Riding On ~~:~~ A Free Rein Fanfiction || Completed

Chapter 8

The wind grappled at her hair, the water of the river, lapping at her knees.

Ann was stuck. She couldn't move, no matter how hard she fought.

"Ann... Ann... Ann...! Ann! " the voice, having been calling gently at first, began to scream. The scream started loudly, then shrilly, harshly, causing her ears to ring, the pitch of it going higher and higher. The scream was maniacal and disturbed like a banshee, calling her name, again and again, then, Ann saw her.

The origin of the voice was her mother, she was far off in the water, flopping about, trying to swim to her daughter.

Ann called out to her, reaching her hands to her in a feeble attempt of helping her, but they were too far.

Her mother continued to scream her name, and Ann put her hands over her ears, fearing that they might bleed from the shrill cries, then they stopped, all at once.

Ann looked up, removing her hands, and watched in horror as her mother's body drifted past her, face down, floating towards an unknown destination, until it fell off the edge, the far edge of the river morphing into a waterfall before her very eyes.

The water sucked at her legs as it tried to pull her, but Ann was not glued in place due to some supernatural entity, but because of fear this time.

She stared off towards the waterfall, hardly able to keep herself together, then, she was sinking.

The ground began to swallow her, and she watched her legs disappear; first her feet, then her shins, her knees...

She couldn't breathe, and as the sandy soggy river floor dragged her deeper into itself, she stared at the dark sky.

A hand reached out, a light suddenly appearing, calling her name, in a calm, masculine, warm manner.

"Ann, it's alright... Ann, I'm here. 

The hand stretched unnaturally from the sky to her and caressed her cheek. She felt the hand; rough and calloused, from years of work, and a long slender bump, a scar that ran down the underside of the left pinky finger, but despite its imperfections, the touch was calming nonetheless.

"I'm here... I'm here, " he repeated.

Tears had begun to stream down her face, but her hands had been enveloped by the sand, and she couldn't wipe them away.

The sand continued to swallow her up, the only parts of her remaining being her neck and face.

The hands that had outstretched now retreated from her, the voice calling her name and telling her that it was here growing softer as the hand retreated back into the clouds.

"No..!" She called out, more tears rolling down her face, the sand up to her chin.

The voices grew quieter and quieter
And then silence.

"No... please... " she spoke in sheer desperation, then she felt her lips move, mouthing the name of something... Or someone. She couldn't hear anything though; her entire world had been thrust into silence as the sand climbed up her chin, over her nose, creeping towards her eyes while her lungs burned from a lack of oxygen... --

Ann bolted awake, gasping for air, her hands clenching her comforter.

When she caught her breath, she looked around.

She was in her room, but it was still rather dark out.

She sighed, her hands moving to cover her face, calming herself down for a moment.

She laid back in her bed, staring at the ceiling, but she couldn't sleep, not after such a vivid nightmare.

Ann rolled out of bed and went to her closet.