I rip my wrist away from him and stumble back a few paces. I stare at him for a long second, trying to comprehend what he said. My breathing is heavy and it feels as if my throat is closing up. I wish with all my heart that this was some messed up nightmare but... it just feels so real; his hands that held my shoulders, the cuts that once adorned my knees and palms, the cool marble beneath my feet and the silk sheet covering my body. It is all too real.
This is real, no doubt about it. It's real.
Damn it.
I look up at him once again. His eyes are studying me. They travel from the tips of my toes to the top of my head. He's devouring me with his eyes. I wonder if he could see all my weaknesses if he tried? I hold the sheet as close to my body as possible. Could he see through this sheet?
I tear my eyes away from him and swivel my head from side to side. Trying to scope out exactly where I am as quickly as I can. To the left of me there are large double doors, there wooden and look a little more rustic compared to the modern look of the room. There are two torches sitting on either side of the door, each holding a handful of flame within them. I could try that door but there is no way to tell if it's locked or not and I'm guessing I only have one shot at running from him.
To my right is a long dimly lit brick hallway; there is a torch every ten paces or so. Huh. I just now realized that this entire place is only lit by torches or candles. How strange. Although I don't know if anything should really surprise me anymore. The man in front of me proves that it shouldn't.
I know that the staircase is right behind me but as far as I know there isn't a chance of exit. Maybe an open window, but I can't even be sure if I'm on the first floor right now. Who knows, I could currently be on the 3rd floor of this monstrous house and I don't plan on falling out of any windows today.
I think I've made my choice. I look back in the mysterious man's direction and find that he's moved closer to me. I hesitantly take a step back.
"I wouldn't do that if I were you, sweetheart." He warned. "How about you co-" before he can finish his sentence, I dart down the hallway to my right. My bare feet slap hard against the ground as I run further and further down. My breathing is becoming heavier and I can hear my heart pounding in my ears. The pounding is so loud that I can't tell if he is close behind me or not.
The hallway splits two ways and I twist to my right, not knowing where I'm going but I know I can't stop. I make a left then a right and another right. My lungs are burning. I guess skipping gym in high school wasn't the best idea. When I see the hallway coming to a dead end, I start to lose speed but then notice a door waiting to be opened by my greedy hands. I slam into it and instantly go for the knob; holding the sheet with my left and turning the knob with my right.
Its locked. "No" I say softly to myself. "Open, ugh-open damn it!" I start to yell at the door. I stop fiddling with the knob when I feel a presence behind me.
I suck in a deep breath and slowly turn around to face my captor; if only it was him. In front me stands something I never thought I would see while I was conscious. The dark shadowy figure stands across from me, its eyes at the same level as my own. They are glowing a bright yellow and seem to be swirling with a darkness I feel more then see. This is the demon that haunts me during my sleep. Dread feels my body as I realize that I can no longer move. I am frozen in place. I try to move my fingers, my toes, my lips, even my damn eyelids resist to close. The shadows limbs come up to touch and prod my body causing an inferno to light where ever it grazes. With each touch I'm on fire. The pain is excruciating and I can't even scream it away. I can feel my body giving out on me. This must be how I die.
Suddenly a bright white light flares from down the hall. The demon screeches in my ear as if the light burns. It dissipates into the walls and slowly the pain does as well. A short scream slips past my lips before I collapse onto my knees on the ground. I slowly lift my head towards the light to find that it has formed into a tall human like creature. It comes closer and as it does the light dims and a face comes into my view. His face. The light disappears completely and I find him squatting before me. He has a shirt on now and worry is laced into his features. It looks odd to see anything other than an evil smirk or a stoic expression.
"Are you okay?" He asks as he lifts his hand towards my face.
I flinch back, afraid that his touch will burn as much as the other demons did. "What are you?" I ask weakly
I think it's quite interesting when you go from asking who someone is to asking what they are. It is interesting how my mind is only filled with two emotions, fear and curiosity. I'm not really sure which one comes first, but I know that at the moment they are very prominent.
"Can you stand?" He asks, completely ignoring my question by asking one of his own. The shirt he's wearing is a dark blue and stretches around his arms as he crouches down before me with his hands clasped together. It's weird that he's asking if I can stand when we both know he could easily pick me up. After all, he's done it before.
I could easily come up with some snappy comeback to say to him. Maybe something sarcastic. I can be a spitfire when I really want to be, but right now I'm just too tired. My legs feel like they could snap in half if I applied any pressure on them.
I shake my head no, in response. He stares at me with intent and by the looks of it he is annoyed by my answer. He's so confusing.
He breaths in deeply shutting his eyes. He unclasps his hands and brings his right hand up to rub his eyes. "Words." He forces out.
"Huh?" I respond with even more confusion.
"Use. Your. Words Avianna." He lets out slowly, like I'm dumb. My eyes widen at the use of my name. Of course, he knows my name too.
"N-no I can't." I squeak out quickly.
He nods his head slowly. "Please, don't be worse than Olly." He mumbles then reaches his hands out for me, to which I flinch back again.
"What are you doing?" I ask defensively.
"I'm going to carry you." He says as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.
"What? No, I don't want you to touch me." I say with my voice strong and firm. Well that came out better than I thought it would.
He groaned inwardly and looked up at me through squinted eyes. "You aren't going to stop fighting me anytime soon, are you?" He asked with light irritation threading through his voice.
"I'm not sure why you think that I would." I say lightly. Gosh I'm tired now. I can feel my body slowly losing all energy. My eyes burn and all I want to do is shut them. I can barely hold my head up any longer. I think I hear him chuckle but I can't be sure, everything is out of focus.
My eyes close for a split second and the next thing I know I'm in his arms. I wiggle for a few seconds but then give up. I don't think I'm strong enough to get away in the state I'm in now. I open my eyes and stare up at him. His gaze is forward, watching the direction he's going. I can see torches pass behind his head as he walks with me squeezed tightly to his chest.
"What's your name?" I ask
He looks down at me and stops walking for a small moment. He looks up again then back down at me, sighing out a long breath as he does so. "...I'm Time." He says hesitantly.
I chuckle to myself. "That's not your name." I deny. "You know mine, it's only fair I know yours too." Great, now I'm just plain delirious.
He stares at me for a long second, scanning every inch of my face. He must know exactly what I am thinking but with his stone hard facials I haven't got a clue to the. inner workings of his mind.
"Atlas." He says before he continues walking.
It's a different name-that's for sure- but it suits him. I imagined something scarier, like Bruce or Maximus.
"Atlas" I whisper to myself testing the foreign word out. What a mystery you are, Atlas.
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This chapter is a little shorter then my others but I'm trying hard to do lots of updates. This one was sort of a filler chapter.
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