The Shadow's Grip • bxb [COMPLETED]

-7-

Dimitri's P.O.V.

I enter the apartment and I'm met with Luna and Violet watching a movie while cuddling on the couch in the living room.

That's where I usually sleep and Violet takes the only bed in the apartment that is in the bedroom. But since they seem pretty busy I might go into the other room silently.

"Well well well... Look who decided to finally show up!" Violet stands up from the couch and walks up to me.

Incredible effort coming from her who spends most of her days there watching TV when she's not at work or out.

"It's so early in the morning. Why are you awake?" I can't help but ask.

It's not like Violet to wake up early. She usually sleeps at least until noon on her free days. Well her job at the café around the corner is not as demanding as mine at the gas station where I have to deal with weirdos all night long.

Night shifts are the worst. It's fucking up my already fucked up sleeping schedule. If I get three hours of sleep I'm lucky. And then some people have the nerve to ask why I have dark circles under my eyes and I'm almost always lifeless.

"Luna came over because she couldn't sleep. And I'm also taking that driver license test soon so I've been worried sick"

"Yeah... Yeah... Good luck on that" I just nod at everything she says and then toss my bag somewhere on the floor.

"You should really take a few days off and rest" I hear Luna say from the couch but I just brush her off with some weird hand movement.

"I'm fine. I'll lay down for a few seconds and I'll be good as new"

While I'm lying down on the bed, lost in my own head, remembering the events from last night, my eyes slowly start to close. I didn't even change from my work clothes and I couldn't care less now, feeling the warm embrace of the pillow.

I give in and close my eyes, finally falling asleep.

Before I can even relax, I wake up again. My eyes open and all I see is white. It's hurting me a lot.

Is this sleep paralysis? For a second I felt like I couldn't move but now I'm looking at my hands just fine. I gotta admit I'm pretty bad at analyzing my surroundings, so it takes some time to realize that the white light I was seeing is actually the sky.

What am I doing outside? I stand up almost immediately, a bit panicked.

I am in fact outside. But not in the city. It's a forest.

A vast forest, engulfing the horizont no matter in what way I'm looking. The trees are tall and sturdy, leaves lit up by the sun.

Theres no way this is sleep paralysis. It's not real. It has to be a dream. A nice one at least since the sun rays are hitting my face, a warm embrace and the wind howling through the branches.

It wouldn't hurt to look around at least for a little bit, to take in this fresh air and spread my arms in the sunset. After a long night at work it almost feels like a reward.

My bare feet are moving against the soft grass, but no matter how much I walk, it seems like I'm not making any progress. I'm still in the same spot. Or so it feels like.

Am I going in circles? I let my eyes wander around for a moment, but all the trees look the same. It's like this forest is perfect. Too perfect.

Something's not right. I've never had a dream that felt this real before. But I should try and remain calm. Whatever happens, breath in and out and keep walking.

I start walking again, passing by the perfect trees, and at some point I feel leaves under my feet. Fallen leaves. But at first it seemed like it was summer here. The sun was shining brightly and everything was green.

I look up at the sky, but only see clouds now. Only a glance in a different direction was enough for the forest to completely transform.

Now all the trees are dressed in different shades of brown, orange and yellow. It's fall. The whole scenery changed in the blink of an eye and I can feel the ground getting colder under my feet.

This whole thing is making me more anxious than it should. It's just a dream. Why am I freaking out?

Without even thinking, my legs just move on their own and instead of walking relaxed like before, now I'm almost running.

I don't know where I'll end up but I need to leave this dream. I have to wake up.

The air around me is getting colder and colder as the last leaves fall off the trees' branches. Soon, snowflakes start falling from the sky.

My hands are shaking and I'm trying to keep myself warm by rubbing them together.

I want to wake up.

After what feels like forever, I'm seeing something in the distance. Something that's not a tree. It's a building but I can't see it too clearly from here. I have to get closer.

The wind is howling, almost as if it wants to keep me from reaching that building. By now, my feet are barely moving through the snow that reaches my ankles.

A cross. Something familiar that makes me both happy but miserable at the same time. Something that reminds me of home. The home that was my safe space and slowly became a jail.

It's a church. The building that I could see is a church. Small, the cross from it's roof barely noticeable if you're not looking too close as I am. But definitely a church.

I want to open the doors but hesitate a bit. That's when I can see a shadow appear in front of me. Tall, hovering above me.

I freeze. I can't move anymore, even if I wanted to. If I could move maybe I would run away. Would it catch me if I try? Would it kill me? Is this how I'm going to die?

It's even colder now and I'm shaking so much, it's like my hands and feet are already numb.

I shut my eyes, tightly, and hear a faint voice in the distance but I can't make up what it's saying. It's almost as if it's calling from me, but I don't want to move an inch of my body right now.

I open my eyes and suddenly everything disappears. I'm staring at my ceiling. I can recognize those cracks anywhere.

What just happened? Was that it? I'm sure it was it. I got the same feeling of helplessness from before, at the gas station. And it also looked the same. Like a shadow.

I can hear my phone calling from the nightstand and take it to see who it is. I'm still half asleep and confused, but see that it's an unknown number.

Fuck.

I don't even bother to think and just answer it.

He was right.