file:///C|/2590%20Sci-Fi%20and%20Fantasy%20E-books/Richard%20Matheson%20-%20What%20Dreams%20May%20Come.txt
I felt myself begin to rise from darkness. I was lying on a bed. The pain was back again, all
through me. I had never known such pain before I knew that I was slipping. Yes, the word is
slipping.
Now I heard a ghastly sound. A rattling in my throat. I prayed that Ann and the children were not
around to hear it. It would terrify them. I asked God not to let them hear that horrible noise,
protect them from that horrible noise.
The thought came to my mind then: Chris, you're dying. I strained to draw in breath but fluids in
my windpipe kept the air from passing through. I felt thick and sluggish, trapped in density.
There was someone by the bed. That form again. "Don't fight it, Chris," it told me. I grew angry
at the words. Whoever it was, they wanted me to die. I fought against that. I would not be taken.
Ann! I called to her in thought. Hold on to me! Don't let me go!
Still, I slipped. My body is too badly hurt, I thought in sudden dread. I felt the weakness of it.
Then a strange sensation. Tickling. Odd, I know. Ridiculous. But that was it. All over me.
Another change. It was not a bed I lay on but a cradle. I could feel it rocking back and forth,
back and forth. Slowly, I began to understand. I wasn't in a cradle and the bed was still. My body
was rocking back and forth. There were tiny, crackling noises deep inside me. Sounds you hear when
pulling off a bandage slowly. Less pain now. The pain was fading.
Afraid, I fought to re-establish pain. In seconds, it was back, worse than ever. Agonized, I clung
to it. It meant I was alive. I would not be taken. Ann! My mind cried out, pleading. Hold on to
me!
It was no use. I could feel life draining from me, heard the sounds again, much louder now; the
tearing of a hundred tiny threads. I had no sense of taste or smell. Sensation left my toes, my
feet. Numbness started up my legs. I struggled to recapture feeling but I couldn't. Something cold
was drifting through my stomach, through my chest. It stopped and gathered icily around my heart.
I felt my heart thump slowly, slowly, like a funeral procession drum.
I knew, abruptly, what was happening in the next room. I could see an aged woman lying there, gray
strands of hair across her pillow. Yellow skin and hands like bird claws; cancer of the stomach.
Someone sat beside her, speaking softly. Daughter. I don't want to see this, I decided.
Instantly, I left that room and was in mine again. The pain was almost gone now. I could not
restore it no matter how I tried. I heard a humming sound—yes, humming. Still, the threads kept
tearing. I felt each severed thread end curling in.
The cold "something'' moved again. It moved until it centered in my head. Everything else was
numb. Please! I called for help. No voice; my tongue lay paralyzed. I felt my being drawing
inward, totally collected in my head. Mimbins were compressed—no, try again. M-e-m-b-ranes. Yes.
Pushed out and toward the center all at once.
I began to move out through an opening in my head. There was a buzzing noise, a ringing, something
rushing very fast like a stream through a narrow gorge. I felt myself begin to rise. I was a
bubble, bobbing up and down. I thought I saw a tunnel up above me, dark and endless. I turned over
and looked down and was stunned to see my body lying on the bed. Bandaged and immobile. Fed
through plastic tubes. I was connected to it by a cord which glistened with a silver light. Thin,
it joined my body at the top of my head. The silver cord, I thought; my God, the silver cord. I
knew that it was all that kept my body living.
Revulsion came now as I saw my legs and arms begin to twitch. Breath had almost ceased. There was
a look of agony on my face. Again, I fought—to go back down and join my body. No, I won't go! I
could hear my mind cry out. Ann, help me! Please! We have to be together!
I forced myself down and stared at my face. The lips were purple, there was dewlike sweat across
the skin. I saw the neck veins start to swell. The muscles of my body had begun to twitch. I tried
with all my will to get back in. Ann! I thought. Please call me back so I can stay with you!
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