Chapter Nineteen - Leigh
I war with consciousness.
It’s as if my eyelids are made of steel.
Sleep tries to hold me in its grasp. Usually, sleep doesn’t scare me.
Not when I can walk through people’s dreams as easily as passing through doorways.
Right now, though, no dreams welcome me.
No familiar paths open. It feels like I’m back inside the rift, endlessly tumbling through nothingness.
I manage to crack one eyelid open. The effort is like trying to lift a bus with my bare hands.
The world swims into focus in fragments: shadows, shapes, movement.
Through the haze, one fact becomes clear.
I’m being carried. Rough, black fabric scratches against my cheek.
But something’s wrong. Something’s missing.
No heartbeat drums against my ear where I’m pressed against my carrier.
No warmth radiates from the body holding me.
“W-who are you?”
Only silence answers. I struggle to move.
Pain radiates through my body as if I were injected with it.
My head pounds relentlessly. Sleep beckons, but I need to make sure Wilder’s safe.
He needs to be there when I return home with Fynn.
Being here must be worth it if I get to spend my life with him.
I attempt to move again, but darkness’s greedy fingers yank me back into the void. The last thought that crosses my mind before unconsciousness claims me is that whatever carries me through this realm of shadows isn’t my friend.