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((I am implementing a time skip now, since it seems an opportune time for both parties.))
The evening has grown late and the clocks all read nine o'clock in the evening. Each for their own reasons, everyone begins to feel that it is time to say goodbye to their respective companions and head home for the night. The evening had been truly lovely. She watched admiringly as Nicolas made a rather impressive speech, greeting everyone and thanking them for coming, and explaining his hopes for the future of his new company, "Sweet Delights". The atmosphere stayed warm and friendly all through the night, and Nicolas made sure to come back and thank them for coming, making pleasant conversation with them both before disappearing back into the crowd. They enjoyed delicious food and drinks before she started to feel the time of night weigh on her. Standing and stretching her legs a bit, she held her hand out for Audra's. "My dear, it has been a truly magnificent night. I thank you for your charming company, but I'm afraid I must be off. Will you be staying here a bit longer or shall I call you a cab? Did you leave your car at the other cafe?" |
The evening passed quickly, far quicker than Audra had wanted. Everything had seemed like a dream and the hands of the clock were her rude awakening. Her stomach was full of delicious food, and she made a mental note to try and find this place again someday, though if she were lucky perhaps this meeting with Sanaii would be the first of many.
"My dear, it has been a truly magnificent night. I thank you for your charming company, but I'm afraid I must be off. Will you be staying here a bit longer or shall I call you a cab? Did you leave your car at the other cafe?" Sanaii spoke. "Oh...oh dear it is late, I have work in the morning too...oh you don't have to worry about a cab I live pretty close to that cafe and I think after eating all that delicious food a walk will do me good." she slowly stood, and held her hand out to shake. "Thank you for the wonderful evening, it was a real pleasure to meet you, who knew going to that cafe would be so serendipitous?" |
"Until next we meet then," she said, kissing the other's hand lightly before curtsying and taking her leave. The room was full of excited chatter; people talking about bringing their families and friends, excitement to try more of the delicious food, the occasional admiration of the decor. Some of the waiters were wrapping things up; it was obviously just about closing time for them. In groups of threes and fours, the rest of the guests trickled out of the room a punctuated stream.
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Audra froze as Sanaii took her hand and kissed it. The action, while committed by the owner of the establishment just hours earlier had seemed to be polite and somewhat antiquated; when Sanaii did it, the act seemed more friendly and gave Sanaii a princely aura. The woman had taken her leave before Audra could retort.
Feeling awkward standing she took her seat again a moment to get her bearings and figure out what she was going to do. I should go tell the gargoyle about this...but maybe that's what they want me to do...Maybe I should just go home, chalk this up to a series of strange events and call it a night? No. There is something to this, and I will find out! Once again she stood up, this time with purpose and looked around for her belongings. "Oh...yes I should probably go fetch my coat..." She mumbled to herself sheepishly as she quietly made her way through the shop and to the door she had entered from earlier. |
Early evening passed into late evening, and eventually even the lure of coffee and conversation couldn't keep Morgan out any longer. She bid goodbye to the dashing gentleman she'd encountered, slipping him her phone number before eventually heading homewards. It would be an early morning for her--working a nine to five job was awful at times, but she didn't mind it too badly as long as she turned in early enough.
She had to stand at the bus stop for a while to get the next bus headed homewards--she hadn't been paying attention to the time when she left, just knowing she needed to get going sooner rather than too much later. Eventually it came, and eventually it dropped her off near her home. She trudged inside, looking around the apartment and sighing softly. Just as dull and mundane as always... |
It was amazing how little some people noticed when they weren't paying attention. The brunette seemed oblivious of the hooded woman who kept a watchful eye on her until she got off at her stop. She followed her off the bus. She waited while the girl disappeared into the building. Then she moved quickly.
Dark hair was peeking out from beneath her sweater's hood as she made her way into the apartment building. Counting the doors, she found the one she needed and rapped sharply on it two times. She hoped the girl wasn't sleeping yet. Pulling her hood forward a bit more to shade her eyes, she tucked her hair out of sight and waited. |
She stood in the doorway, pulling her now dry coat over her shoulders which the attractive doorman had been happy to retrieve for her. Taking a deep breath, Audra walked out of the hole in the wall heaven and out onto the street.
