Sprayfire

Chapter XIV - Sparking Plugs

Any last words...

...you wanna say?

I'm coming for you... Craze...

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

I was woken up by a horrible nightmare and cold winds. The scenes of my encounter were as follows;

I was in a field of grass; the night sky was glittering with pride. I look around to see many variants and types of flowers, with roses being the dominant kind among all the other flowers in the field. I take a glance up into the night sky to gaze upon the shining stars. Then, upon bringing my face down, I realize that Necrominon was standing in front of me - staring into my eyes. I was paralyzed by some unidentified force, and was forced to look at him. He then uttered the phrase (mentioned above in normal text) in a dark, low voice. As he was slowly saying those words, the surrounding area - the field, the forests far away, the shimmering sky of stars - they slowly started to dissipate and lose opacity, making them appear gray-ish or black-ish. When everything was almost covered in darkness, I could only see a few feet around me. I noticed the roses gradually fade from a dense red - to a death-like gray. As I looked back at Necrominon, he said the last words of my dream (mentioned above in italic and bold text). Afterwards, a skull came crashing through the vision of my nightmare, accompanied by a horrifying female scream - a nerve-wrecking jumpscare.

I don't flinch and gasp for air whenever I wake up from nightmares, but when I do, the nightmare is usually extremely convincing and serious. In this case, I opened my eyes and flinched, as I breathed in and out very deeply. It occurred to me that something was wrong. I turned my head to look around the cave to try and figure out what it was - but for some reason, I just couldn't put my finger on it. Then, I realized that something about my sleeping position wasn't quite right. Apparently, I was facing Elizabeth, and at the same time hugging her tight.

"Uhhh... Craze..?", she spoke softly.

"Oh, sorry! I'm - I'm sorry!", I said as I quickly lifted my arms and sat up.

"It's cool... No worries...", she said, as she sat up and rubbed her eyes.

"I know, I know. I'm still sorry though...", I told her. "The wind last night must have been really cold. I'm not that used to sleeping in cold conditions anymore. I probably hugged you unconsciously because of your leather suit.", I explained, as I started to feel hot.

"No - no, it's okay.", Elizabeth replied. "Actually, I could feel myself shivering last night. The cold wind was making me wake up and fall asleep, several times. After a few times, I felt your arms get wrapped around me - best feeling you can get in a windy night, really...", she added, as her face turned red. (She was still wearing her hood, which was covering her whole face, except for her mouth and chin area)

"Oh, okay...", I said, as I felt my face became hot. "So... we're good, right?", I asked.

"Of course.", she answered. "Alright well, we'd better get a'move on if we're gonna get you back to the Headquarters.", she said, as she stood up and started packing her things.

"W-wait a minute... Shouldn't you be going back to your home?", I asked her, as I organized my stuff and fixed my bag.

"My - home..?", she asked. "It's a complicated story.", she added.

I placed my rucksack on my back and prepared to leave. Elizabeth started explaining details of her somewhat tragic life, as she picked up her satchel and wore it. We both walked out the cave, as she continued talking. She mentioned something about her parents once becoming inattentive, partly ignorant, and somewhat aggressive. She also told me that her parents were a crazy interpretation of Yin and Yang; her dad was a little physical and violent, and her mom was often stressed out.