Sweet Summer

Chapter Nine :

"So what did you guys find?" Parker asked, leaning against a tree with his arms crossed, the afternoon light casting long shadows through the canopy.

"We came across a page with this ancient language," Alina began, her voice low as she exchanged a glance with Natalia. "We don't know what it's saying, but we believe it's some type of ritual chant."

"A ritual chant?" Parker furrowed his brow. "That doesn't sound like something you'd just stumble upon in a random book."

Alina nodded, flipping through her notebook where she had scribbled down the strange symbols they found. "Exactly. And there's more." She hesitated, biting her lip before continuing. "The page...it was stained. Like something had bled over it. And it wasn't old ink."

Natalia chimed in, her voice barely above a whisper. "I felt something when I was near it—like a pulse or...something alive."

Hayden frowned, shifting his seating position. "Alive? What are we even dealing with?"

"We're not sure," Natalia admitted, glancing nervously at the treeline as if expecting something—or someone—to emerge. "But we think it's connected to the journal we found. It has to be."

Parker straightened up, his unease growing. "Wait, you're saying the page and the artifact are linked?"

"Yeah," Alina confirmed. "The symbols on the page match some of the carvings we saw on the artifact. There's something ancient—dangerous—about all of this. It's not just a random coincidence."

Parker's mind raced. "And what if the nightmares are tied to it too? We've all been having them, right? Seeing those symbols in our dreams..."

Natalia's face paled. "You don't think...this chant could be calling something, do you?"

The group fell silent, the weight of her words sinking in. The woods around them suddenly felt more oppressive, the air heavier with an unseen force that seemed to watch, to wait.

That night, as Parker switched into a tank top and shorts, he couldn't shake the lingering unease from earlier. The air in the cabin was stifling, not just from the summer heat but from the weight of everything they had uncovered. His fingers brushed absentmindedly over the strange symbols on his wrist—the ones he hadn't noticed until his first nightmare weeks ago.

He turned towards the window, the moonlight casting pale shadows across the floor. Parker's mind buzzed with thoughts of the artifact, the ancient chant, and the eerie feeling that something—someone—was watching them.

As he lay back on his bed, staring at the ceiling, his breathing slowed. The room seemed to darken, the edges of his vision blurring. His body grew heavier, sinking into the mattress.

Suddenly, Parker's surroundings shifted. The walls of the cabin seemed to melt away, replaced by the rough, stone-like material from his last dream. This time it had a note, with a cautious hand he shakily picked it up flipping it over for it to read

"We found you.." those words alone made the hairs of the back of his neck rise, what could this mean? Who's we and what do they want from him?..suddenly feeling a presence behind him, swiftly turning his head to see

Nothing?

Parker frowned, taking in the room around him "what even is this place?." before seeing the same door from last time..and without thinking, he took a few steps towards it—clutching the note in his hand, the ground cold beneath his feet.

This time he decided not yell, walking in eerie silence as the darkness swallowed him in as he did so. His breath came in shallow, uneven bursts, the cold air biting against his skin. The note in his hand felt heavier now, as if it pulsed with a life of its own. He tightened his grip, the edges of the paper digging into his palm, a reminder that this was real—whatever this was.