𝐈𝐍 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐒𝐇𝐀𝐃𝐎𝐖 𝐎𝐅 𝐌𝐀𝐆𝐈𝐂 || 𝐒𝐄𝐁𝐀𝐒𝐓𝐈𝐀𝐍 𝐒𝐀𝐋𝐋𝐎𝐖

Chapter Nine: Chokehold

Chapter Nine 

She could see herself standing in the middle of a dark room. Or was it even a room? She didn't know. It was too dark to tell. She waved her hands in front of her eyes but couldn't see a thing, only feeling the slight cool gush of air against her face made from the wave of her hand. She was distracted, trying to figure out where she was, not entirely aware of all of her surroundings.

A loud cracking noise gets her attention, and she whips around, asking "Who's there?" while fear was rising in her chest. However, it was still pitch black and she couldn't see a thing.

She begins to run as fast as she could possibly force herself to—running further and further into a void of seemingly nothingness. Although as she runs it feels as if she's not even moving, as if she is getting nowhere away from the threat that's chasing her. Fear attacks her heart as it pangs in her chest, causing her to clutch it.

The fear and confusion—the exhaustion from the running began to make her feel choked up and her lungs run dry. A force that cannot be seen grasps her firmly and she opens her mouth to let out a terrified shriek, but no sound leaves her mouth. She's stuck, completely frozen in fear and terror.

Finally, a shriek leaves her mouth but only when she is completely engulfed in the darkness that is holding her.

A gasp left Matty's mouth as she awoke—bolting upright from her bed with an alarming speed. Her head whipped around as she took in her surroundings. She felt the sheets of her bed under her hands and let out a small exhale of relief, then taking her hand off to move the curtains around her bed, allowing the moonlight to peek in, reassuring her that it was all just some terrible nightmare.

She let out a sigh of relief before falling back down onto her bed with a small "thud!", squeezing her eyes shut. "What a terrible nightmare." She whispered.

These nightmares had felt so real. It was terrifying. Matty had encountered near-death experiences and other terrifying things but these nightmares truly worried her. They plagued her mind and kept her up at night—confused and worried about what they could possibly mean.

Finding herself unable to sleep, Matty slipped out from her bed and crept out of her room, making sure to keep quiet so that she wouldn't wake Nellie or Natty. She quietly left the common room and made her way down to the nearest bathrooms, hoping that no one was awake this hour and that there were no ghosts lurking that would question why she was up at such an hour.

She made her way into the bathroom, stopping in front of one of the sinks. Letting the water run into her cupped hands, she splashed the cold water up onto her face. She lifted her head to look at herself in the mirror, seeing the water drip down her face. "What is wrong with me?" She sighed, pulling away from it.

Why the sudden nightmares? Why did they begin to feel so real? It was scaring her and was rather worrying in general. Perhaps it was time to visit Professor Onai and see if she could determine anything.

The night was still young, and it'd be hours until anyone else began to wake, without the desire and means to fall back asleep, Matty was wide awake, alone with her own thoughts. Her thoughts began to drift back to the events of earlier that year and back to the behavioral changes regarding Apollo. Did he ever have these nightmares?

The thought of becoming anything like him alone was enough to scare her out of thinking much more about it. But speaking of Apollo, his recent death was also on her mind. Things seemed suspicious—very suspicious but they didn't all line up clearly yet. But somehow Matty was drawing faint lines in her head as to what could've possibly happened.