Bound by Hellfire

Chapter 10

We ran as fast as our legs could carry us.  Our feet were tired and blistered from the terrain, yet we kept running. Stopping and death were one and the same and our bodies fought their limits to keep us going.

One breath after the other we huffed the chilling air. Our lungs burned with each step, but the thought of slowing down--- to think of what just happened--- was too much. So we ran, and when we grew tired we kept running. Not knowing where we were going, but knowing that anything had to be better than the wretched place we were leaving behind.

Eventually, Ethan and the girl Andrew had saved began to slow. Our bodies were adrenaline-filled, but that can only take you so far as I too felt my legs spark with pain. Before we knew it we were all on the forest floor, gasping for air as if we had been holding it the entire time. The friends we had been desperately chasing had obviously gone a different way.

I rolled to my back, trying to control my breathing but nothing helped. We had overexerted our bodies and this was their way of getting back at us. I closed my eyes trying to take my mind away from the pain but behind my eyelids, a picture had been engraved. Andrew's face, pale and lifeless; his mouth propped open ever so slightly--- his eyes now mirrors for the red glow that stared into them.

I quickly blinked the nightmare away. My eyes begged to close as tears streamed toward my ears but I wouldn't let them. It was too much to bear. To see Andrew's cheeks which were once so full of life, now sunken and gray; his eyes which were once so bright, now cold and empty. I didn't want to look. Not because of what it was, but because deep down I knew that I could have helped--- even if it meant my own life--- and yet here I lay, alive, and full of regret.

A star faintly twinkled in the sky, keeping me from delving deeper into my thoughts. The sun was low and the endless stretch of towering black trees kept the warmth from reaching our skin.

I kept my eyes on the star as it shined brighter with every minute. Once again I was struck with a sense of deja vu. I had been here before. Looking into the sky at that one lonely star. Hoping that it would swoop down and carry me away.

I closed my eyes. The thoughts of Andrew had melted away and in its place a warmth that kissed my face gently. Fire crackled in my ears and smoke filled my nostrils as my mind did a swan dive into a memory long left and forgotten.

My eyes opened and I found myself on the forest floor. It was dark and despite my best efforts, my body was completely unresponsive. My breaths quickened as I struggled to lift myself from the ground but it was no use. I was trapped in my own body, my only form of movement being my head which creaked and popped as I moved it from side to side.

Again I felt the warmth on my cheek. Gentle and kind, like the warmth of a fireplace on a cold winter night. I turned my head to embrace it, only to be met with a horrific sight. It was my parent's car, engulfed in flames just as it had been in so many dreams before. The blaze twisted into the starry sky as it stretched from the street and into the brush I found myself in.

"Adam"--- it whispered to me.

The flames flickered and pulsed as they crept closer. At its heart, a dark red that breathed in and out with the pulling breeze. I stared into its depths, thinking only of the monster's eyes. Opening, and closing, pulling me deeper into its hypnotic grip.

I threw my head back toward the darkness as the crackle of the fire enveloped my ears. My body was still unresponsive, and yet I could feel everything around me. The cool breeze as it slithered through my shirt, the sting of the heat as sparks crackled onto my arms, but still I sat unable to do anything.

"Adam"--- It called again.

I didn't want to look at what my brain had conjured for me. Not after seeing the things that I had seen. My eyes shut harder as my name echoed through the forest again and again. I began to scream, just to hear anything else. Just to know that there was anything besides this hell that my mind had sent me to.