Cursed To Hold My Breath

Chance

"Emma." I heard my name being whispered, over and over again as it echoed in my mind.

Lighting flashed, followed by booming thunder. I was in a dark forest, the rain pouring down around me, yet I still remained dry. There was a man in front of me, and it wasn't Erik, but a man I couldn't recognize, his features were all blurry.

"It's time." The man spoke barely above a whisper.

I stared at him, Who are you? Something inside of me knew him, but at the same time, I didn't. More lighting, and he was gone.

Everything shifted around me, and I was standing by a river, looking out in the distance. Then the image of my drawing flashed before me, I knew this would happen without realizing it.

I looked down at the water flowing before me, seeing it run a crimson color, and I tentatively stuck my hand in it, and it came back covered in blood. My eyes widened in fear as I stepped back with a gasp, then I saw the cause of the river running red, it was a body lying on the banks, face down in the water, but there were cuts all up and down its arms. I couldn't identify the body, and I didn't want to, fearing it'd be somebody I knew.

My hand flew to my mouth as I gagged, and I ran away from the river, but before I could get far something had fell on top of me as I was back in the clearing of the forest. It was heavy and I was pinned to the ground as that menacing laugh was back again, cackling at my attempts to flee.

I craned my neck to see something sticking out of the top of the thing that fell on me, then I realized it was another body, and I could feel the tip of the weapon piercing the skin on my chest. I pushed the body off, and I saw it was the same man, his face blurred, but a red bloomed in his chest, staining his clothing with blood, and mine too.

My chest burned, along with my hand still covered in blood, and I saw the man's blood stained my shirt as well, and I felt a searing pain in my side. I scrambled to my feet, wincing as I clutched my side and everything shifted once more, but the commotion around me had stopped.

I was in a silent dark room, with only one light from the moon shining through a window and onto some markings on the floor. As I got closer to it, I recognized it as some strange symbols arranged in a circular pattern with a knife lying beside it, it's blade glinting in the moonlight. Then I felt a burning heat in my forearm, as I saw it split open before my eyes despite the knife being untouched, and thick, dark blood flowed from it and onto the floor forming a pool of blood around me.

I stood motionless, only staring at the symbols on the floor as they began to turn a darker color, absorbing the blood around it until they were no longer seen, then they disappeared. The moon had left too, and was replaced with darkness as my arm had begun to turn cold.

Then I was back in the forest, and when that flash of lightning came, followed by a clap if thunder, I heard a voice in my head saying, "Run."

And so I did, as the the thunder rumbled on, the laughter had return, only growing louder. I ran from that cackling laughter, feeling it creep up closer on me, a cold breath against the back of my neck and sending chills down my spine.

The lighting still flashed above, illuminating the dark sky as thunder cracked and I screamed, my eyes flying open as I sat up, catching my breath as I broke out into a cold sweat.

"Emma!" Alex came from around the corner of Haley's house to the sound of my scream, and he stopped dead in his tracks, his eyes widening.

Tears streamed down my face as I looked at myself, seeing the blood still stained my hand and my shirt, and I bit back another scream. However, my forearm only had a faint line running down from it, but I decided to ignore that.