Tak

A light flashed in front of him, before being engulfed in darkness. Then another. One sped towards where he thought he was. Then he saw himself in the distance, the little light reaching his face, then disappearing.
Suddenly everything burst into life, the vision of himself he saw far off faded away, replaced with a growing light of many colours, other small lights appeared from everywhere and joined it, molding and forming into an accurate fascimile of the reaching landscapes he grew up in. The grass, red and waving, faded out on the horizon, turning into beautiful blue and white mountains. The clouds, a glowing pale pink, gave way to vast, deep purple sky, and the sea, an ambient turquoise, glistened under the bright, yellow sun.
For the first time in months, he felt at home.
He blinked, and opened his eyes to his blurred reality. Squinting them closed again, he tried to cling onto the beautiful dream, but it slowly faded, the blackness seeping in and finally overwhelming his view of perfection. A tear fell from his eye as he blinked again, awareness of the bland real world around him setting in. His alarm clock's incessant ringing eventually broke into his mind, startling him. Wiping his eyes, he sat up, switched off the alarm and slid his feet out of the bed.
He gazed up longingly at the picture on his wall. The painting of the wonderful place in his dream, with it's flowing red grass and purple sky. He sighed.

* * *

His jacket clung to him in the rain, loosely, but he wasn't able to find a smaller size. People already commented on his weight. Weighing less than 4 stone, he was quite the freak show. But no doctor knew why, he seemed normal enough. He was tall, and his low weight made his features almost ridiculously angular, but he wasn't unpleasant to sight, his thin lips almost always pulled into an equally thin, weak, but friendly smile. His eyes were deep, and filled with emotions, and his hair, the colour of the night sky, fluttered restlessy in the cold wind. Shadows collected on his face, and as he gazed up into the dull grey sky, they dispersed, leaving only the raindrops as they slithered down his dark features. As he looked down, lightning enflamed the sky, then faded, leaving it to it's lifelessness.

The cashier of the store winced when she saw the frighteningly skinny man walk through the doors, Tak, she remembered his name was. He was soaked to the skin from the downpour that had begun about half an hour previous, and his clothes were sticking to him, revealing little more flesh than you'd find on a skeleton. She tried to look friendly as he walked up to the counter.
"Good evening, sir. How may I help you?"
"Er.." Tak fumbled for words. "..Do you have champagne?" he asked, tugging on a strand of his hair and smiling weakly.
"Yes, yes we do." she smiled, turning to reach for wine rack. "Anything in particular?" she asked over her shoulder.
"Something to say thank you."
"Hmm.. Well, this one already has a gift card.. so it'd probably be perfect!" she turned back round, holding out the bottle which she'd placed in a fancy bag with 'For You' on it. "That'll be £14.95, please."
Tak took the bag, gazing at it briefly and handing the woman a £20 note. He looked away, out at the blackened sky, where the clouds were just clearing away.
"Here's your change, sir." she held it out to him.
He continued staring outside, and the woman glanced at him with concern. "Sir, your change?" she tried again.
"Oh.. yeah.. you can keep it." he replied absent-mindedly, continuing to look at the sky.
"Well, thank you, sir... If I may make a suggestion, I'd go home while the rain has stopped a bit..." she joined his stare at the dark grey clouds. She paused. "And Tak..." she said quietly, causing him to turn his head suddenly and gaze at her, wide-eyed. "When you get home, have a good meal, yes?"
Tak eyes softened and he pulled his lips into a warm smile. "OK."


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Hey, I hope someone reads this, if you do, thanks! Please review.. I don't like it when people don't acknowledge that I exist.