The rain had stopped, leaving the street wet and the air heavy, full of that clean scent that always came after a storm. Audra inhaled deeply, thinking to herself No matter where you are that smell is always the same...like the rain just washes everything else away and leaves how it's supposed to smell She buttoned up her jacket and began walking back in the direction of the cafe and her place of employment. The sound of her shoes hitting the pavement echoed off the slowly quieting streets, there were few people around at this hour and Audra felt comforted by the solitude. It gave her time to muse over her day, and the mythical preferred quiet to the normal hustle of the day. Maybe she would see a pixie or a neko-mata. She passed the cafe she met Sanaii, and then the bookstore which by this time was closed; the charming CLOSED sign, done in Victorian script was propped in the front window. She rounded a corner and walked several more blocks before coming to the tiny and out of date apartment complex she called home. With a sigh she opened the main door and began walking up the three flights of stairs to her lonely one bedroom. |
Morgan frowned deeply when she heard the knocks on her door. She'd only just settled in to check her emails and brush her hair when someone was tapping on her door. She'd given Creed her phone number, not her address, so she was a little bit worried to hear the knock come. Who would be coming over to her apartment unannounced? As much as she hated to admit it, it wasn't like she had very many friends. She had her books and her email, and that was enough for her.
She put the chain lock on the door before she opened it, peering out cautiously as she had no idea whatsoever to expect. "Hello? Who's there?" |
The girl almost smiled, her eyes still darkened by the overhang of her hood. In a single deft motion, she slipped her right hand into a pocket, pulling out a fistful of some strange sandy substance. Putting the other hand on the door to brace it open, she held a palmful of dust up, blowing it through the opening. The girl must have been surprised because she did not react fast enough to slam the door in the other's face. Instead, she got a faceful of that strange dust.
As the effects of the dust started to take hold, the strange girl removed her hand from the door, letting it slide to the knob instead. With a voice that was almost darkly melodic, she said, "The nightmares are real..." As her hand pulled the door towards her, she let her last whispered words part the air between then, dancing with the dust that sparkled where it hung, suspended. "Don't go outside." Click. ((Jessica roll Dexterity: 7 5 Reroll Tens: None Successes: 1 Morgan roll Wits: 1 5 8 Reroll Tens: None Successes: None (The 1 cancels out Successes) Result: Jessica moves too quickly for Morgan to react in time.)) This is where I begin to exorcise my power as GM. Let me describe the effects of the drug to you so you may roleplay them out accordingly. The sand gets in your eyes, your mouth (if it was open), all over your face. You inhale it as it hangs in the air (If you take a breath. In this situation it is likely that your character would gasp in surprise, but whether she does or not is up to you.) Your vision begins to blur. You feel slightly dizzy. Sounds are slightly warped, but still coherent. You know you are going to fall. You have to find a soft place to land. Your legs are getting heavy the longer you remain on your feet. In a manner of seconds, you are out cold. "Audra..." A voice in darkness. Familiar, beckoning. Was it outside? "Audra," she said again, more insistently now. She was not outside. She was inside. At the end of the hallway, in fact. Sanaii, with her unmistakable white hair, was standing in the girl's building. But something was different. Her black coat seemed to sway, though she was quite still. That didn't last. She was making long strides towards the girl, her usually sharp green eyes seemed out of focus, hazed, as if she was not seeing Audra at all. She closed the distance between them quickly until they were only an arm's length apart. ((Sanaii roll Dexterity: 5 2 2 8 Reroll Tens: None Successes: 1 Audra roll Wits: 6 9 8 Reroll Tens: None Successes: 3 Result: Audra has a sharp presence of mind and can react quickly. Sanaii seems out of sorts and while she moves quicker than normal, her actions do not take Audra by surprise.)) |
Morgan looked at the woman curiously, utterly baffled by her appearance. It looked like she was out of one the many fantasy stories she'd started writing. A dark woman, concealed in a cloak as though her very identity was something precious that she had to hide. But what could she possibly be hiding from? She was certain that there was a story about the woman, simply waiting to be told.
