Crowd (Completed)

Crowd

Chapter - 1| The Nightmare

There is a nightmare that arrives in darkness ~ from which you are so scared ~ you stand all alone in it ~ surrounded by the gloomy mist of hell ~ You scream out loud ~ when you feel a sharp hold around your core ~ you hear a raven singing a song ~ telling the reaper is coming close ~ tell me dear ~ how far can you run? ~ How long can you fight..? ~ Because when your nightmare is out to get you ~ believe me my love, you will have close to no chance to survive.

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There were so many ravens that sat up on the soaring lifeless trees. They were staring at me with their pearl like black eyes, almost as if they could see right through my soul. From far away I could hear the howls of hell. Far yet close enough to send chills in my spine. There was a dark mist all around, making it harder for me to find my way. Not that I knew where I was going; all I wanted was to get out of these woods. The trees passed by like a blur as I ran, there branches ripping my clothes but I didn't cared. I have been running for what seems like hours. My bare feats were starting to bleed, for the forest floor was showing no mercy on them. My body was aching all over but I didn't dare to slow down. If I did, than they will catch me and I cannot let that happen... I would not let that happen.

I dared to take a look behind, only to find them closer than before. Which, I could not quite understand. Their legs were not even moving; it was almost as if they were floating above the ground. I pushed my legs farther than their limits but ended up falling on the overgrown roots of a tree. I tried to get up but the roots were starting to wrap themselves around my foot. Panicked, I tried to break them but they only tighten their grip.

That was when the air around me became still.

The roots slowly slid back to their prior position, leaving red marks around my ankles. Rubbing the marks I closed my eyes and stood up with shaky breath. I did not have to open my eyes to know why the roots backed away and neither did I have open them to know why the air had became still. I just knew what had happened. The dark aura that has surrounded me, that was slowly suffocating me... I knew whom it belonged to.

"Look at us" A melodic influence called out and my heart skipped a beat.

"No..." My answer came as a whimper; barely audible. But I knew they had heard it.

"Look at us" It called out again... oh what a voice it is.

How can you resist it? Simply open your eyes. Something at the back of my mind told me.

Slowly but surely I opened my eyes and the sight drained the color of my face... I found myself surrounded by them. The crowd.

The crowd that wore a black cloak and a mask of clown; a mask, that only showed the blood red eyes in which one could so easily drown.

Desperately I looked around in hope to find some help, in hope of being saved from death. My eyes lit up when I saw my family and friends that stood far away. I screamed for help but no words came out. With a frown I clutched my throat.

"They cannot help you" That voice called out again. Even though each time I tried no words came out, I still tried to scream again and again, with eyes glued to where my known ones were standing, but soon the dark mist swallowed them.

All hopes left...

And then it began. Ravens flew towards the sky with deafening shrieks. The wind around me became wild, piercing through my bleeding skin. I fall on the ground, clutching my head as that voice sang the song that I knew will mark my death.

"You were born to be with us. You cannot amend your fate. Give us your heart, turn into an immortal and cut out this chase..."

"No!" I screamed, I tried to kick but nothing seemed to help. Hands of the Crowd were digging in my flesh as vines of darkness wrapped around my arms and legs and pushed me on the ground. I felt a pair of hands on my chest, right above my heart and felt claws slashing through my skin. I screamed out for help but no one came to save me. I screamed out for the Crowd to stop but I knew they would not stop until they killed me. Tears formed in my eyes as the hope of being saved slipped away. I screamed again as I felt a hand wrapping around my soul, but before I could do anything, the hand ripped out my heart.

It felt strange as I flew in the air, right above the body that once used to be mine. The crowd had gone still. Surrounding a corpse, that lay on the ground... lifeless. I stared down at it. There were barely any clothes left on it to cover its decency. And what that was left was covered in mud and blood. Eyes closed; skin white as snow and an unusual stillness in its features. Than something happened... something that was impossible for a corpse but still it happened. Its eyes fluttered opened. But instead of black as they once used to be; now they were blood red, just like the crowd...

****

Gasping for air I sat up. A sigh left my trembling lips as I looked around and found myself in my room.

"It was just a dream. Just a really bad dream... I'm still in my room, completely safe" I repeated the words, over and over again, trying to control my wild pounding heart, but failed to calm it down.