There's nothing you're forced to trust more than your own mind. You're dependent on it, it stores the memories that make up your world.
But what if it could be stolen from you?
Aspen's world is growing, from the boundaries of her country farm to...
thanks to inspiredrlh for the amazing cover posted above 💕
sorry for taking so long to update - i'm going to try working on Awake as a part of the #justwriteit thriller challenge, so let's hope it becomes more regular. let me know what you think of the chapter! - ann
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The night didn't grant me with more than an hour's sleep, and every second I spent unconscious meant my brain was overtaking by nightmares that shook me to my core. Images of Gia running barefoot through the forest, her footprints covered in a layer of scarlet, flashed through my mind like scenes from an old fashioned movie being projected onto my bedroom ceiling.
Then there were the other scenes - the ones that grappled with my reality - that showed me, brain dead and staring straight forward as my hand scrawled onto my notebook, the pen pressing so deeply that the paper ripped in jagged strips and ink sprayed over my lap.
Gia and Bel knocked on my door, both at different times. Whenever the noise cracked through the room I began hyperventilating, mostly because I knew I had to tell someone I was losing it. But it was more than that. I didn't feel like it was a figment of my imagination. It was much too real.
Did crazy people know they were delusional? Was there a way to tell? I wasn't sure, but the more I thought about it the more confused I grew.
I came to the conclusion that the only way I could get answers was to go to psychology. Not the lecture, no, I was too scared to enter that room, especially after the creepy messages left by the wandering subconscious of my mind. In my dreams, the high-ceilinged theatre was overcast by terrifying shadows, trying to strangle me and grapple me to the ground, were I was trapped. Maybe it was some kind of post-traumatic reaction to being in that room. It could explain the memory loss.
When the sky turned from deathly darkness to a hazy morning grey, I realised I'd been hunched in the corner of my bed the whole night. I had kept thinking that maybe if I left it long enough, my body would tire and I'd finally relax. But I hadn't. I was still awake.
Gia was one thing. One terrifying thing. But with the way she acted in the morning, I could have just written that all off as a figment of my imagination. Maybe I could have lived with that. But the smashed phone and written warnings proved otherwise. It was real. It had to be real. It was real, it was real, it was real.
"Aspen!" Bel's voice called through the thin wooden door not long after. I dug my nails into my skin. I needed to warn her. I needed to tell her not to go to psychology. But my body was frozen still. She'd think I had lost my mind.
God, I really had lost my mind. What would she do? What would her reaction be? I had a feeling it wouldn't be good.
"I'm - I, uh, I'm going to stay in this morning," I said, my teeth chattering and my words so frail that they could have snapped in the cold morning chill.
