I rip down the tarmac on my bicycle, the wind sweeping over my helmet and shoulders, letting my jumper fly behind me like coattails. The glowing streetlights mark my path home, just a straight cycle from here; a couple of traffic lights and I’m back. I stayed later in the park with my girlfriend than I intended, I’m sure my folks are going to give me a hard time about that. I slow my pedaling as I approach the red light, I’ve almost stopped when the light starts blinking and ticks to green. My legs start pumping again and I begin flying once more. It’s nights like these that I enjoy the most, the beauty of the stillness; where the only light is from the streets and the stars, and the only noise is the whistling of wind. The warm suburban houses flicker past my view, each full of happy families enjoying their evenings together. The light ahead is green; I whiz through the junction and... Pain. I can’t narrow down where it’s coming from, it’s everywhere, like a thousand pikes impaling me at once. Colours are also obscure, there was a white flash, maybe a dash of green then an incoherent blur, I think it’s dark but it might just be colours in chaos. A blaring horn underlines the moment, along with wordless yells. Is this what it’s like to die? Am I actually dead? Was I snapped away so suddenly? My mental palace of colours breaks apart like bones. Down the torn seam of reality breaks through two red claws. One claw tears into my knee; I try screaming, but I’m silent. From the claws emerges a devil: cracked, blood-red skin, eyes as black as coal and two curled horns planted firmly in its skull. It leers over me, easily ten times larger than myself, and fiddles its claws like a murderer with his knives. I catch a glimpse of myself, it’s not pretty. Both legs have bones broken apart and protruding through my skin, like jagged rocks rising from the sea, with red rivers rushing downwards. My right arm’s snapped in two and is bending in an extremely unhealthy manner. As for my face, while I never looked particularly handsome, the cuts along my forehead and cheeks don’t merge well with my bloodied blue eyes and blood soaked black hair. And I didn’t know a torso could look so mangled. It swipes down at me, and somehow I don’t collapse when I duck out of the way. Another swipe occurs, lower, and without feeling a single fibre of my being I hop over the knives. A hearty chuckle blares from the beast. It’s toying with me. Making me duck and dive for his own amusement. I’m dancing for him. My life hangs in the balance and a devil is enjoying every moment of it. Playing with me like a decaying child’s toy, nothing special about it aside from its waning enjoyment value. And when that’s used up, so am I. It’s hopeless. I’ll dance until I’m tired, or until it grows bored of me. Either way it will snatch me away and drag me below. And I’ll become a forgotten figure, nameless to history. I have no chance, so why not just give in? Why fight a meaningless battle? But from the chaos illuminates a pure light, white with a hue of green. The beam glows down behind me. It’s a chance. The devil glares. I turn my back to it and begin to crawl towards the light. I say crawl, I’m forcing all my hope and strength into my left arm and am dragging myself towards the brightness of life. But I can’t make it; the devil slices at me. The games are over, he’s trying to throw me away. I don’t look, I don’t want to see. And I don’t want to accept. I need every moment to hope that by some miracle life will find me, save me. And it does. The light brings forth two angels, clad in green robes. They don’t drive the devil away, in fact I don’t think they even look at him. They each take one of my arms and fly me through the white light. My eyes snap open. A moment of panic rushes through my body, my surroundings are a pearl white. Maybe I did die. But then I see the angels, except they’re not angels. They’re two paramedics. One is rummaging through a drawer, the other watching over me. The one looking at me speaks silent words to the other, causing her to look at me, they smile. I feel something tight around my mouth. I try to move my head, an arm, my legs, even just my toes, but they don’t move. But it’s okay. I let myself exhale deeply and relax. I’m safe. I’m secure. I’m alive. Two angels in green reached out and took me from the grasp of the devil. They’ve given me another chance at life. And if I could move I would swear to them both that I won’t waste this miracle.