of the winds returned. The scrapping of nails against a wall caused him to shiver as the eerie voice returned and whispered, “I see you.” It almost sounded as if someone was talking while inhaling, rather than exhaling as one normally does when one speaks.

He quickly opened his eyes and the wheat fields revealed themselves once more with the blue sky. A white cloud had formed just above him as if to tease rain may appear someday in the future. He swallowed hard and allowed the sounds to return by closing his eyes again. Before the voice stated anything he asked, “Who are you?”

There was no response.

He placed his hand’s arm’s length in front of him as if he was going to walk blind. He stepped forward one step. There was nothing there. Then, he spread his hands to the side as if he was searching for a wall. High right hand found one. It had touched something that felt rough, almost like a deteriorated concrete wall. He rubbed the wall gently with his hands and felt creases as if someone had taken a sharp chisel to it, hammering it into straight lines. There were five lines of them close together and rough concrete both above and below the five lines.

The voice returned, “What are you feeling?”

It shocked him enough that he opened his eyes again as he jumped backwards. There was no visible wall there. Again, the sounds had stopped completely. There was a calm breeze that hushed amongst the wheat field. He stepped forward and placed his hands where he thought the wall was. He could feel it once again. He placed his face close to his hand to see if he could get a better view of the wall. His eyes focused on the five lines along the wall. At first it was difficult to tell since they matched the color of the blue sky, but they were obvious with a closer look.

“I’m here!” stated the whispering voice as needles came out of the wall and stabbed him in both eyes. He fell to the ground as he covered his eyes with hands as if he was trying to keep the blood in. But, it was too much. The blood continued to pour like a kettle of tea and he eventually went unconscious.