The woman's hand went into her pocket, and she drew out a handful of fairy dust. Morgan's mind filled in an explanation for what the strange sandy substance was unbidden, and even though she knew it -wasn't-, it was now solidified in her mind that that was precisely what was being blown into her face. She tried to take a deep breath ahead of it, so that she could hold her breath, but her reflexes were only human. She instead wound up inhaling a very deep breath -of- the sandy grit, and coughed heavily as she staggered backwards. She didn't even shut her door--she was too focused on moving backwards. It wasn't even like she was drunk...more like she was under water the way the world and the sounds within it were distorting. Her room was stretching out, like there was a ripple in the water that surrounded her...wait, that was an analogy, she wasn't -actually- under water, right? She wasn't even sure any more. Her legs hit the back of the couch and she fell backwards. She could have sworn she was falling slowly, like she was drifting through water. Like the air was somehow cushioning her fall. Actually hitting the couch was something she wasn't aware of at all, her landing came split seconds after she'd blacked out. |
Audra fumbled in her pocket for her keys as she reached the top of the stairs. One of the hallway lights was out, making the hall appear deep and somewhat foreboding. Great, once again the Super fails... She took a step into the dimly lit hallway when she heard someone call her name. She looked around, a co-worker checking up on her perhaps? No, the voice was coming from inside the complex.
In the dim light she saw a figure stalking down the hall. Sanaii? There was no mistaking it, but how did the woman know where she lived? She looked around quickly, Sanaii had passed her doorway and was coming within touching distance, her movements far too quick for a normal human. "I knew it." Audra said, satisfied her hunch from earlier had proven correct. She pressed herself against the opposite wall, hoping to get past the woman and get into her apartment, though the odds of that happening were slim at best. "So, I guess this is what the owner meant when he said interested...so what are you going to do? Spirit me away?" She wasn't trying to agitate the woman, merely to figure out what was going on, perhaps distract her long enough to pass her. |
She seemed unaware of the girl's question, that same faraway look in her eyes. Slowly, her hand moved up, held straight out in front of her, palm down, at shoulder height. She almost looked as if she wanted the girl to take her hand. But her fingers twitched and she pressed her pointer finger against the girl's forehead instead, her other fingers curled in, her thumb making a strange "v" with her pointer. Her voice, naturally quiet, barely disturbed the air between them.
"You too shall see." Nothing seemed unnatural, for a moment. Her eyes even sharpened, focusing on Audra's, almost as if seeing her, and then seeing through her eyes to something more. But the moment passed and the strangeness of her state returned. Her eyes unfocused. Her movements were stiff and unnatural for a creature of such grace. Her coat was constantly unsettled. And then the world began to blur. ((Sanaii has used Words of Power upon you. As you stand there, your vision begins to blur. For a moment everything goes completely dark. You feel, rather than see, Sanaii step away from you, but you hear nothing. When your vision clears, she is gone, and you can't be entirely certain that she was there to begin with. Your memory seems to be playing tricks on you. Had she been here? Did she say something to you? Were you possibly imagining things? You did feel awfully tired. Maybe the lack of light was playing tricks on your eyes. The longer you think about it, the more inclined you are to believe you imagined it all. However, whether you do or not is up to you. I'm just telling you the effects you are feeling and thoughts that are likely to come across your mind due to the way the "spell" is making your body react. The only concrete truths are these: You are feeling incredibly tired. You do not remember for certain if Sanaii was there or not. If she was there, you do not remember what she said to you, if she spoke at all, or exactly what she did. The longer you stand there, the fewer details you can recall about the encounter. You do, however, seem completely unscathed. You feel completely fine, sleepiness and confusion aside.)) ((Sanaii roll Dexterity: 9 5 3 10 Reroll Tens: 10 2 Successes: 3 Audra roll Wits: 5 2 8 Reroll Tens: None Successes: 1 Result: Sanaii moves too quickly for Audra to react in time.)) |
She cringed as Sanaii pinned her against the wall, fingers pressing against her forehead. Audra's vision went dark, as though she'd gone blind, and all sound faded away. Am I going to die? The thought was utterly random, yet as she finished it her vision returned and she was standing against the wall, alone in the hall. She sighed deeply, feeling as though all her energy had been drained...Sanaii, had she really been there? "It could have been an astral projection...or a doppelganger..." Shaken from the questionable experience Audra quickly made her way to her door, unlocked it, and slipped inside.
