LAST CHANCE WILL YOU SURVIVE

Promise Me

When I felt a hand on my back I slowly opened my eyes. I was on the couch laying on his lap still. I looked at one of the windows and saw that it was dark out. I sat up and looked at Saud while rubbing my eyes.

"Tired?" He said with a smile.

I nodded my head slowly, tiredly yawning. "Can we stop by my house? I need to grab something." 

He laughed.

"What, are you crashing at my house now."

"Yup. You're stuck with me."

"Yeah, we can go I'll be right there I'm going to take Moose out."

We both got up and went our separate ways. When I got to the front door was going to put on a coat. But I remembered that I never took off the one I had on. I went out the door and was about to get in the car when I looked to the right where the cross was.  I was going to go up to it, but I decided against it. I got in the car and waited for Saud to get back. I was looking out the window when I saw a silhouette in the darkness. I leaned closer to the window to get a better look.  The silhouette held up three fingers while just standing there. I heard the car door open, I knew it was Saud so I kept staring at it. 

"Wow, it's cold out there. You ready to go?" He said buckling his seat belt.

"Do you see that? By that tree." I pointed at the standing figure in the darkness.

He leaned closer to my window where I pointed.

"I'm not seeing anything. What do you see?"

"There's something just standing out there holding up three fingers."

"Ignore it. Stop looking at it." I instantly stopped looking at it. He started the car and quickly drove out of the driveway.

"What was that?" I said worriedly.

"Well, let's just say that it's a messenger."

"What message was it giving me?" He stayed quiet looking at the road.

"Saud!"

"I'm not going to tell you, Anne. You don't need to hear that right now."

"Well if you know something that I don't, you'll have to start telling me. I'm not going to walk in the dark while you tell me where to go. I know you're trying to protect me. But by not telling me anything, you're pushing me further away from you. So please help me understand, promise me we'll do it together." I put out my pinky and instantly cringed.

He looked at me and back at the road.

"A little cliché don't you think?" 

I shrugged.

"Think of it as a contract."

"You actually want me to pinky promise you."

"Too late for me to back down now."

"But I'm driving."

"Can't you dive with one hand?"

"You're really set on this pinky promise thing."

"My arm is getting tired."

"Okay, okay."

He reached his hand over hooking his pinky with mine.

"Now, tell me what that thing was."

He took his pinky off mine and put his hand back on the wheel.

"People call them the devil's shadow. They don't talk or hurt you. Their main purpose is to send a message from their summoner. Once they've given the message to the person they die."

"Do they always just stand in the darkness staring at you?" 

He chuckled.

"No, they can copy another person's face, go into someone's dream, and so on. Whatever is relevant to what the person is doing."

"What did the three mean." 

He sighed.

"Well, since the girl was talking about your mom. She's giving you a date when your mom is going to die."

"Is it in months?"

"Days usually." He said in a sad tone.

"Why is she targeting my mom?"

"She can't just kill people. She has to target people who are dying so she can put the offer of life on the table. Especially young people, whose life just started."

"If she targets young people then why didn't she go after me?"

"She's trying to get you to play the game through your mom." 

"Through my mom?"

"Yeah, I guess you're not dying anytime soon, so she's using your mom. Because she knew that your mom was going to die soon."

"Why doesn't she just ask my mom to play the game?"

"She likes to see people in pain. By you getting upset when you got that call about your mom, showed her that you care about her enough that you would be in pain if she were dead."

We pulled into the driveway and parked. We both got out of the car walking up to the house. I opened the door and went in. I turned on the lights and went into the storage closet to grab a suitcase. Saud was just aimlessly walking around looking at things.

"Hey Saud, could you grab my purse that's over there?" I said pointing to the row of purses by the front door.

"Which one?"

"Ahh, the yellow one." I said trying not to laugh.

He started walking then stopped and turned around.

"Ha. Ha. So funny." He said throwing a pillow at me. 

I grabbed my suitcase and went past Saud who was frowning.

"Stop being a sourpuss, It was a joke. Now come on." I grabbed his hand and ran up the steps. We got into the hall and were about to go into my room but I felt Saud stop. 

"Are you sure I'm allowed to go in the all-powerful Anne's room?"

"Actually, no." I said shutting the door.

I went to my drawer and started to put my clothes in the suitcase.

"Anne, are you going to let me in?"

"No. I don't think I will."

"What can I do to get in?"

"If you get me a purple object I'll let you in."

"Your joking."

"Yeah, I am." I said opening the door. Saud was leaning on the wall smiling.

He walked into my room and sat on my bed watching me pack my suitcase.

"So what happens if I don't play the game?"

"I guess if you don't play your mom dies. Why?"

I shrugged.

"You're not thinking about playing, are you?

I slowly shook my head.

The room got quiet quickly.

"What's this?" He said picking up my journal.

"That's a journal where I write down all my dreams after I have them."

"Can I read It?"

"Yeah, sure."

I heard him flip through the pages as he reads it."

"Are you sure these are dreams? They sound more like nightmares."

He kept flipping through them until I heard him stop.

"When did you have this dream?" He said giving it to me.

"Last night, why?"

"Because that was me calling you."