A Looming Tower

3

Go, Anna! The Haunter exclaims, you must find a way out of this!

But I can't, for my eyes are locked with the wolf's.

The wolf. It's a silvery hound with a grey, ruffled coat, and it's eyes are an angry azure.

Azure, whispers through my mind, remember Azurelon, and then the pain erupts in my mind and I crumple to my knees. My soaked clothing drips as I cry out in frustration, the pain is fake, Anna, this is a dream, and I rise to my feet, pulling a towel off the hook. I throw it at the beast, and it makes a muffled cry, suddenly fighting a foe of cloth. When the wolf's out of sight, just a writhing mass under a blanket, I close my eyes. Think, Anna, Think! I repeat in my mind, but then something comes into view in my mind's sight. I grab it.

When I open my eyes I'm in a bedroom, and I recognize it.

Tangled sheets are matted down in the imprint of a body, mine, I remember with a spike of pain, and a carpet lines the floor. The timepiece that I threw to the wall is draped on the carpeting, and as I stare at it, I see the crack is still there. Looking around for a second, I pick it up.

This is the morning that began the Haunting, a taunting voice whispers, and I cry out, clutching my head. The sun shines on my body from past the shades, and breathing heavy, I force myself to get up. My toes curl into the rug.

This has happened before, Anna, the voice whispers again, and crying out in frustration I slam to the floor, close my eyes, and crawl under the bed.

A dark place, a safe place. Where else....

"Huh?" A voice says next to me, and I open my eyes before letting them go wide.

"Who are you?" we ask in almost perfect unison, and the boy across from my frowns in the dark of a broom closet.

"My name is... Haden," he says hesitantly. He's a darker-skinned boy, with pitch-black hair and ruffled clothes, and I wonder for a moment whether or not he's real. But then my senses kick in and I back away.

"Okay, Haden," I say, "How do I know you're not a dream?"

His eyes go wide. "I thought you were!"

I'm about to retaliate that that's not proof when the Haunter booms in my mind.

He is real, he says, As are you. There is him, there is you, there is Maximilian, and there is Olivia. That is what knowledge is hidden in your mind. If there are others, I do not know of them.

"Haden, Max, Anna, Olivia," I whisper. He cocks his head.

"What?" he asks.

I scowl. "Those are the names of the non-dream entities in here." I don't know where the words come from, but somehow, they spew from my mouth. "Haden Blackburn, Maximilian Yellowhood, Anna Drey, Olivia Youngblood."

He backs away. "Now I know you're a dream!" he exclaims, "There's no way you could know all that!"

I'm doubting myself now, too. If I can't control my voice, how do I know if I'm really me?

His eyes are shut tight. "Make her a rock, make her a broom, make her a pencil, I don't care!" he exclaims, clutching his head, "Just make her go away!"

And that's when I know he's real, or at least I know for now. His emotions are real. I put a hand on his shoulder. "Even if one of us is fake, wouldn't it be easier if we worked together?"

He looks at my hand in horror. "Fine! Fine! But don't touch me, don't get near me!" And before I can respond he flings open the door and runs into the halls of a school.

"Wait!" I cry, hurrying after him, "We need to work together!"

But he ignores me, clutching his head. "I'm not listening!" he yells, high pitched, and his pace increases. "DESK!" he screams, and suddenly one materializes before me, knocking the breath out of me and sending me flying. I regain my footage, though, and continue to run.

"CABINET!" he screeches, eyes still shut tight, but I avoid it this time. The hulking metal object rises before me but I veer to the right, slamming into a red-painted locker and back into the chase.

"HADEN!" I cry, but he responds in turn.

"CROWD!!" he shouts one last time, and before I know it I'm charging through a mob of teachers and students, elbowed and kicked and pushed out of the way.

"WAIT!" I exclaim one last time, but then I'm lost in the crowd and I fall to the floor with an umph, hugging my knees to my chest.

But... Was he real?

Yes, the Haunter says, and I bury my head in my arms. And I wonder...

How can the four of us survive if we don't stick together?

Hope you like chapter three! :D
--DraconisSolutus.