Chapter 2 #2
My gut began to sway, alarm bells clanging in my head.
Whatever that thing had been, it was nothing I needed to mess with.
Not my circus, not my monkeys, as Mary would say.
What I needed was to get the hell out of there and find my willow tree.
I spun around and searched the building, but to my dismay, there were no stairs. And worse, no doors or windows either.
I’d shredded my cuticles to bloody bits by the time I coerced myself to approach the porch’s edge once again.
The water’s lack of transparency shook me.
Anything could be down there. But the wisp …
it could be anything too. Damned if I do, damned if I don’t.
I scanned the tree line above as the unfortunate truth settled in my knees like bricks.
I had to jump.
Come on, don’t be a baby about it, I coaxed myself. Fearing I might never move again if I hesitated any longer, I threw my leg over the railing. Do it, just do it!
The water stabbed like shards of broken glass; cold ripped at my nerves.
I shot from the water like a bullet and hurled myself onto the walkway, skin crawling.
An oily residue coated my arms, my chest, my legs …
and the smell—so putrid and rotten it stung my eyes.
I fought back vomit as I stood to take in my new vantage point.
It never ceased to amaze me how visceral my dream world was.
If I didn’t know any better, I’d have sworn I was actually standing on a swaying path.
But that’s nightmare disorder for you. My curse.
Anxiety was always with me, awake or asleep.
Focus, Fey. My lungs labored as I forged ahead but I found no connection to land. It served one purpose: to connect the buildings. But hey, at least I knew where the missing doors and windows were now. There they were, floating in the foggy distance. I scoffed. Lot of good that did me.
A strange sound tangled in my ears like a million tiny bubbles bursting in succession. I knelt over the obsidian water but kept a safe distance. All at once, half a dozen foamy circles erupted across the lake’s surface, clear out into the fog.
Not good. Not good at all.
Something indecipherable swirled below the surface, swooshing foul waves onto the walkway ahead.
A second later, another splash, closer this time.
Then another, five feet from my position.
Whatever lurked beneath, it was taunting me.
Playing with its food. And there I was, exposed: a neon sign screaming lookin’ for a free meal?
I broke north and combed through the haze. The other structures proved to be exact replicas of the first, each disconnected from the shoreline. My chest tightened. No. There had to be another way … But frantic as I was to find another option, there wasn’t one. I had no choice.
I had to swim.
The bubbles began to spread, their ferocity growing more intense by the second.
It was now or never. My heartbeat hammered in my ears as I gave myself one swift smack to the cheek for motivation and dove into utter uncertainty.
Kicking my limbs through the thick sludge at full throttle, I grew ever closer to whatever shoreline awaited through the fog wall ahead.
A moldy flavor assaulted my tongue as I stole a breath, and I clamped my jaw shut to keep any more toxic water from seeping past my lips. Almost there. Just a few more feet.
When my toes brushed the shore’s bottom, I came up for air with a gasp and hiked my knees above the shallowing water. Safe. I’d made it! I’d survived! I’d actually done it—
A firm grasp around my ankle chilled me to my bone marrow.
A guttural chuckle filled the air, predatory and familiar.
No, no, no. I tugged and thrashed, but the hold was too tight, and my ankle cracked under the pressure.
Needles stabbed up my leg. In a blink’s time, I found myself belly-flopped onto the hard sand, the wind knocked from my lungs.
The world spun around me as long, gangly fingers rolled me to my back, sinister eyes fixed on me.
“Greetings, little one,” the beast growled. It towered above, its grinning face the inhuman color of frostbitten skin. “Did you miss me?”
“Please—”
“Let me guess: Don’t hurt you, right? Oh, but I’m afraid I simply must.” It fluttered its not-quite-human eyes on either side of a gaping hole where a nose should have been.
Mildew wafted on its breath, stinging my eyes. This time, I couldn’t hold back the vomit. After a few heaves, I regained control, my throat stinging from the acid. Rolling to all fours, I clawed against the sand for freedom, but the creature’s foot fell hard on my spine, pinning me in place.
“Ah-ah-ah, not so fast.”
Flipping me to my back once more, the monster snatched my collar and suspended me in the open air, my feet dangling below.
I cemented my hands around the giant’s wrist, and my skin proved almost translucent next to such a deep blue.
In stunned horror, I watched as its X-shaped irises pulsed and seemingly tunneled into my soul.
It hissed and bared its pointed teeth. “You’ve denied me my meal for too long, child. I’ll wait no longer.”
Prepared for the inevitable agony and torn flesh, I clenched my eyes shut. This was it. My end. The fear that’d cause my heart to beat its last.
I waited and waited, but … nothing ever came.
No teeth, no snarl, nothing. Instead, in an unexpected turn of events, my body crashed into the sand in a heap.
What the hell? It—it let me go? Dropped me.
But … why? My gaze snapped up in time to catch the wisp I’d seen at the dream’s start sweep onto the scene, a bright glow surging within it.
The beast stood at attention, froth at the corners of its mouth. “You again?”
Again? The beast had haunted me all my life, yet I had never seen the wisp.
Driven by its insatiable thirst, its predatory eyes had only ever fallen on me.
The beast swatted and snarled, but the ball of misty light was too quick.
My eyes panned back and forth between them when I realized the wisp was causing a distraction. For me.
I seized my moment and tore off into the charcoal thorn bushes, my ankle screaming with each stride but managing to hold me upright nonetheless.
I didn’t look back; I simply followed my internal compass, leading to my willow.
When I finally found it nestled far from the lake, I fell to my knees and begged my mind to wake up.
All the while wondering where that strange, sentient mist had come from and why it’d bothered to help me.
Well … that’s fucking new …