James and the Fey (Legends of Pinewood 3)

2. You Will Not Have A Good Time

A tent couldn't just disappear into thin air. That was impossible.

And a forest could definitely not just vanish.

Yet, all I saw was mist and... nothingness in all directions. A chill shot through my body, like a shard of ice had nestled itself in my spine. I shivered. My heart pounded in my chest.

This wasn't real. My eyes were deceiving me. They had to be. Either that, or I was asleep and caught in a terrifying, stress-induced nightmare.

I rubbed my eyes, but it changed nothing. I pinched my arm, and it hurt like it was supposed to.

I didn't feel like I was asleep, but it was getting increasingly harder to breathe. The air was stifling me. It was thick as tar, and I had to breathe through my mouth to fill my lungs. The shadows had grown darker and closer. They were alive, hungry, and wanted to grab me.

Even if it didn't feel like a nightmare this time, it had to be one. It always started like this.

I'd had frightening, hyperrealistic nightmares before. It'd been happening to me ever since I was a child. Shadows that tried to grab me. Air like tar. Monsters lurking in the dark. All sorts of terrifying things. Usually I could make it go away by forcing myself to wake up.

Sometimes I had to get creative, but I could always stop the nightmares if I ran and found water. The cold sensation on my face woke me right up.

In a forest you'd think there had to be a stream somewhere, but I still couldn't see anything.

I looked around, trying my hardest to keep my hard breathing under control. My usual strategy wouldn't work if there was nothing surrounding me. Nothing I could see in the endless mist, anyway.

But if I stayed where I was, I'd never get out.

With few options left, I knelt and tried to find my tent on touch. Even sinking to my knees was a challenge, however. My legs were unsteady in this weird atmosphere that was strangely light and heavy at the same time. The gravity didn't feel entirely right, just like the air.

While I searched for the tent, shadows danced in my peripheral vision. Every time I turned my head, there was nobody there. Yet, the uncomfortable feeling of being watched didn't go leave.

I tried to grab my phone but with a start realised it wasn't with me anymore either. When had I lost it? I was sure it'd been in my hand moments ago.

I breathed in and out shakily. Guess I wouldn't be getting an additional source of light. If this was a nightmare like I believed it was, then there was no guarantee it would work the way I expected, anyway.

"Relax," I muttered to myself. "It's a nightmare. You've had many of them. It's not real. You just need to keep walking until you find a river, stick your head in, and the cold sensation will wake you right up."

One last time I looked around for my tent, wanting its pretend-safety. The tent was gone, however, just like my phone. Looking for them wasn't going to do anything in a nightmare landscape.

Mustering all my courage, I rose to my wobbly feet and took a few steps. A sound pierced the mist up ahead. A soft crying. I flinched and froze on the spot.

My heart pounded so hard in my throat I felt dizzy.

This wasn't normal.

Usually, I was entirely alone in my dreams, which was the only part that made it possible for me to separate them from real life at times, since I would never be alone in the city. It made the nightmare unrealistic, the same way I knew this wasn't real because my phone and the tent were gone.