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Richard looked up at the sun. There was something blatantly wrong about it, and he gradually realized this. It was slightly grey, as if someone had electronically adjusted its contrast. He closed his eyes momentarily, trying to focus on the warm feeling of the bright light on his chilled face. He couldn't find it. Richard opened his eyes and blinked away the dizzying illusion of displacement. His eyes were momentarily diverted from the grey orb as he stared at the ground through a haze of swimming neon black. Never really knowing what he was doing, Richard looked up once more. The strange glow of the grey star seemed blasphemous in an otherwise normal sky. He stared. His eyes watered, and tears were soon running down his face in rivers. His eyes were locked into place and his mind began to fill with strange figures and sounds. The rays flayed through his retinas, spilled into his brain and coated his thoughts with their presence. Richard began to hear a faint noise. It felt like it was resonating through his head; his brain screamed at him to cease this onslaught. He didn't blink, he hardly took a breath. Thoughts slowly melted away in a haze of neon black figures and a rush of sound. Richard felt his face form into a grin. The grin then split away into a scream. A scream that reverberated across the colourless waves that crashed silently around him. He saw himself burning, his eyes forever locked on the near-black star. Richard blinked, looked down at the ocean, blinked twice more, turned and began walking back up the beach. <