Resurrection: Book One of the Horrors of Ivory Tower Series

Chapter 1

Elora Vale fought frantically to steady her breathing and remind herself where she was. Her airway tightened, restricting the oxygen that passed through her lungs. It felt as if an invisible hand had clamped itself tightly around her neck with the relentless intent to cease her breathing altogether. The pressure ached and burned, pouring copious amounts of fuel on the fire that drove her terror. She pressed a hand against the cold, slick surface of the bathroom stall door and gasped for air as she drowned in an unseen sea. Get your shit together Elora, she angrily ordered. This is the last class you have to finish. The last class before you're a nurse. She reminded herself. You have to get a hold of yourself now!

Tears slipped down her prickling cheeks as her fear mounted. The ruthless attacker within her mind pursued her. Before she could stop it from happening, she was plucked from the real world around her and plunged into the darkness of her mind. The floor dropped out from under her and the bathroom stall disappeared in a dizzying display. Elora found herself in a dimly lit maze of hallways, screams filling her mind, echoing down the sinister corridors. She sprinted away from them, her heart hammering in her chest. She turned and twisted through the passageways, hot breath of the attacker on her neck. Malevolent whispers, groans, and laughter taunted her. Just as she turned another corner Elora found herself captured at a dead end. The pale moonlight poured in through a singular, barred window high above her. She whipped her body around to face the attacker, but found its face shrouded by darkness. The voice boomed evil pronouncements, screamed threats as it rapidly overwhelmed her at a dead end. There was no escape. She was going to die, but not before she was tortured. Elora dropped to the floor as unbearable, substantial pressure forced her to the floor in her mind. The deafening bellows bounced off the walls surrounding her until she was completely caged within a prison only she could visualize.

Elora screamed, but managed to stifle the sound quickly. She pressed a hand against her cold and clammy lips. Her breaths, quick and labored, blew strands of her hair away from her face with each sharp exhale.

She sagged in relief when the safety of the familiar bathroom surrounded her.

The attacker was nowhere to be found. Relief washed over her, but her chest and abdomen shook violently as she fought back sobs while she worked to strengthen threads connecting her to the reality of the moment.

As she grounded herself, the terror slowly subsided, but transformed into weakness and shame. She had been doing so well. While anxiety was a daily struggle, it had been months since her last flashback. Defeat plagued her mind. The disruption of reality shed bright light on the cracks within her psyche that had not yet been filled. Areas that wouldn't take much to pry completely apart. For a brief moment, Elora saw a flash of a standing mirror she often visualized as her psyche. The reflective glass remained fragmented beyond repair, but encased in the intricate wood frame in one piece. In her mind's eye, she reached a hand toward it, but before she could bring herself to make contact, the vision cracked and dissolved.

Elora shook her head. Rage boiled and churned in her stomach until the awful feeling burst upward into her chest. How am I still this unstable? It had been years! Years since....No! Elora's voice echoed throughout her head. I won't think about that anymore- any of it. I have to focus on school. On my future. That was in the past and it will stay there. If I help others, everything will be okay. I will be okay.

She knew it was a lie.

She couldn't run forever.

Fighting the images, the voices that plagued her mind, and the excruciating agony tethered to the memories, Elora eventually slowed her breathing away from the edge of hyperventilation. Soon her breaths slowed, and became more controlled.