She flicked the light on in her tiny living room and slumped onto her couch. She tried to piece together what happened in the hallway, but like with a dream the more she tried to remember the more she forgot. Frustrated, and utterly exhausted Audra shrugged her coat off and threw in into a crumpled mess on the other end of the couch. "Maybe if I just lie here and close my eyes I'll remember something..." Stretching out, laying her head on the couch arm Audra took a calming breath and closed her eyes. I'll just take a little nap...when I wake up it'll all make sense... With this final thought Audra fell asleep. |
It's dark. You don't dare open your eyes just yet, something in your gut says to wait. But you can't sleep forever. As you open your eyes, you find yourself staring up at a plain ceiling. You're lying on a soft, flat surface.
'Bed...I'm lying on a bed.' Your whole body feels sluggish as you sit up, and your bare feet hit the cold stone floor. 'This isn't home.' Thoughts seem to come slowly, as if they are a person trying to walk through water. Like there is some sort of resistance holding them back. As you sit for a few minutes, you feel your head begin to clear. You stretch your limbs until the blood flows naturally in them. You feel like you've been sleeping for ages, and you don't know where you are. Around you are over twenty identical beds, with plain white sheets and pillows, all lined up in a row. All empty. The room has light bulbs above, but they are off. A single window shines moonlight in on the rectangular room that you are in. Two doors, against the far wall, are closed. There is a silence that almost unnerves you. |
Morgan had been dreaming. Dreaming of many things. She was going on a quest, out to save the world. But each time she had begun on her quest, a swirling wind came and changed everything. The world around her, the weapons in her hands, the friends around her, even her appearance and her name. She was so disoriented by the time she woke that she had to stare at the ceiling for quite a while to even sort out that she was, indeed, staring upwards.
Finally, she managed to sit up, though she wasn't sure if it was still the after effects of the dreams she'd had or if perhaps her body was having trouble responding to her addled thoughts. Only when her bare feet touched the cold floor did she even -start- to get some clarity, and the only thing it really brought home was how alone she was and how quiet it was. She sat there for several minutes, trying to get her thoughts to obey her and train up neatly, stretching her body just to get some sort of sense of feeling back to her extremities. She looked around cautiously, taking stock first of herself, of the clothes she wore, of how she was feeling, and then looked around the room, considering the window and trying to get a feel for where she might possibly be based on what she saw outside. ((Roll me Perception - Target: Self please? And if I can have more than one roll per post, Perception - Target: Window please? :) )) |
As you sit up and try to clear your head, you notice a few differences about yourself. For one, you are wearing a plain white t-shirt and a pair of soft, blue sleeping pants. Both are embellished with "Gateway" in an elegant gold stitching in the upper left corner. For another, your mind and body seem to be moving slower than usual. Your thoughts are clearing up for the most part, but you still seem to have that "just woke up" grogginess. Aside from the clothing, you do not seem to have anything on your person. The sleeping pants don't seem to have pockets. Your feet are bare and still cold.
