text: [Themes: mystery / thriller, serious, post-apocalyptic]
  
  Ellan woke up to a brand new day. Fortunately, when he went outside the fog was completely gone and so he continued his traveling.
  
  An hour passed, and he found nothing. Then another and another and another. Ellan was beginning to lose hope that there were more signs when he found the corpse of a man. The man had red eyes and horrendous wounded, torn-up skin. A very bad stench hung around him and Ellan thought he had probably died long ago.
  
  But there was something written on the man. Ellan opened the man's jacket to see a plain blue shirt with several figures and letters written on it.
  
  07:30
  
  A Promise is a Promise
  
  Ellan had idea what that meant but as he read it, he subconsciously glanced at his watch to see the time.
  
  It was 09:30 in the morning.
  
  Ellan checked the man's pockets and found a matchbox filled with matches. He took it and went on his way wondering about the words. After several more hours of walking, Ellan was growing tired.
  
  > travel On
  Ellan was walking onwards (slightly tired) when he met the animal.
  
  He met a dog. A stray black dog with a wild look in it's eyes. It's fangs were bared and it began to howl and bark at Ellan.
  
  Ellan drew his knife and was doubting if he should attack.
  
  But then the animal pounced, Ellan easily dodged the attack and raised his weapon to defend himself.
  
  As he watched the dog turning around to attack again another memory returned.
  
  It was an image of himself playing with a small dog. The furry dog ran and ran around him playfully. Then the little Ellan in the in the memory, gleefully throwing a small rubber ball and dog ran to to get it, playing fetch with his owner.
  
  Ellan dismissed the memory knowing that he was in a life threatening situation. True enough, the dog attacked again. This time pouncing towards his leg.
  
  Before he knew it, Ellan was bitten and blood dripped from the wound.
  
  Retaliating, Ellan immediately used his knife to stab the the dog and the animal whimpered in pain. Ellan struck the dog again and again until it died before his eyes.
  
  Filled with excruciating pain, Ellan was relieved to have the threat of the dog gone but then another threat arrived.
  
  It was the setting sun. The fog was coming.
  
  And Ellan was nowhere near a building to find shelter in.
  
  The fog was fast, it came and quickly began to wrap itself around the young man.
  
  Ellan realized a disgusting thought.
  
  He had a choice. It was both painful but one would allow him to feel lesser pain.
  
  > The Fog
  Ellan began to inhale poisonous air from the fog. As he did, his watery eyes dilated and changed it's color to a fiery red. Darkness, pain, and suffering; dark and cold memories of the past flooded through his aching mind. Ellan felt agony as each painful memory struck him. But still everything was clouded. All Ellan could see were blurry, clouded images of all the suffering he'd once felt. However, the worst had not yet come. As he began to feel the poison piercing through his heart, destroying his intellect and the remaining sanity left in him. The poison started to crush his soul and insanity began to creep inside him, trying to eat it's way into his heart.
  
  After a moment of excruciating struggle within his soul, Ellan had completely changed and succumbed to the voice of insanity calling within the deepest reaches of his mind. The fog has done it's work. Ellan was now the very image of a madman with monstrous red eyes; the very example of an insane man who had just lost control of his own mind.
  
  He started clawing his skin with his nails trying to tear himself apart and with his sharp teeth began to bite his own flesh. All Ellan knew now was that he wanted to bring pain to himself, to kill himself in any possible way. Wildly pulling his hair into tatters, Ellan felt a craving for blood. He craved for pain and death. He wanted nothing, nothing more than to end his god-forsaken life. Life meant nothing now.
  
  The fog revolved around him and the mist (pr maybe it was his own mind) created illusions. Ellan saw a woman, a pale green-eyed woman wearing a gruesome white gown covered in blood. The woman approached Ellan and looked down at him, laughing hysterically at what he'd done.
  
  "Idiot! You don't know what you've done! You made the wrong choice! Idiot! Mistakes! Nothing but mistakes!" The woman yelled with her high-pitched voice, pointing at Ellan and dancing around him in fits of laughter.
  
  "No! I am . . ." Ellan tried to answer, making a final struggle to regain his sanity as he covered his ears. The struggle is real. He now knows what madness means. He now knows what insanity is. He covered his ears, trying in vain to drown the sounds of the woman laughing at him. After a moment, when the laughter quieted down, Ellan decided to look up and saw that the woman was gone. He looked around him and thought that the woman had left him for good.
  
  "Boo! Kill! Kill!" The woman appeared beside Ellan and shouted the words at his ears pleading, ordering him to surrender and to kill himself once and for all. Ellan felt the urge to do so now, he wanted nothing but to end his life. . . to escape this woman. Roaring in his anger, Ellan once again tore at his skin, digging his nails into his bloody flesh. He bit onto his body again and spit out the gruesome skin and flesh. To finally end it all, with all the force he had, with all the strength left in him Ellan banged his head on the pavement and felt death's voice calling to him.