𝐇𝐈𝐓 𝐀𝐍𝐃 𝐑𝐔𝐍 (𝙰 𝙵𝚞𝚛𝚛𝚢 𝙽𝚘𝚟𝚎𝚕)

𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐏𝐚𝐬𝐭 𝐓𝐡𝐫𝐞𝐞 𝐘𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐬: 𝐏𝐚𝐫𝐭 𝐈𝐈

•••

Vinnie

Sunday

"Hey, wake up."

The voice echoed over and over, bouncing off the invisible walls of the endless void I hovered over. I wasn't floating per se, nor was I falling or swimming. I was just there, caught in the thick of the blackness, surrounded by non-existent planes of nothing, reminiscent of thick, seeping blots of tar or ink.

"Vinnie?"

I looked around in search of the origin of the sound, but all that existed was the sooty, surrounding atmosphere. I could barely know if my eyes had even shifted, considering that I couldn't really feel or see my own body. There were no shadows, no fragments of light, no changes in color to prove that I had tilted my sight. It was just a still, black void.

Until I noticed something far away in the distance.

It was some sort of speck or dot, but not one that shone or gleamed brightly. It was an image, downsized to a single microscopic pixel.

Slowly and slowly, it expanded, approaching me at a snail's pace.

The closer it got, the more the image appeared in view.

I saw a body. A torso. Two legs, two arms, and a head. Then two, floppy ears and a tail.

And then I noticed the vibrant red color that painted the chest of the body, a running liquid that stained the material of whatever it was wearing.

That's when I realized it was blood.

And then, it hit me.

"Vinnie, wake up!" Alexys' voice called out as the pillow she threw at my head landed directly against my face; a clean headshot.

Gasping for air, I sat up in a hurry with sweat dripping down my face. My heart was pounding as I had just been yanked out of the void. It was as if I were attached to a speeding racecar with a tightly-knotted rope. Consciousness had run me over me like a mack truck. 

Alexys noticed the damage done by the innocent pillow throw and clasped her paw over her mouth.

"Oh, shit—" she winced from the doorway of the bedroom. "Are you alright?"

"Yeah, yeah, um—" I breathed in and out heavily, wiping away the sweat from my forehead. I stared at my paw, which was uncomfortably moist, just like the rest of my body. "...Weird dream."

"Well, get dressed," Alexys ordered calmly, leaning against the doorframe. "Today's the day."

Hearing those words sent shivers down my spine. I looked up from the bed and noticed that Alexys had vanished down the hallway, leaving me to my own devices.

I can't believe it.

Three years ago today.

After a lethargic yawn and a quick stretch of the limbs, I took a moment to look around the room, reconnecting myself with reality. My mind was still a little hazy, so I had to get ahold of my surroundings in order to stay grounded. 

The bedroom was the same as it's always been for the past two years. Pretty small, compact, and bland. Almost like a walk-in closet. It used to be Alexys' home office, but after she took me in, she decided to make it into a room for me. I didn't bother to decorate or anything. I didn't really know what the point of it was.

I pulled the sheets off of me and flung my legs over the side of the mattress, my feet making contact with the shag-carpet floor. It was cold and raggedy to the touch.