As you turn your gaze to the window, you take note of several things. Maybe your head is clearing, because you are sure you didn't notice most of these things the first time you looked. The window itself is rather plain, made of wood and glass with two panes and a latch on the bottom. Although your bed is more far than close to the window, you can see a fair bit of the outside. A silvery full moon hangs in the sky, clearly noting it as night. Some trees, oak if you're not mistaken, dot the ground, which is covered in thick, green grass. The grass itself is long and overgrown, so it must not be mowed regularly, if at all. Wildflowers speckle the terrain. There are no other buildings in sight, but by the long shadow that spreads across the ground, this building must be huge. As you gaze out the window, you notice that one of the shadows moves strangely. There is no breeze, but it sways and twitches like a tree against a heavy wind. As you stare into it (It's so hard to look away, just like in horror movies), a voice seems to float back to you from the back of your memory. "The nightmares are real." Nightmares. This word sticks out to you as you stare at the shadow, and a sense of fear takes root as you watch its strange, jerky dance in a nonexistent wind. "Don't go outside." That girl had warned you not to go outside. Did she know you would wake in this place? Was she responsible? But why leave you alone in this room? And why warn you not to go outside? Did she know about that strange shadow? How could she possibly know about that though? Morgan roll Perception(Self): 4 7 4 3 Reroll Tens: None Successes: 1 Result: Morgan notices some details about herself. (Listed Above) Morgan roll Perception(Window): 6 5 7 9 Reroll Tens: None Successes: 3 Result: Morgan notices a lot of details about the window/outside. (Listed Above) |
The fact that her clothes had been changed was almost more unnerving than the fact that she had been transported in her sleep. While it was an incredibly disturbing feeling to think that she'd been moved in her sleep, it was even more so to think that she hadn't just been carried about, but actively undressed and re-dressed. She even snaked her hand into the pajama bottoms to make sure her panties were still there, half dreading what she might find.
But either way, the more her head cleared, the more she wanted to get up and -do- something. It might give her a level of control over the situation, at least. She took up the blanket from the bed and wrapped it around herself, folding it carefully so it draped over her shoulders and kept her warm without restraining her hands any or trailing low enough she might trip. Who knew if she might have to take off running? This whole thing was like a horror story, some psychological thriller by the likes of Stephen King. Especially the more she stared at the shadow that kept -moving-. She walked over to the window and tried the latch, wondering if she could get it open. Either way, she left it un-opened, and headed to the nearest bed to grab a pillow. If she could get the window open, she was going to throw the pillow at that shadow (and then slam the window shut) and see what happened! This made...perfect sense to Morgan. She was still dreaming, and that meant anything and everything was fair game. Because things like this didn't happen in the real world. That made far more sense than being transported here to....wherever here was, being dressed in these clothes, being...all of this. Far more plausible to think that she was having a very strange lucid dream than to think any of this was real. But... The nightmares are real. It rang through her mind like a warning bell, tolling out impending doom for her and her alone to hear. She dropped the pillow and pulled away from the window, leaving the pillow on the floor as she headed for the far doors instead. She'd stay inside, but...not in this one room. She picked the left hand door, and tried the knob. |
The knob is warm under your touch and twists easily. You pull the door open and see a hallway lying beyond. There are lights down here too, but just as with the room you stand in, they are all off. Still, you get the feeling that the farther you are from the window, and the strange shadow outside, the safer you will be. The entire hall is lined with doors on both sides, all identical to the one you just opened. At the very end of the hall is a great, ornate wooden door. It stands taller than the rest and you can tell it has intricate carvings, but the details are lost between the distance.
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Audra slowly came out of her nap, feeling the sense of awakening before opening her eyes. She felt off, like she did when she used to sleep over at friends houses, she was safe...but this wasn't her couch.
Slowly opening her eyes Audra looked around the room, nothing moving but her eyes. Where in the hell am I? She thought as her eyes moved to the beds around her. Am I in a hospital? Audra slowly propped herself up on her elbows, feeling as though she were moving in water. Her movements were uninhibited but sluggish, it was a struggle to take everything in. How long have I been asleep? She carefully sat herself up, letting blood flow back into stiffened arms and legs. The room was large; rows of beds lined the walls, reminding Audra of a hospital wing or orphanage. The lights were off, the only illumination coming from a single window. The only exit she could see was at the far end of the room, as unsteady as she was it could have been on another planet. However it was the silence that bothered her. It enveloped everything, seeming to eat the sounds of her movement, her breathing, her heartbeat. Unsure of what to do, Audra crawled into the middle of the bed and sat, knees to her chin as she scanned the room again. (Roll perception please! Target: Door) |
Morgan looked over the hallway carefully, then left the door open but pulled back inside the room she'd started in. There were two doors in here, and she wanted to try both of them before she decided which one to take. Was this the by-product of having read too many novels of Stephen King's genre? Or was this the buried memory of a single story written by one Frank Stockton, and she was revelling in her chance to open both doors?
