Into The Dawn Poem by Bethany Maxwell

Heart beating against my chest,
I plunge the knife deep into the stranger's heart,
Feeling bones break,
Hearing their crack as they move aside.
The look in the person's face stuck in permanent surprise,
As if it's only in the moment that I'm killing them,
Only the moment that their life begins to leave their body,
That they realize that they're alive.
I leave the knife behind and let them fall to the ground,
As I do I turn and walk through the doorway.

I walk out onto the streets of Paris,
People rushing around,
My eyes light up with joy at the scents, and sounds,
I walk around the corner and he's standing there,
My arms open wide,
My mouth letting out a shriek of happiness,
Of course he'd be here, he always is,
But every time I feel the same excitement,
Every time I run into his arms,
Every time I run home.

As I collide into him,
My tears break out,
Tears of complete release,
Reassurance and love.
This is where I belong.
I open my eyes and look around,
Everyone's here,
The friends with the warmest hearts,
The brightest smiles,
All of them here, for me.

Completing my circle I blink,
In that moment I'm on top of the Great Wall of China,
Most of the same people are running around me,
Playing games of foolish recklessness.
I stand at the edge looking down,
Taking in the entire idea of the wall and it's being.
Breathing in the presence of the past,
Feeling every bit of the present.
A smile grabs hold of my face as his arms slip around me,
But as soon as I look, he's gone.

My joy quickly turns to fear,
Eyes darting to the sky,
Responding to the loud scream of something monstrous,
The beast flies overhead,
Barely high enough to pass over the trees,
A dragon?
My mind races, trying to connect the dots,
As he swoops back, his talons out stretched ready to scoop me up.
Clasped in his grip we fly higher and higher,
And suddenly, I'm falling.

The Earth comes rushing towards me,
I close my eyes in desperate attempt to wish myself away.
A calm rushes over me and I hear the gentle sound of the ocean,
I look down and realize I'm soaring above the crystal blue water,
My arms are outstretched as I fly farther and farther,
Seagulls surround me ignoring my presence as if I were one of them,
Again I am happy, peaceful,
Gliding down to the water, I graze my hand on its surface,
The sound echoing in my ears,
And just like that I'm back.

I'm standing on the ground again,
My friends around me once more,
Only this time in a vast field,
With bright summer colors,
Flowers, birds, and laughter fill the empty spaces,
I realize I'm in his arms,
I look up at him and smile a confused smile,
He just laughs and spins me around in a delicate circle,
Stopping me as I face him,
A bright light interrupts the scene, small at first, then consuming everything.

Blinking away the pain I look around,
I'm in an empty room,
Laying on the floor,
I strain to stand up only to realize I can't move,
Fear overtakes me once again,
A figure appears in the corner of my eye, laughing.
It slinks towards me, the grimace on its face shining through its darkness,
It starts to melt to the floor, still coming towards me,
Slowly, it covers me, a lead blanket of sorrow,
I clench my eyes closed and scream.


I'm falling now.
Not from the sky,
But into a cave.
An endless abyss expanding below me.
I hear the excited scream of a familiar voice,
'Pull the string, ' They yell at me.
I fumble at my shoulders and pull what ends up being a parachute.
Relief floods over me and I let out a holler of adrenaline,
As I reach the bottom I find myself surround by whales.

Just then my parachute is replaced with a tank,
My mouth covered with a mask,
I suck in the oxygen and swim up to one of the creatures,
Slowly reaching out my hand, placing it next to the animal's eye.
Its size overwhelms me and I jerk my hand back as its head moves.
They swim off and I am left in the middle of the ocean,
Nothing but blue on every side, and nothing but blue above.
So much beauty, so much unknown wonder,
I swim to the surface,
Removing my mask and breathing the fresh air.

A beach ball flies over me,
And I feel the impact of a splash on the back of my head,
I whirl around, already knowing who it was,
I return the attack with an attack of my own.
Then quickly dodging their counterattack,
I grab a beach ball and throw it over my shoulder,
With their defenses down I face them,
Laughing and splashing I approach them and launch myself onto their shoulders,
Pushing the both of us underwater,
As I break the surface again the scene is quiet.

I'm in a lake, the moon shining bright,
I hoped that I wasn't alone, and I wasn't.
I hoped the person would be him, and it was.
He smiled as he walked through the water towards me.
Stopping just in front of me, reaching for my hands.
Fingers intertwined in mine he steps closer,
His forehead rests on mine,
His voice ringing in my ears, then he goes silent,
He frees a hand and traces the curves of my face,
Encouraging me too look up at him, he steals a kiss.


My eyes close and we're dancing,
I hesitate to open my eyes, knowing I would find a different place,
Though he's still the one with me so I feel safe enough to peak out of my shell,
The ball room is full, obviously a special occasion,
On either side of us there are two other couples dancing, the rest of the floor is still,
The music starts then,
Forming the soundtrack to our movements,
Step, step, turn, step, step, turn,
I memorize the feeling of each breath we take,
Knowing it most likely won't last long.

The music plays on, we dance on,
Slowly the music turns to a repetition of chords,
Growing louder and more abrasive.
The people around don't seem to notice, though,
So thinking it to just be in my head I go along with it,
Continuing with the memorized choreography,
Since the music no longer matches.
The room becomes dim, almost fading away.
I stop dancing and hug him tight,
Knowing that it's goodbye, for now.

As the last part of the scene fades to black,
He kisses my forehead, the feeling imprinted on my skin,
I smile, and let the rest fade out.
The sound that had started continues to pound in my ears.
I'm laying on something soft,
Wrapped in the warmth and comfort of familiarity.
My heart is slowed, my breathing faint,
I replay the experiences again in my head before opening my eyes once more,
To be greeted by the start of more, different, adventures, but I lay there still,
Wondering what I'll dream of tonight.