Out of the Darkness

124

I hobbled to my feet, and rubbed my elbow, which I had landed on pretty hard in the fall. "Are you okay?" I asked him, giving him a once over to see if there was any damage. "Yeah, I'm good. Guess the hammer came in handy, huh?" he said, reaching to his pocket for it. "Wait, it's not there." He looked around on the ground but there was nothing there. "I don't have my screwdriver either," I said. "You can't take something from one dream, into the next. It's against the rules," Ash said, swinging his long hair away from his face. "Great," I muttered. "So, what are we facing next?" "I don't know. Do you see anything?" I looked around the new area that we were in. It was all different shades of gray. Like an old black and white movie. Just an empty, barren place. Sloping hills of sand, with gray fences put up along side of it, with a paved road right in the middle. "Nothing. Ya know, if I could just get a preview of what we were supposed to be running from in each nightmare, that would be great," I said, laughing a little. "Like a scary movie that I've already seen, with no jump scares." They both laughed. "Well, that kind of takes the fun out of it though," Sam said. I raised my eyebrows at him. "Fun? You think this is fun? We almost died back there!" I exclaimed. Ash just stood by us, looking out at the empty terrain. "But we didn't. We won't. Come on, Colby, how much have me and you conquered together? A few bad dreams aren't going to be the end of us. I'm trying to think of it as just a haunted house or something," he replied, smiling at me, as he shrugged. I let out a little burst of unbelieving laughter. "A haunted house, huh? Okay, I guess we can beat that. No problem." "Exactly. No problem," he answered, clapping me on the back. "There's one problem, Sam," I said, as we started walking, following Ash down the paved road. "What's that?" "We can't just leave, like we can at the haunted hotels and stuff." He was quiet for a moment, chewing his bottom lip. "Guess we better hurry and get to the good dreams then." "I don't think we will be going through any good dreams," Ash chimed in. "I told you, the demon realm is the closest to the earth realm. We're looking for Anna, who is in a dark place. A very dark place." He stopped walking and turned to look at us both. "I've been in some very bad dreams. The worst nightmares that you can think of, I've been in them. They aren't half as bad as where she is or was." Sam and I looked at each other, and I saw the fear in his eyes. He wasn't as brave as he was putting on. But neither was I. "I'm trying to find the door to that realm. It seems to be one of it's own. What we're doing, isn't working. I came at this like I would any other job. It isn't like any other job, however. I realize this now," Ash said, taking his eyes from mine, and peering around at our surroundings. "So, we aren't looking for a door?" I asked, looking over my shoulder, as I got the familiar sense that someone was watching me. "Oh, we're still looking for a door, or an entrance to something. Just not the white light entrance. Not the entrance to another dream. No, we're looking for something deeper. Darker, not so easy to find. I can feel it though. Something is telling me to turn back. That it would be a really bad idea to keep going on our destined path. Which tells me that we are probably on the right track." I gulped down the ball of fear, as the sky suddenly darkened. "Holy shit!" Sam exclaimed, as lightning cracked across the sky. Rain cascaded down on us, just as quickly, with no warning. It was like a black sheet of water just pouring down from the sky. "Run for cover!" Ash yelled over the loud booming that didn't seem to want to stop. It was pitch black now, but we had no trouble seeing. The lightning was coming so fast that the barren landscape was lit up around us. "WHERE?" I yelled. "We're in the middle of nowhere!" "There!" He shouted back, pointing towards a house that I hadn't noticed before. We all took off, trying to escape the hard, cold water that pelted us, stinging our skin. Thankfully, the door was open, so we all skidded inside. Ash slammed the wooden door, just as lightning literally struck the ground in front of the porch. I could smell the air burning, and feel the electricity in the air. "Damn it, that was so close," I said, leaning over, with my hands on my knees, as I tried to catch my breath. "It's because we were just herded here," Ash said, looking around. I let my gaze follow his, taking in the interior of the old wooden home. It seemed almost familiar, though I had no clue why. There was a fire blazing in the old fireplace, a wooden rocking chair in front of it. An old wooden desk was up against the wall, with yellowed parchment and a feathered quill, with a bottle of ink. "Very old school," Sam mused, running his finger along the desk. "Does this place seem familiar to either of you?" he asked, looking up to meet my gaze. I nodded, and felt the ice cold shiver go down my spine again. I told myself that it was because I was soaking wet, with ice cold rain, but I knew the truth. It was that feeling again. The feeling of someone...or something, watching me. Watching us. "I wonder why that is," Ash said. I looked over to find him standing in front of the crackling red, gold, and blue flames. He had his hand on the mantle piece, above the fire place, looking at something. I walked over to join him, and saw a few pictures in dusty, antique silver frames. I picked one up to examine it closer.