The Luminary

FOUR

POV AUTUMN

I don't want to die here.

I WON'T die here.

I turned and looked back at the mutts. They were like cat and mouse waiting for their game to run so they could chase them. Don't think about what could go wrong.

I'd give them exactly what they want. A game. Be fast Autumn.

I stood still for a moment as they stood in a clump in front of me. Then I started left before I bolted right feeling a tinge of hope as they all lunged to catch me at left.

I Ignore the pounding in my head begging me to slow down as I run along the rock wall. They are faster than me. I just have to trick them. I run in zig zags praying for an escape. I couldn't keep going like this forever. They begin close around me and their howls get more agonizing to hear. I will not die.

I can feel one right on my heels as I spot a door straight ahead of me.

The best I can do is silently beg it not to be locked. It's what keeps me going faster and faster.

It's so close.

A shriek comes from that direction, and dread pools through me. Don't think about it. Don't think about it.

Right as I get to the doorway I spot a gap turning just shy of the door leading into a long hall leading into a stairwell. I hear a dozen thuds as the mutts slam into the door. I keep running, adrenaline mustering up an energy I hadn't known I had.

I threw myself up the stairs getting a head start because of their small delay. I ran up floor to floor until there weren't any more stairs and the only way to go was straight to a different door. I mustered up more speed than I had ever run in my entire life as the mutts nipped at my heels. I closed my eyes and threw myself at the door at the end of the hall. Please don't be locked.

I fly straight through the door but instead of hitting the ground. I'm falling.

I tear open my eyes, finding myself in a completely different place as air rushes past me tugging my hair up as I fall down through a clouded sunset. Literally.

I flail my limbs helplessly, unable to slow down.

The falling doesn't end, the clouds rush by me but there doesn't seem to be any end. Any splat.

"Autumn"

Voices begin to whisper my name all around me and I turn myself in the hair so I am diving head first. That's when I see flashes of my life right below me and through the sky. I begin to spin through my own mind as the air gets faster and faster.

Flashes of my own life. My fathers death. The first time Mom told me I was helpless. My grandpa threatening to tell the world my moms secret. Me, me, me. Voices and whispers echo through my head but all end in one thing that gets more frequent.

"Autumn"

"Autumn- Autumn"

"Autumn"

"AUTUMN!"

"It's time to wake up Autumn."

I look down to see a solid haze of cloud gaining on me.

"Autumn!"

"Autumn!"

Wake up Autumn!

The cloud below me dissipates the instant I hit it and I drop right into a blue blue ocean with a huge splash. The water swallows me whole but before I can swim I am drained right from the water into a sewer tunnel.