Red Velvet [The Boy Next Door]

Bleeding Coffins

Dedicated to LittleRedBeauty for the amazing cover art to the side bar!

Also, dedicated to YOU--the reader. For sticking with this story for so long. 

Red Velvet: The Boy Next Door

Copyright © 2013 by Taina Regina

 

-------------------------------------------------------------

Chapter 12: Bleeding Coffins

EMBER BECAME mysteriously sleepy.

It was like a black hole was threatening to swallow her every time she allowed her eyes to close, pulling her under its dark blanket of nothingness.

But she refused to succumb to it, finding purchase in the firm hold of Axel’s hands intertwined with hers, as she fought with slumber. Ember was used to insomnia, but still, this seemed strange.

Every now and then, she’d feel a slight jolt of the casket, reminding her of where she was. Her being in a coffin, all of a sudden made her feel like she was in captivity, no longer this amazing experience she’d shared with the boy next door--but a nightmare.

She started to fear for her life, truly fear for her life.

Still, thinking of her doom didn’t keep sleep away. It was like some dark voice in the back of her mind was whispering; demanding her to sleep.

Sleep, Emmy, it echoed in her ears.

Her eyes fell heavy at the instant demand. Yes, that’s it, sleep my child. A shiver ran through her body, making her feel lightheaded at the echoing sound. It resonated loudly as if it were coming from out side of the coffin.

Emmy, the voice whispered in distance. The soft murmur echoed through the darkness, making another shiver travel down her spine at the familiar tenor. It was like she was half awake, because she was aware of her waking surroundings; only they were meshed with her hazy nightmares that sleep brought with it.

Ember looked around the darkened space; it looked like she was stuck between an alternate universe, where nothing existed but darkness. Almost like an in-between place she couldn’t explain.

Where am I? her ethereal self thought.

The same whispered voice carried through the air and a hollow feeling in her stomach made her want to hurl over and vomit.

She wanted to follow the voice, but an invisible barrier stopped her.

There, standing in a silhouette of light ahead of her, was a figure. The shadow casted an eerie glow, as if darkness followed in its wake. She couldn’t get a firm grip on what the figure looked like, because she only saw the back of it. It was like the figure was beckoning her to follow, but when Ember tried to step forward, she was stuck.

Ahead of her, the disfigured form beckoned her forward.

She tried yelling for it to wait, but the words never left her mouth. As if her voice box didn’t quite know how to work. Her mouth moving ever so slightly, yet no words could escape its dungeon.

Until the apparition turned around and changed and she could almost swear she recognized the face, but it was only a glimpse as it morphed into a dark figure that resembled the Grim Reaper.

 Her eyes widened when it tried to grab for her, and as the distorted fingers wrapped around her left wrist, it tugged relentlessly on her skin to the point where it seared the top layer, Ember was in perfect view to see the face of her nightmares.