The Dark Roads: The Complete Story

Prologue: Christopher's Story

~One Year Ago~

Breathe in. Breathe out. Breathe in. Breathe out.

Every time I experience an event that traumatizes me, I tell myself to breathe in and breathe out. This method of calming myself down worked most of the time. This occasion however, was very different. It was one of those situations where my body was starting to shut down and everything around me was fading away. Even with the whole world working against me, I continued the sprint down the street towards my house.

I opened the front door and violently slammed it shut. I immediately regretted doing this because of the loud noise I had made.

"Honey I made Taquitos!" My mom shouted for me to hear.

I didn't want to talk to her right now. I didn't want to talk to anyone.

I ran up to my room and slammed the door, knowing my mom wouldn't come upstairs to check on me. She never did. She had more important things to worry about.

Just then, I started getting an awful headache. It wasn't my usual headaches. There was no pill that could stop the pain. This headache meant something was wrong; really wrong.

All of the sudden, I heard it. I heard the numbers being spoken into existence. It was the countdown, it had begun. I heard the numbers ringing in my dome.  I heard it almost instantly. It has not even been half an hour since I came back from that party. That god awful party. I couldn't believe that this was happening to me all over again. It only happened once before, when I was much younger. I could hear the voice inside me counting down.

10..

I remembered the party.

9..

The crying only worsened.

8..

I grabbed my pillow.

7..

I denied the past.

6..

I looked around.

5..

I backed away.

4..

I closed my eyes.

3..

2..

1..

Just then I saw it. I saw the darkness.