The Dark Between Dreams | ✔️

Chapter 1 🔻 The Dark

Her voice came out loud and clear despite the dark leather mask that covered her face. The only discernible features of it were the frowning mouth made from crude white stitches and the two red lenses that glared down at me.

"I...Wha—?" was all I could utter, my throat inexplicably dry.

The girl huffed and made what I assumed was a rolling-eyes gesture behind her mask. She snatched my hand and hauled me to my feet. Then, without pause, she took off running as if pitch darkness didn't engulf us.

"Keep up!" she called over her shoulder while the wind shrilled around us. "My bike isn't too far away!"

I squinted against the flying sand that pelted my face. I couldn't see a trace of any kind of bike ahead of us, and there was no telling just where the hell we even were.

More hissing followed us.

"Whatever you do—" the other girl began.

I twisted my head around to peer behind us.

"—don't look back!" she finished.

Shit.

The shadows pursued us. It was hard to tell how many there were, for they all blended into the dark—into each other. They were almost on top of us.

One of them leaped through the air.

I let out another strangled scream as a weight crashed into my back, bowling me over. I lost my grip on the masked girl's hand. Her light disappeared.

Talons cut into my arm. I felt no pain, only a pins-and-needles tingling in my bicep and the sensation of coldness leaking out from beneath my skin. The suffocating weight continued to press into me, forcing me deeper into the charcoal-colored sand. The monster's breath wafted against my ear as it sighed.

With a snarl, I elbowed the creature in its face, throwing it and all of its flailing limbs off of me. Freed from its weight, I heaved in lungfuls of air. No matter how much I gasped, the air filling my lungs brought no relief. I ignored the tingling in my arm and tried to scramble away.

The monster landed on me again and tore into my flesh with its claws. I couldn't see or feel my wounds; I just felt...life seep out of me like a viscous fluid. This was a nightmare. It had to be.

I needed to wake up.

I clawed back. I bit. But it was useless trying to pry this thing off of me. When jagged teeth sank into my neck, I shut my eyes. Not that it made a difference.

I needed to wake up.

My fingers dug into the sand, searching for a place to hide, or some escape, or just something.

I needed to—

A sudden heat filled my core, and a blinding flash seared through my eyelids. While the shadow screamed and bailed, I forced my eyes open. Beneath my fingertips in the sand was a small void of pure, white light that was far brighter than that masked girl's red flashlight. Bathed in its glow, I craned my head forward. That hollowness in my chest receded more and more the closer my face got to the void. I couldn't tear my eyes away from it, or ignore its beckoning call. My lifeless heart kick-started in my chest. I'd found it. The end of this nightmare. My escape.

I reached into the light.

"No!" that familiar voice screamed. Hands grabbed my shoulders and tossed me aside.

I landed in a splatter of sand and watched as the masked girl kicked dust over the void, smothering its light until all that remained was the red glow of her flashlight.