squirrels and the frightened sheep and lambs I'd saved from ghastly deaths.
A gray blankness settled in, coating my mindscape in a dull layer of fog.
"You filthy monster," Elyssa said, her blade pressed against my throat as she pinned my arms to the ground with her knees. Blood trickled down my neck and all I could see was her tear-stained face and the starry sky of night to either side.
"Get it out of here," Leia said, appearing to Elyssa's left.
"Kill it," said Thomas, as he emerged from her right.
"I'll always love you, son," Mom said, appearing behind Thomas. He grunted and stumbled forward before falling flat on his face, a bloody dagger protruding from his back. Leia and Elyssa didn't seem to notice. Mom pulled an intricately curved wand and touched it to Leia. The flesh melted from her face and body like ice in a sauna, leaving a bloody red slush and a bleached skeleton standing where she'd been.
Mom came behind Elyssa, whose eyes were still locked onto me.
"No," I said. "Mom, no, I love her. Don't hurt her."
"We will stop them," Mom said. "David, it's the only way." She touched the wand to Elyssa.
I screamed as my true love's body exploded into flames, the heat searing my chest as she toppled onto me. Blood and ashes filled my view.
I stood outside the door. Outside the red door. Red streaks ran down the sidewalk. All the way to the street. I spun and saw a woman. Her legs were gone below the thigh, trailing bone and sinew and so much blood it painted the ground red. I raced to her and knelt.
"What happened? Where's mommy?" I pressed a hand to my throat and found it smaller than it should be. My hands were tiny. What had happened to me?
"They must be stopped," she said. "But the others don't want to stop them. They don't want to…" Her blue eyes glazed over and the last bit of color drained from her face. As the light of life left her eyes, the world faded to black around me. I stood and stared as a plastic sword appeared in my hand.
A baby screamed from far away and I was home, standing in the same familiar hallway I'd walked a million times, except now it was impossibly long. Pitch black waited at one end, bright light at the other. I ran for the light, for the screaming baby. My sister.
Justin, you're going the wrong way.
I spun, my toy sword clutched tight as if I could fight an army with it, eyes searching for the source of the voice. "Who said that?" My voice sounded tiny and childlike. I looked at the light. A dark shadow passed over it. The outline of a man with a top hat, his hands reaching for something, cast a sinister figure. A woman's screams drowned out the baby's wails.
The dark holds salvation.
"My sister is in the light!" I screamed. "Save her!"
The dark holds the light.
"You're crazy!" I ran for the light. The hallway stretched before me. The blurry family pictures lining the walls fell as I ran past, the glass in their frames shattering and cracking. I looked back. The hallway disintegrated behind me as a black void raced at my heels. I screamed and ran for all I was worth. My legs wobbled. I staggered. Excruciating pain lanced into every molecule of my body, but I couldn't let it slow me down. I had to save Ivy, my sister. I had to keep the Conroys from taking her.
But I couldn't.
A burning itching sensation caught fire in my feet and spread in a wave over my entire body. I fell. Turned on my back and stared at the vortex of oblivion churning up the hall behind me. And then it sucked me into its maw and I was falling, falling into blackness so deep I might as well have been blind.
After what seemed an eternity of floating, my body blazing and itching like I'd just rolled naked through poison ivy and then coated myself with iodine, the pain vanished. This place was silent. Not even the sound of my breathing punctuated the stillness. I tried to speak, but my attempts met only
A gray blankness settled in, coating my mindscape in a dull layer of fog.
"You filthy monster," Elyssa said, her blade pressed against my throat as she pinned my arms to the ground with her knees. Blood trickled down my neck and all I could see was her tear-stained face and the starry sky of night to either side.
"Get it out of here," Leia said, appearing to Elyssa's left.
"Kill it," said Thomas, as he emerged from her right.
"I'll always love you, son," Mom said, appearing behind Thomas. He grunted and stumbled forward before falling flat on his face, a bloody dagger protruding from his back. Leia and Elyssa didn't seem to notice. Mom pulled an intricately curved wand and touched it to Leia. The flesh melted from her face and body like ice in a sauna, leaving a bloody red slush and a bleached skeleton standing where she'd been.
Mom came behind Elyssa, whose eyes were still locked onto me.
"No," I said. "Mom, no, I love her. Don't hurt her."
"We will stop them," Mom said. "David, it's the only way." She touched the wand to Elyssa.
I screamed as my true love's body exploded into flames, the heat searing my chest as she toppled onto me. Blood and ashes filled my view.
I stood outside the door. Outside the red door. Red streaks ran down the sidewalk. All the way to the street. I spun and saw a woman. Her legs were gone below the thigh, trailing bone and sinew and so much blood it painted the ground red. I raced to her and knelt.
"What happened? Where's mommy?" I pressed a hand to my throat and found it smaller than it should be. My hands were tiny. What had happened to me?
"They must be stopped," she said. "But the others don't want to stop them. They don't want to…" Her blue eyes glazed over and the last bit of color drained from her face. As the light of life left her eyes, the world faded to black around me. I stood and stared as a plastic sword appeared in my hand.
A baby screamed from far away and I was home, standing in the same familiar hallway I'd walked a million times, except now it was impossibly long. Pitch black waited at one end, bright light at the other. I ran for the light, for the screaming baby. My sister.
Justin, you're going the wrong way.
I spun, my toy sword clutched tight as if I could fight an army with it, eyes searching for the source of the voice. "Who said that?" My voice sounded tiny and childlike. I looked at the light. A dark shadow passed over it. The outline of a man with a top hat, his hands reaching for something, cast a sinister figure. A woman's screams drowned out the baby's wails.
The dark holds salvation.
"My sister is in the light!" I screamed. "Save her!"
The dark holds the light.
"You're crazy!" I ran for the light. The hallway stretched before me. The blurry family pictures lining the walls fell as I ran past, the glass in their frames shattering and cracking. I looked back. The hallway disintegrated behind me as a black void raced at my heels. I screamed and ran for all I was worth. My legs wobbled. I staggered. Excruciating pain lanced into every molecule of my body, but I couldn't let it slow me down. I had to save Ivy, my sister. I had to keep the Conroys from taking her.
But I couldn't.
A burning itching sensation caught fire in my feet and spread in a wave over my entire body. I fell. Turned on my back and stared at the vortex of oblivion churning up the hall behind me. And then it sucked me into its maw and I was falling, falling into blackness so deep I might as well have been blind.
After what seemed an eternity of floating, my body blazing and itching like I'd just rolled naked through poison ivy and then coated myself with iodine, the pain vanished. This place was silent. Not even the sound of my breathing punctuated the stillness. I tried to speak, but my attempts met only
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