ONE LAST STRAW AFT(HER)

chapter 10~

I walked through the empty hallway, searching for something, something vital. It seemed as though some part of myself was missing. The passage was drenched with darkness which made me nauseous.

I could see a slight opening towards the end. The slight pitch of light not enough to illuminate the entire passage; the passage where I stood not being able to move forward.

That's when I heard an odd voice calling my name in a low and seemingly hoarse tone.

"London?"

The boy's voice sounded heavy, with...grief?
He sounded more audible as I made my way towards the little pitch of light.

"London? Can you hear me?"

At this I enhanced my speed, taking larger steps. I was almost running but as I stretched my arms to catch hold of the opening; I tripped.

I gasped trying to catch my breath but in vain. I was in the midst of an enormous black hole; a black hole not escaping me to some alternate universe, but instead drowning me as the surface kept on rising. My lungs burnt from the lack of oxygen and my throat constricted as though someone was strangling me. I tried to swim as fast as I could trying to reach the surface but it was pointless; my body had lost all it's might and my clothes were all wet and I lay still in the midst of nowhere.

I jolted up from my bed, panting heavily. I was soaked; not in water but my own sweat, my bedsheets were crumpled and I felt exhausted. A nightmare, one that had crossed my mind several times earlier, but I could never place it anywhere, I had never drowned or even got into water for a nightmare like that to be triggered.

It was still early in the morning and my body refused to fall back into my slumber. So instead I decided to go for a run and catch on some fresh air. I pulled on a sweat shirt and my track pants and made my way downstairs.

The sky was still dark but on the verge of dawn. I pulled on the hood of my sweatshirt and plugging my earphones in, I started to run down the hill to the garden at the end of the street.

The track in the garden was surrounded by lush green trees on the either side, giving a soothing feel and working miracle on my, still on crack, nerves.

Suddenly I collided headfirst into something hard. I lifted my gaze up from my hood to apologise, instead I met with the same chocolate brown eyes that I had come to like, but I still loathed the person whom they belonged to.

"You're blocking!" I said instead.

Sweat dripped from his hairline, his gray mullet sticking in odd direction, as if he had been running his fingers through them. He looked as tired and flabbergasted as I felt. I wondered if he had a nightmare as well.

"What? You are following me now? I told you I'm not going to work with you guys and that's final. So leave me alone."

"Excuse me! I'm not crazy enough to follow an ass like you. And about the the group thing you aren't getting a choice. The marks are getting counted for the finals and I can't fool around with it and I won't allow anyone else to do that either. So you are going to work with us."

"And what if I don't want want to, huh?" He smirked pulling a single eyebrow up, as another bead of sweat ran down his face.

So you wanna play this way?

"And what if I want to tell the others about your,"closing the distance between us I whispered in his ears, his familiar fragrance of vanilla filling up my insides, "little panick attack."

I wouldn't have done that but my curious self wanted to know how he would react to it. Now it was my turn to smirk as I saw his features change. I felt proud and satisfied of myself knowing that I had finally slapped off the smirk from his face, even though not literally, the feeling was good.