Moon Bound

31

Coffins & Confessions
~
Cadence
~

When Cadence's eyes opened she knew she wasn't in the bedroom she fell asleep in.

In the grogginess and haziness of her gaze, she felt the roof closer than she last saw when she first fell asleep and the ceiling wasn't white, but black, complete blackness that she could press the palms of her hands against it.

"Hell—hello," Cadence stuttered, pushing against the ceiling that caved down on her and wouldn't budge against her strength. "Hello!"

When she shuffled from side to side, her breathing hitched for a gasp of air as her shoulders pressed against a hard metal wall that caged her in on either side.

She could hardly move, the tips of her toes hitting against a cool surface that wouldn't move any further. She was confined in a space she didn't fall asleep in.

Curling her fingers into fists, she punched furiously at the surface that caged her in, the sound of metal clashing against skin banging through her eardrums and echoing through the space she couldn't move in.

"Let me out!" Cadence roared, sweat beading across her forehead as her lip trembled, searching for any crack or slither of light to wedge her way out.

Her eyes burned, her heart thrashing against her chest and her heating body pressing against the cold metal offered no ounce of comfort.

It was when a scream rattled through the metal like a banshee did a chill passed through Cadence's body. It wasn't hers. Her screams wouldn't depict the despairing and horrific sound of someone else crying for help.

And it was like they were her screams, passing through her lips, but her mouth hadn't parted, they were sealed shut.

Before she could catch the wailing again, something gripped at her sides and she felt her body shudder from the sensation. Shaking away ...

"Cadence — Cadence," a voice cracked through her senses like a beacon of light, shining through her confinement and the chilling screams. "Cadence, wake up."

Cadence shot up and gasped for air. Her chest heaved and peered around. She was here. In Lycus's home. Where she fell asleep.

Eyes swirling, drinking in everything she could muster, her head swayed to a timid and watchful Accalia.

"You had a nightmare," Accalia explained nervously and cupped Cadence's arm.

"I thought—" Cadence paused, her eyes burning up and blinked it away before it could reach the surface. She stirred in the blankets that felt foreign to her and threw them off. "It was just a dream — don't worry, I'm fine."

Accalia didn't look convinced. "Cadence, you were crying for help, as if something had you, what happened?"

"Shouldn't you be asleep? How'd you find me like this?" Cadence questioned back.

Accalia sighed heavily, "I went to get a drink of water and to check on you. I saw you like this — I thought it was a night terror or something, you were shaking and nearly outright screaming."

Cadence didn't know how to dismiss that explanation, with that concrete information that chilled her to the bone. She hadn't dreamt that vividly and thoroughly since her family's death. Why would she now?