She was in an empty room where the walls and the floor seemed to be made of velvet. The walls were a deep, dark red, and the floor was the color of burnt sienna, muted and golden beneath the dim glow that filled the space. Everything felt strangely silent, as though the room existed outside of time. There were no windows, no doors, and no visible source for the faint light that rested upon the velvet surfaces. The air itself felt thick and motionless.

At the very back of the room stood a single chair. He was sitting in it, perfectly still, gazing into a beaming white light that shone directly before him. The light was intense, almost unbearable to look at, yet he never blinked or turned away. It enlightened his face while leaving the rest of the room in a gloomy darkness. His skin looked pale, almost porcelain, and the brightness made him appear even more ghostly. His hair was slicked back neatly, and there was an elegance about him that remained untouched by the strange atmosphere surrounding them. He seemed calm, completely absorbed by whatever he was gazing within that light.
She began walking toward him. Her footsteps made no sound against the velvet floor. The closer she came, the more she wanted to reach out and touch him, to place a hand on his shoulder and pull him away from that blinding glow. Yet something prevented her from doing so. It felt as though an invisible barrier separated them. No matter how close she got, she could not bridge the distance between them.

He continued staring into the light.
As she finally reached him, something changed. A thin stream of blood began to run from his nose. At first it was only a few drops, but soon it flowed steadily down his lips and onto his shirt whilst his eyes filled with tears. They gathered slowly before spilling over, tracing paths down his cheeks.
She kept looking at his tears, admiring their shimmering edges, until the liquid darkened, becoming a thick black substance that mixed with the blood. It streamed from his eyes endlessly, staining his face. He had no reaction other than simply sitting motionless, as though this suffering belonged to someone else as a feeling of dread settled inside her.

Without taking his eyes off the light, he slowly raised his hands and began unbuttoning his shirt. His movements were calm and deliberate. When his chest was exposed, he pressed one hand against his skin. His fingers sank into it as though it were water. His hand moved through his chest as if the flesh were made of water. There was no wound at first, no resistance. His arm simply swallowed inside him. Only after a few moments did blood begin pouring from the place where his hand had entered and it poured down his body; the same dense black liquid seeped from the wound, flowing alongside it.
For a moment he remained still before pulling something free. It was his heart. Hung in his hand, dark red and glistening as blood dripped from it steadily, mixing with the black substance that seemed to pulse from within it. It looked heavy. Veins hung from it like dark threads. Yet despite everything, it was still beating.

For the first time since she had entered the room, he looked away from the light and let his eyes meet hers. There was exhaustion, emptiness and a primal sorrow in his expression.
He extended his hand toward her, offering to grasp at his heart; and she hesitated, but she could not refuse. As soon as she took it into her hands, its weight bewildered her. It felt impossibly heavy, as though she were holding something far denser than flesh and blood as if it weighted a ton, yet she forced herself to keep it lifted. Her arms trembled beneath the burden, but she could not let go.
The heart continued beating with each pulse heavier than the last, trembling in the silence of the room as she stared down at it, terrified that it would slip from her grasp and crash onto the velvet floor. The blood ran between her fingers, warm and endless, while the black liquid dripped silently beside it. Still, she held on.

She did not want to let it fall.

Seventeen-year-old Joan Lenine.