Humanity's Hope: Book 1 in the Saving Humanity Series

CHAPTER 7

Caleb wanted to sleep. He didn't want to deal with the torment. He would have taken the nightmares over this. He wanted them. He knew they would come if he could just fall asleep. The darkness was becoming more profound. The voice was getting louder and bolder. Those notions left him unsettled. He'd worked so hard to keep both of them at bay, to bring the light back to his life, and it wasn't taking much for it to be undone.

What would it do to him? Would it finally kill him? Would he get the peace he so desperately craved? That he tried to obtain on his own? Was that even what he wanted?

After months of working with the psychiatrist and facing his demons, he thought he had come back to the world of the living. He had felt like maybe he could hope again. He would never be completely free of the darkness—he was aware of that—but he had been managing it.

Maybe that was an illusion. Maybe he wasn't managing anything at all—it was possible he was being managed. The thought caused his chest to tighten and his breath to catch. It was too much, too difficult. The emotions were too intense. He hadn't actually been living, just existing, and it was a pathetic attempt at that. Just when he was getting things back together, this had to happen.

He wanted to be excited about it—he really did. He was humanity's hope. Instead, all he could see was how he was going to be used and manipulated—how he already had been. It was only going to get worse. He was going to become a pawn.

His chest tightened again. He strained to inhale a breath. The air wouldn't enter his lungs. He tried again. He heard the squeak as he tried to pull air into his body, and the pain radiated through his limbs when he was unsuccessful. Panic seized him. All of his muscles tensed. He gasped for air. Not again. He couldn't do this again. The pain, the fear, the self-doubt and self-loathing was too much. And the worst part was he had to do it alone. There was no one to help him. He couldn't trust Matt. Even though he wasn't a prisoner, that didn't mean things were on the up and up. Matt admitted he was hiding out here from the same people who were targeting Caleb. That meant he must have some idea of who was after him, but he wasn't talking. He had plenty of time to tell Caleb who was after him before he collapsed. Matt avoided the issue. If he really wanted Caleb to trust him, he should have said something. It would have helped immensely.

And then, his body relaxed. Warmth pulsed through his veins and into his extremities. Air entered his lungs, and he breathed deeply. Relief washed over him. A ray of light pierced through the darkness of his mind's eye. For a moment, laughter echoed in his brain, and then the darkness slammed in.

* * * *

Caleb inhaled a sharp breath and reached out. He grasped for something—anything—but his fingers closed around air. The blackness lightened to gray, allowing him to see some of his surroundings. He was in the desert, laying in the sand. He sat up slowly, confused. A slight breeze blew, tousling his hair and surrounding him in heat. He climbed to his feet. The gray lightened further, taking on a bluish tone.

Caleb turned slowly, taking in his surroundings and trying to figure out where he was. Sand surrounded him on all sides, rippled from the wind. A tiny plant wavered in the breeze. The heat grew more intense, penetrating through his skin and settling in his stomach area, making his intestines feel like they were on fire. He turned slowly back to the position he had started from. Before him lay a road. It was barely discernable from the sand. Caleb squinted to make sure it was really there. In the distance, a pinpoint of gold light glowed. It caught his gaze. He stared at it for several moments, amazed by its beauty, drawn to its twinkle. It was just what he needed to destroy the darkness within him. If he could just figure out how to possess it. He reached out for it, then stepped forward. A weight settled around his ankle. With difficulty, he tore his gaze from the gold light to look down.