She reached out now to the door on the right, putting her hand determinedly on the knob and trying that one as well. Better to make an informed decision, was it not? Even if this was a dream--for nothing such as this happened in the -real- world. She was as comforted by her stubbornness as she was her freedom in exploring. As long as she maintained in her own mind that this was a dream, she could be done with the laws of reality. For it was normal to break the laws of reality in one's dreams. The trouble would arise if she started to think of this as real... |
The protagonists of a novel, at least in Jericho's experience always seemed either too happy or too sad for him. If they were sunshine and rainbows they were the spitting image of some generic emo person. It was pretty hard to connect to a hero when their antagonist seemed more realistic than them self. Sighing, Jericho put the book back into its shelf and grabbed another one. Where had all the good novels gone? Ew romance, he thought to himself, putting another one away. Maybe there was something more worthwhile in the comic book section (even if it was filled to the brim with manga). As he moved through the various shelves, he drank from his cup of coffee, slowly emptying it before crushing the cup altogether and throwing it in a nearby trash bin.
The comic section was a place that he knew well and often explored for series both new and old, limited runs and ongoing adventures. But what would be today's discovery? Nothing really. Rather than waste time digging through the shelves of graphic novels he pulled out a copy of "V for Vendetta" compiled into one huge collection as opposed to ten individual issues. Glancing at his watch, he decided to borrow the book partly because he wanted to head for a bite to eat, but also because he was sure there was nothing else here. Walking over to the one of the check out lines, he waited patiently for his turn. |
Audra, you find your vision blurring, like when Sanaii touched your forehead. The world spins for a moment and you feel like the blood is rushing to your head too fast. Your body falls back onto the bed and you lie there for a moment, letting the world settle, until you are sure you will not blackout.
((Audra roll Perception(Door): 2 3 3 5 Reroll Tens: None Successes: None Result: Audra cannot seem to focus on the door.)) ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Morgan, your hand grips the handle of the second door and again you notice how warm it is under your touch. As you pull it open, you see an identical scene as with the last door; a long hallway, ending in an intricate wooden door, with plain doors lining the hallway. The lights are off in this hall too. That fluttery anxiousness to leave the room is growing and something both encourages you and tells you not to look behind you, at the window. It's like in a horror film, when you know you should just run when that feeling dances up your spine, but you turn around to face it instead. It all comes down to which is stronger, fear or curiosity? ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The line was long; the regular librarian had disappeared into the stacks, possibly to help someone find something. People began to fidget. Finally, one sighed, left the line, and swung around to the desk. Sliding behind, he put on his business face and started checking the books out for the rest of the people. At last, he arrived at the young man with the red hair. Holding his hand out for the book, he addressed the young man with a formal tone. "Did you find everything you need today?" |
This. Is. Not. Real.
