The moon shines bright above my head, beckoning me to come closer to her cold glow.
"I have something for you," she calls.
I cock my head to the side, unsure of where I am or who is speaking to me.
She is beautiful, covered in a soft, white light.
I cannot make out her form, but I can tell she is a figure of justice.
"If you do not take it, terrible events will occur."
A deep hole appears in the ground before my feet. It's darkness is all consuming, except for a single black shadow that I cannot make out. The pit is silent and horrifying, and I know nothing good lies within.
"You must enter," she commands.
I stay staring at the hole.
"You must."
My breath is knocked out of me as I am pushed into the pit.
Darkness surrounds me, and I grow lonely and afraid. A blood red appears on the walls of my eyes, and I see someone I know. I see him. He stands alone, screaming into his hands, his nails clawing into his skin, ripping at his face. His teeth grind together, blood pouring from his lips as he cries out. Someone has left him, someone has died. And now all there is is screaming. All there is is death.
"I can fix this," she promises me sweetly. "Please, let me fix this."
The wailing stops, that sickening red fades, and I am no longer in the hole.
I hold out my hand, now desperate for what I am to be given. I will take anything to stop what I have seen. I will do anything.
She places a circular locket in my hand. It's black and cold like a piece of coal.
"Use it well. It will be with you always."
I wake up in a cold sweat, my body trembling.
I hate nightmares.
My hands continue to shake as I get ready for school, and it takes me several minutes to finishing clasping the buttons on my shirt. I forget to say goodbye to my mother and can hardly make out a word Alex says to me as we wait for the bus. The ride to school is a blur, and before I know it, I'm staring at the back of my locker.
Even though it was only a nightmare, I can't help but feel a bit changed by it. It was so vivid that I can still feel the locket in my left hand. My nightmares aren't usually so... thought out. They're typically a bunch of disconnected scenes slammed together. They never have a distinct plot like this one did. They're never so graphic or disturbing.
Why did I dream what I did last night?
And why did it feel so real?
I stretch out my fingers, trying to rid myself of the scary feeling, but to no avail.
As the final bell rings, I grab my books before shutting my locker and heading to class.
I can't get the nightmare out of my head.
I almost feel like it might never leave me.
---
"Are you ready to go?" He calls from behind me.
I twirl around to face Bennett, excited to see him. We've only been apart for less than 24 hours, but, for me, it has felt like an eternity.
"Yes," I say with a sweet smile. I'm so happy to be with him. I almost forget the feeling from my nightmare.
"Let's go around back this time. I heard there was a car accident in the carpool lane."
"Oh, no!" I reply, a bit concerned about however was involved. "Is everyone okay?"
He nods his head. "You can't do much damage when you're going three miles per hour," he jokes, his golden laugh resonating through my ears.
Some of my fears dissipate with Bennett's words, but I'm feeling especially anxious today.
"What would you like to do today?" He asks me as we begin to walk towards the rear entrance of the school.
I flush a bright red. I really hadn't given it much thought. What with my nightmare and just being so happy to be able to spend time with him, I didn't have time to come up with any ideas.
"Hmm. I'm not totally sure." I think about it for a minute, staring at my moving feet. I'm nervous I'll say something weird around Bennett and screw up what we have going here, so maybe I should suggest a more quiet activity. "I really love the movies."
Bennett perks up. "Oh! You do?" He opens the exit door and we begin to walk outside.
"Yes, I always have, ever since I was small. I really like the–"
My words are cut off my a scream.
Trigger Warning: Hi! It get's kind violent/bloody for the rest of this chapter. Skip to the end if you don't wanna read it! I totally understand! <3 Take care! (:
I look up away from my feet and straight into the green football field in front of us. People all around us scatter, several people running back into the school in search of safety.
The person who screamed stands still in the middle of the field, paralyzed in total fear by what lays before her.
Emerging from dense forest line comes two large beasts, bigger than any animal I have ever seen. Their fur is so white that it is almost blinding and their deep grey eyes dance across the field before landing on a vulnerable target. They snap and snarl from their jagged, deformed jaws as they approach the young woman that stands motionless. The hair on their backs stand up as their tails wag in sickening anticipation of their next kill.
"Don't move," Bennett whispers to me. The back of his arm slithers around the front of my waist, pushing me back and away from the creatures.
"What are they?" I breathe, my breath shaky and afraid.
"They're murderers," he growls.
One side of me wants to run into the school and hide from the creatures.
But another, more dominant side of me screams at me to run towards them.
I look at Bennett. He seems afraid. Not for himself, but for someone else. I cannot let him get hurt. God, please, don't let him get hurt.
I rip myself out of Bennett's gentle hold and run towards the animals and the endangered woman.
No one else is on the field now. Everyone has escaped except for her.
"LANIE!" Bennett screams, but it is already too late. The attention of the creatures are now on me, and they race towards me. I run even faster, and feel my left hand begin to burn. My mind moves fast, and my legs and arms faster.
My eyes notice an empty glass soda bottle lying on the bottom of a nearby fence. Before I can even process, my left hand has grabbed the bottle and smashed it against the fence, creating a sharp weapon of defense.
In only a second, I am now face to face with the threatening animals.
Everything moves fast, and, for some reason, my vision goes red.
The first animal gets to me, and I narrowly dodge a vicious bite to my shoulder.
How am I moving this fast?
I don't stop, and my hand urges me to go on, burning with intensity as more seconds pass.
I step to the side and slam the bottle into the animals thick neck with immense speed. A animalistic sounds comes from my throat as I drag the glass through its skin down to its shoulder. It howls in pain, ripping itself from my grasp.
The second creature immediately pounces on me and I am thrown to the ground. The animal tries to bite my face, but I move my head away from its jaws in time. Its teeth instead imbed themselves into the muddy ground.
I take the bottle and jam into its stomach, feeling powerful, feeling beautiful, and feeling brave.
What is this? Why am I now suddenly so fearless?
I roll out from under the creature as it cries, falling to the ground.
The first animal had quickly recovered and was now rushing straight at me.
I am too late to pull away and am rammed into by the beast. But, instead of letting myself fly off, I hang tightly onto the beast with my right hand as it continues to run, the momentum too strong for it to stop. I deliver two violent stabs to its face before delivering another one to its stomach. I lose the glass in its torso, my hand now bloodied from gripping onto it too tight.
The beasts gallops fail and it falls to the ground. I am crushed under its weight. It lets out one last gasp before the light in its eyes leave forever.
With a strength I've never had before, I push the creature off of me and stand up.
The second creatures limps towards me weakly, snarling once more. I run to it, delivering a fatal punch to its wounded torso with my left hand. The beast flies backwards and lands on the ground, covered in mud, and no longer breathing.
I stand before the creatures, a bit horrified by what I have done, yet proud at the same time to have protected Bennett and the girl.
It seems only a few seconds have passed during the fight. I hear footsteps running up behind. I look back to the woman I tried to save and to Bennett who I was terrified might get hurt in the process.
I'd do anything to save him. I'd do anything to protect him.
"Bennett," I call.
He is there in front of me as I fall into his loving arms.
---
Thank you so much for reading! I hope it wasn't too much or too bloody!
If you did have to skip it, basically Lanie fought off two werewolves by herself in like 5 seconds! Super cool! She thinks it may have something to do with that nightmare she had the night before.... Hmmmm...
We'll have to wait and see !!
Thank you so much again for reading my story and being so patient with me!
The next chapter should be posted on Friday!
Love,
rosesred