If You Don't (Ryden)

~1~

Let's get these teen hearts beating faster, faster

"WE'RE LOSING THEM!" A faint voice seemed to be yelling. My head rolled to the side, but I couldn't feel any other part of my body.

Let's get these teen hearts beating faster...

"ROSS HAS A PULSE." Another voice echoed.

Ross...Ross sounded familiar... I couldn't remember it though... Not clearly...

"WE'RE LOSING URIE."

That name sounded familiar too...but it was so dark...

"I CAN'T GET A PUlse..." The voice drifted into nothingness. The drone of a steady beeping was all that was left.

My eyelids had felt so heavy, but they were slowly becoming lighter, much like the rest of my body. I opened them slowly to find myself surrounded by a smokey white light. I turned my head from side to side to before propping myself on my arms.

What was happening?.. Where was I?.. And what about that other person...Ross?..

I climbed to my feet shakily and took a step forward. The droned beep had turned into a steady beat of beeps...Much like a heartbeat. I took a few steps, still looking at the swirling smoke around me.

"Hello?.." I called out. I looked down and saw that I was wearing a suit. Why so dressed up?.. I tugged at the black suit jacket before I heard a noise above me.

I looked up and felt my eyes grow wide as I looked up at a set of golden gates. They hadn't been there a moment ago. I watched in amazement as they seemed to begin creaking open. I let out a small gasp as the light around me seemed to grow brighter.

I suddenly heard a different creaking noise. It came from underneath me. Before I could look down, the ground beneath me gave away. I was falling.

The light had evaporated into darkness. It surrounded me as I continued to fall. I cried out from the top of my lungs, afraid to keep falling...and afraid to hit the end as well.

What was happening!? Why was this happening!? Why was I alone?..

My eyes grew heavy again and I let them close, still unsure of what was happening. Eventually, I felt something solid underneath me. I opened my eyes and my eyes shifted to look at everything around me.

It was dark...But not as dark as when I had fallen. There was a light from somewhere, but I couldn't distinguish from where. The ground was a soft dirt that my fingers could slip through. I propped myself up again for a better angle of the world that surrounded me.

There were bones?? Human bones and skulls littered everywhere around me. I felt a fear in my chest as my eyes grew wide once again. What. Was. Happening.

My hand twisted in the dirt next to me. I lifted it from the dirt and stared at my own hand in fear. It was no longer its pale, peach like tone. It was gray and stone like, with some of my skin seeming to be chipping away. I could barely react before a pain in my head caused me to tug at my hair with both my normal and changed hand. It felt like someone had let off a grenade in my mind. It suddenly ceased and my stomach began the same feeling. My hands shot down to it and I scrunched my eyes shut in pain.

I feel to the ground, gasping in the sudden appearing and disappearing pain. I slowly brought myself up and looked down at my stomach. My black jacket was gone, leaving me with just a white dress shirt. My fingers crept to the hem of the shirt and began to lift it up. I had a bad feeling that made me have to...

I hesitantly lifted my shirt and looked in horror at my stomach. It had transformed much like my hand. It was now gray and crackled...and it was beginning to spread up my chest.

I looked up at the nothingness I'm front of me.

"What's happening?.." I whispered.

The words had barely escaped my lips when my arms shot out in front of me. I couldn't control my movements as I got up to my feet. I grabbed the button up line of my shirt and ripped the two halves apart. I shook the clothing off and noticed patterns of etchings on my chest. The crackled gray had spread up there as well.

My arm shot out to my side and I watched the grayness spread out to my fingertips. I hunched over and felt my back sprout out as if there were sharp horns trying to poke out. I shot back up and cried out at the new pain in my forehead.

I fell to the ground once again and hit my fist against it, trying to get the pain that wracked my body to stop. It ached. It burned. It was every painful thing you could imagine all combined into one painful mess.

I began to crawl forward on my arms as my back shot out again, trying to sprout out its horns. I tried to stand, but some invisible force knocked me back. I looked back up and every part of my body had become gray and crackled.

I rose to my feel slowly, looking at my arms and flexing my fingers. I reached up to my forehead and felt horns? They were about as long as my fingers and twisted. I couldn't comprehend what was happening. What was I becoming?..

I cried out yet again as my gums seemed to split and fresh new teeth erupted out. I felt them and discovered fangs. Two new fangs on each side. I gasped and my head shot back.

The transformation was still incomplete. I blinked and my vision changed. The darkness was easily seen through now. It was as if I now had a type of night vision...

I could feel the horns on my head growing taller still. It aslo seemed that the horns in my back were beginning to fully sprout. I brought my face down and let out a breath of air. The burning pain was beginning to fade. Was this the end of it?..

"WELCOME! WELCOME!"

I looked around as the voices echoed around me. My eyes caught sight of one of the skull's jaws moving open and closed.

"WELCOME TO OUR WORLD OF FUN!"

The skeleton's voices screeched in a joyous chorus of laughter. I spun around, beginning to feel myself grow dizzy.

"What is this?.." My voice came out weak as I began to fall to the ground. "Where am I!?.." I fell down as the skulls screeched with laughter. It echoed into my ears as a blurry light appeared before my eyes. I tried to call out for help, but my vision faded and I was yet again in darkness...