If she can manage to swallow down that dream-state induced fear, then she might at least get some good inspiration for a new story. Why, she might even be the next Stephen King, might write the most brilliant horror novel to ever grace the shelves of...well, anywhere, really. This dream, this nightmare might be exactly what she needed. Not to mention she was standing in front of a now open door with a long hallway to run down. That alone gave her a bit of confidence. She kept her hand on the doorknob, so she could turn and dip through the doorway and pull it shut based on what she saw, but she did manage to force herself to turn and look regardless. Her blood was already running cold, every muscle in her body tensed up and screaming at her to run, but the words of another inspirational author came to her mind. Never run from anything supernatural, it only encourages them. Bless you, Mr. Beagle, for putting into the back of her mind one bit of fantasy 'law' that ran contrary to the entire horror genre. Then again...wasn't the point of horror to kill off the characters? She would buck that trend. In her book, the main character would survive. She'd have to. Because this time the main character was herself, the setting was this dream, and maybe, just maybe, she would finally have enough to write a -complete- book, seeing as how she was going to have to live through it all to get to the happy ending and wake up again... Her train of thought derailed as she belatedly caught up with what she'd just mentally implied to herself. She was the main character. Was...that why she couldn't finish any of her stories? She put a bit of herself into each of them, sure, it added a bit of depth to their personalities, but... She...couldn't be the hero. Morgan just didn't have the confidence. It had snuck into her characters, into her stories, poisoning them with ennui and taking away their ability to -be- a hero character. But...the best stories weren't about a hero saving the world, but about a much more normal person -growing- to be a hero. Was it time for -her- to grow a bit? That could be why she was having a dream like this. She took a deep breath and finished her turn, looking resolutely at the window. What was going on out there? |
She was able to remain upright for a few moments before the room began to spin and her eyes lost focus. Not again... Scared she was going to fall off the bed and onto the floor, Audra lay back down. Her stomach lurched with the sudden movement, what on earth had happened to her? Was I drugged? Am I sick? She squeezed her eyes shut and held on to the sides of the bed as the world slowly stopped spinning.
Audra lay there a moment as the vertigo subsided, nervous to sit up again for fear it would return. Eyes still closed she slowly rolled over onto her side, hugging the pillow. What am I going to do? |
Audra, as you lie there, you begin to feel that nauseous feeling subside. The world rights itself and the room is still again. You feel confident that you can sit up without blacking out again, and just as this thought crosses your mind, you get a tingling sensation up your spine. You get the overwhelming feeling that someone is watching you, and fear takes root in the pit of your stomach. You feel your limbs begin to freeze up, the way that they do in dreams when you are trying to run from something, but the terror paralyzes you. You don't even know what you are afraid of, just that you are afraid. Purely, utterly terrified. You don't want to move; maybe if you stayed absolutely still, they wouldn't notice you. But your instinct screams at you to run, far, far away, anywhere but here, run, get up, go, run, hurry, run!
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Morgan, the world seems almost suspended in slow motion as you turn to face the fear that is twisting your stomach into knots. Your eyes move slowly across the room, finally meeting their mark on the window, peering into the dark for the source of your terror. But it's impossible to see through all that black....that seething....writhing darkness...since when did shadows move that way? The terror grips your heart and squeezes as you realize why you can't see past the black into the world outside. That shadow, dancing, twisting, engulfs the space just outside the window and it seems to almost seep into the room. Every warning bell in your head is blaring at you, your feet scream at you to turn and run, but your legs are frozen stiff in place. Behind you, you feel a hand grip your shoulder and although you want to scream, your voice is silent. In fact, the whole room is silent, like a pillow has been pressed against your ears. You can hear a voice speaking, but the words are muffled, impossible to catch. As the hand tightens the grip on your shoulder, you see someone step forward, standing beside you. The first thing you notice is the light, the only light you've seen since you woke up besides the moon. And like the moon, it is silvery and soft, a pale glow. It moves in long, silvery-blue strands, like wisps of clouds, like hair underwater, billowing, swirling, around a soft, pale face. It takes you a moment to realize that it is a woman at your side now, no older than thirty. She has a soft, yet angular face with sharp, proud features. A strong chin. High cheekbones. Her grip is gentle but commanding, holding you back, away from the window. She is not looking at you, but rather, at the shadow that seems to meld into the far wall. Her eyes are sharp, a blue to match her hair, and staring down the nightmare. Nightmare. Your mind supplies the word and you can't help but remember what that girl said. The woman beside you now is pushing you farther back, behind her, as she holds up her other hand, as if telling the shadow to stop. Her lips do not move, but you hear. You're not sure what. Like a scream, like a song, like a command, all in one. Terrifying and yet, you are not afraid. Even though her face is hard, fury blazing in her eyes, you do not fear. Your fear is gone, and as your gaze slides to the window, you realize so is the shadow. The sound returns to the room and for the first time, you realize you are shivering. When had it gotten so cold? |
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