The Unseen World

Chapter 4: Jackie's POV

    I immediately knew that when Jared told us to go through a magic rock, I was either dreaming or hallucinating. Since it was a dream or a hallucination, I figured maybe I would just go along with it and see what happened. So I stepped through the magical rock.

    When I got through, I had stepped into darkness. Little glowing blue rocks were the only indication that there really was a floor. I turned around just enough to see if Bella was with me. The light was just light enough for me to make out her features.

    She looked frightened. Scared? Why is Bella scared? Oh, that's right. She's afraid of the dark. Out of nowhere, stepped Jared. He walked past Bella and me and whispered to us not to leave the path that was lit. Not for anything in the world. Bella, not wanting to be the last one in the "line" stepped in between Jared and me and clutched onto Jared's shirt. He walked stiffly, obviously uncomfortable with her clinging to his back, but after a while, he started to walk normally.

    To be honest, I was pretty annoying. I mean, I knew she was scared of the dark, but she didn't have to cling to Jared. I was her best friend, if she needed to cling to someone she could cling to me. And besides, at this point she was so skilled with daggers, that she could take on a mugger twice her size, and yet she was still afraid of the dark.

    I looked out at the darkness and gasped. It seemed to claw at the path like it was trying to reach us. The light seemed to repel it.

    "Jackie," hissed a mysterious voice from the darkness. I squinted to see if I could see if someone was out there. It seemed impossible. The darkness would consume them. "I can give you anything you want. I can give you your old life back. You won't like whats coming to you. Come to me, I will give you what you want..."

    I felt doubt creeping into my heart about Jared and my walking began to slow and my feet wandered to the sides of the path. My old life back? What was that supposed to mean? Did it have something to do with yesterday? Bella told me about something that happened yesterday that should have traumatized me, which is why it's fuzzy. But I didn't remember. Maybe I was in shock. Or maybe, like I said earlier, this was all just a dream.

    I looked out and finally saw something. A boy. Or more accurately, a guy, I guess. I saw him from the elbows up. He looked Seventeen or Eighteen. He was wearing a black button up shirt with the top three buttons undone as if he had just gotten home from a long day and wanted to relax. He had fair skin, paler than Jared's. His mouth was set in a lopsided smirk. He had black hair and dark brown eyes. They were so dark it was hard to tell the Iris from the Pupil.

    As I eyed him, I heard the voice again. "Everything you want." The voice slithered it's way to my ears again. It seemed to latch onto my waist and pull me towards the darkness.

    "Jackie!" Jared grabbed my wrist and pulled me back from the edge of the path. He grabbed my shoulders and turned me to face him, making me look in his eyes. "What did he promise you?"

    "I-I... what?" I stuttered, blinking rapidly to shake away the fog that tainted my mind.

    "Don't listen, Jackie." Jared said in a panicked tone, his eyes latching on to mine, trying desprately to keep me here. I looked away and didn't answer. He made me walk in front of him after that, with his hand on my back to make sure that I didn't try and wander off again. I didn't want to listen to Jared, or go with him for that matter, but with him watching me I couldn't reach the man out in the darkness. I couldn't even get close.

    Soon we got to a place on the path where the darkness seemed to crack from the ground up, letting light barely trickle through. Jared gently pushed me into the cracks and I emerged into a blinding orange light. I sheilded my eyes against it and blinked my eyes into adjustment. I was just regaining my eyesight when Jared took my left hand and pulled me up onto a tall hill.