Total darkness. Complete silence. Absolutely nothing. Nothing at all. Except,… well,… the faintest of sparks far off in the distance. Really nothing. Dark. Silent. All was well, very good.
Well, except there was that spark again. So faint – so insignificant, hardly anything more than nothing. The spark is swallowed up by the nothingness. It really was nothing. It is gone, whatever it was. No awareness of time passing. No awareness of anything. And,… wait! That bothersome spark again, except now it was a little closer. Every time it would spark, there was some pain. How could that even be? Not much pain, but definitely more than was wanted. It just kept sparking and sparking and – then it stopped again. Relief came flooding through. Such wonderful peace and darkness and silence again. This was better than anything.
Oh no, here it was again, but not just a little spark! More like someone taking a hammer to the side of some metal garbage can. What was going on? Confusion swirling. And now pain – real pain, with each hammer blow. And with each hammer blow, bright flashes, colorless yet bright flashes. Sparks flying from the blows. Wincing with each blow, trying to brace for each one but it seemed futile, useless, helpless. Then with a suddenness that was almost as shocking as the blows, it stopped. Stopped dead. Just stopped completely. The wave of relief that washed through was incredible. Immediately everything was completely dark, completely silent, complete PEACE and REST after traveling through what seemed like a place of torture and torment, and now sweet nothingness.
The suddenness of what happened next would take your breath away. Blinding light, blinding pain! The hammer was now a wrecking ball hammering away, hammering, smashing, crashing. The pain was so immense it was not describable. There were no words, no chance to think. The pain came in huge waves like the highest of the largest waves in the ocean came the pain, washing over, penetrating everywhere, no place to hide, no place to go from the pain, the crashing, the shrieking horror. The light was so bright it would make lightning bolts look dim. Then, in one final tidal wave of pain and light and pure evil, Harold finally opened his eyes, slowly rolled to one side, and turned off his alarm. It was time to get up and get ready for the new day.