l'appel du vide (henry creel fanfiction)

015

There is a strange comfort in darkness. Its quietness, vastness, and completeness.

Strange, but comforting.

Amelia floated in the darkness for what felt like ages. She felt peace consume her limbs and it lured her to sleep forever.

Suddenly the darkness whirled into a bright white. She sputtered and coughed.

You are drowning.

Amelia's eyes snapped open. Salt water stung her eyes just as much as her lungs burned for oxygen.

You need to swim up. You need to get to the surface.

Despite her burning lungs she swam up. Kicking her arms desperately, moving her arms in an attempt to reach the air above her.

She broke the surface and she took a deep breath, coughing out water along with it.

When she could finally see again she gauged her surroundings. She was in a river. The place looked so familiar, she recognized it almost immediately.

She swam to the side of the river and stood in the muddy bank. Trees surrounded her in every direction save for a dirt path. Seeing no other way out, she followed the path. It led her to a grand field filled with grass and a sporadic tree. It was a beautiful scene. It was perfect.

"Amelia?"

The girl whipped around at the sound of her name. Her eyes laid upon an older lady. She had to be in her mid 60's as her grey hair hung in curls around her face. She was pretty, really pretty.

Amelia searched her mind for who this could be, but before she could respond the woman spoke again.

"Oh, Amelia." The woman laughed, "Come inside my dear, lunch is ready."

The woman went inside the sunny yellow house as Amelia stood there in confusion. It took her 30 seconds to finally move her feet to follow the woman inside. Careful with where she stepped, afraid that she would break the floor or even herself.

Upon the table laid a sandwich and a glass of apple juice.

"I made you ham and cheese."

Amelia nodded and hummed but stood still as her eyes trailed the wall. Hung up were pictures of a little girl. No. These were pictures of Amelia as a child. Images of her behind large birthday cakes with the respective amount of candles lit on fire. First days of school with her surrounded by her smiling friends. Homecoming, Prom, they were all there. She figured this was her mother.

"Well are you going to eat?"

"Right, sorry." Amelia apologized and took her spot at the table.

As soon as she was done eating, her mother took her plate and glass and started to wash them in the sink.

The room darkened as she did so. Outside seemed to change. The wind picked up and there was a distant sound of thunder. This obviously caught Amelia's attention. She stood up from the table and opened the screen door that leaded to the porch.

Wait, what?

Amelia fell, rolling down a hill before coming to a stop at an electrified fence. She laid in a daze after the hot pain of electricity jolted her to her core. After catching her breath, she sat up and looked inside the fence. A large building stood lit up with bright white lights. It looked like a power manufacturer, but the men with guns told a very different story.

It suddenly felt like she couldn't breathe again. She dug at her chest begging her lungs to expand. A ringing in her ears clouded her thoughts, it drove her mad.