WhiteScratch

A Day in Darkness

I wake up screaming in my room back home. I look around frantically and as I start to realize where I am, I get confused. 
"What? How did I-?" I ask myself in my own head. There is nothing but silence as I listen for my father's voice. I get out of bed and study the room, looking for something out of the norm but everything is the way I left it. I walk to the door and move my hand to the door knob. I hesitate before I touch it but I turn the knob anyway. As soon as the door swings open, I'm teleported to another place in half a second. Its dark with debris floating everywhere I look.
"Hello?" I ask into the darkness. My echo rings through the place like a bell for what seems like 5 minutes and no response. I ask again and before I even finish talking, I hear a scream. A scream full of pain and fear that I recognize in an instance. It's Jake's scream. I sprint through this dark, decimated wasteland looking in every direction for him.
"Jake?! Jake, where are you?!" I yell, hearing my echo, but he doesn't respond. He just keeps screaming. As I'm running, I trip on a piece of the ground and fall, scraping my knee and elbow. When I look up, I'm in a different place. I see myself hooked up to the Ring, unconscious, and I see Jake on floor with blood pooling around him. My eyes widen and I put my hand to my mouth. I close my eyes for only a second and when I open them again, I'm looking into the Stranger's eyes. Startled, I fall backwards and examine him. He yells in a high pitched tone and I cover my ears. He sprints toward me and my body absorbs him before I feel a pain like someone just stabbed me. The room goes dark.

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I jolt my head up and look around. I'm in my own body again.
"It was just a dream, Rachel." I tell myself in my head. I suddenly remember Jake and look urgently at him. He is not laying on the ground but he is still unconscious. He has been propped up against the wall with what looks like metal clamps around his ankles and wrists. I feel relived that he isn't in the condition he was in my dream but as I try to move my head to look around, I can't as I am severely light-headed. 
"You're right, darling. It was just a dream, wasn't it? Was it enjoyable?" I hear him say in my head. I start to think of something to say back to him and I feel a couple more horrible pulses split through my head. I wince in response to the pain as he starts to speak again. 
"I told you that you didn't want to try and fight me."  He looks at my forearm and squeezes it a little. 
"Just about done with this one." He says as he rubs the end of his blade up against my cheek. I want to ask him why he needs my blood but I decide not to for fear of another pulse. 
"Good girl! You're learning to not talk back at me." He says as though he could read my mind.
"But you have to know that I'm not revealing anything to you. I just want to see you suffer but an added bonus to that is your sweet, sweet blood." He rubs his index finger across the massive cut on my arm and licks the blood off of his finger. I can't help but to think of how sick that is but as soon as the thought enters my mind, he looks at me sternly and rushes a few more retched pulses through my head. 
"STOP IT!" I yell, through the pain.
"Ah, now you're trying to fight. Not a good idea." He pushes that little button again and a shock runs through my body. I scream and he laughs demonically. He then goes over to Jake and slits his forearm with the knife.
"NO! LEAVE HIM ALONE!" I yell at him as tears start to form in my eyes again. He ignores me and drops some of Jake's blood into a vile which he then lays on one of the metal tables. He notices me watching him and whispers, "For later."  and then smiles again. I go to say something else but instead, I let my head drop. It gets even lighter as time goes on.
"Looks like you're dealing with the side affects of massive blood loss. What a shame." He says sarcastically. 
"What do you want with me?" I ask him in my mind as I try to look at him. He doesn't respond and sends another pulse through my head. I give up on trying to look at him and look down at the base where I can see my blood, just pooling there. He pushes the button again and I scream again as another shock goes through me. My blood then gets sucked into a tube in the base and disappears. He walks over to me and slits my other forearm which causes another wave of horrible pain to wash over me. My blood slowly but steadily drops into the base as I watch it.
"I'm going to die here." I tell myself.
"More than likely. Don't worry, your friend will too." I jolt my head up and struggle to get free of my restraints to go lash at him. At the peak of my anger, I hear a soft calming voice. One that I've been without for so long. 
"Calm down...Rachel. It's no use. You'll only hurt yourself and you cannot get hurt anymore. Its breaking you apart; tearing you down." I stop trying and look at Jake with tears in my eyes. He looks at me so sincerely and so lovingly. 
"Jake.." I try to say something but I get chocked up on my tears. He winks at me and smiles which tells me that he has a plan to get out. 
"Just hang in there, ok?" I nod my head and the Stranger's rushes over to Jake. He puts a hand around his neck and talks to him in a voice that is inaudible to me. I start to panic but he releases Jake. I get relived as I hear him breathe again, signaling he's still alive. The shadow laughs, sighs, and then angrily shouts, "You guys cannot escape! I have you wrapped around my finger; trapped! STOP TRYING!" When he yells, it startles me and I jump a little. He rushes at me and puts his hand around my neck this time. I can't breathe and I can hear Jake shouting in the background at him to let me go. 
"No matter how hard you try...you can't escape Rachel." My heart seems to skip a beat, then two, then three. That voice, I know that voice. His real face takes the place of the dark, empty void and what I see leaves me in shock and horror.
"DAD?!"