Two gangly, insect-like creatures curiously peered down into the long-abandoned well. Even though they were far, he could see their flaking powdery white shell revealing the dark skin beneath.

Startling him, the creatures turned towards each other. He scrambled to pick up the pieces of cloth he had torn from his shirt and balled up and jammed them into his ears. He strained as he stuffed them with such force, scrunching his nose and shaking. What followed was a series of unintelligible ringing sounds which were simultaneously beautiful and excruciating.

When he had had time to think, he almost craved the addictive sound, even though he had writhed from the torture of it just hours before. His eyes opened and he managed to look up at the creatures, squinting through the pain. He could neither understand what they were saying nor any emotion, but knew they were communicating. He puzzled and pulled out any information in his brain that could lead to an explanation of what was happening. He thought of his time in school, studying enormous insects that had existed in the age of reptiles and dinosaurs, but had long since been extinct.

The sound rung and the man’s will broke. he shook and grimaced as he fought to stay awake, but blood leaked from his ears and soaked into the cloth pieces and onto his skin. The blood traced along the grooves in his palm down to his wrists and forearms in only moments. The strained expression fell from his face as he passed out. He fell fast to the ground, hands falling from his ears and smacking into the stone.

It felt immediate as he struck the ground that he was transported back to the events of the previous day. He had woken up abruptly, feeling startled but unsure of why until he finally opened his eyes fully. His vision was blurred at first with shades of orange and yellow and powder blue. As his eyes focused, he saw the sun rising over the horizon of a wheat field. He let himself be content as he first thought he was in a dream. The breeze and the warmth held him and he felt at peace until that breeze picked up into a whipping wind.

Several translucent pods appeared silently, the only sound being the wind whooshing around him. The pods disappeared to reveal revolting creatures with hard outer shells, dark skin barely showing through the cracks beneath, and several large antennae.

As they appeared one by one, he fell backwards to the ground and kicked his feet to get further from the center of the wheat field toward the treeline. He ducked his head and stayed flat as possible to try and hide from the horrifying creatures. His breath was loud and panicked, but hidden by the still-whooshing winds.