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Spider Senses

I walked faster down the alleyway, with Grim trailing a few steps behind me. The days matched up perfectly and the mist rained over the city once again like a dictator. The faster I got out of this memory lane - the better. Despite that fact, I still wanted to see everything old, new, and in between. 

"It's been seven years already." It felt like yesterday. All the pain and fear sat subdued at the back of my head, pouncing aggressively when I let my guard down. Grim had seen that side of me, but no one else had. 

I wasn't proud of that side of me. 

"It has. Your blood is still marked on the ground though." Patches of the ground were darker in some areas where I had almost bled out. A tingle squirmed in my fingers as I bent down to touch the stains. The ground's texture was no different but to me, it felt like a thousand snakes slithering up my arms. The snakes curled around my throat and churned inside stomach. 

"I hate it. I hate him. I hate what he did to me." The distorted face smiled before me, every gruesome aspect as clear as day. My teeth grinded against each other as my fists clenched by my side in a fit of spontaneous, yet reasonable, anger. "I'm heading to the dark realm." 

Grim's head barely moved as I slipped into the alternate reality. 

My chilling breeze slapped my face, bringing a rose tint of colour to my pale cheeks. Dull shades cornered me in the middle of the alleyway. The sun shone in soft rays but the exits were impossibly dark. Jarieth would be in the shadows somewhere, waiting. After his death, his soul bound itself to the dark realm. He hunted in this area once every year on our special day. On my death day. 

"Good day, Jarieth. How are you holding up?" An odd twitching creature hobbled out from around what appeared to be a faux corner. The creature shoved its nose up into the air and locked onto my scent. I cut out his eyes two years back after I was consumed in red rage because of Jarieth's attempt to try and trap me in this realm. 

"G-g-good ma'am. Yes, yes. Very g-g-good indeed." Broken. I had broken Jarieth so he was like his watch. His head was moving about, searching the air for smells. An apple was tucked in my pocket and Jarieth had picked up on that. "A-a-an apple?"

The weight of the apple in my hand brought a smile to my face. After all these years, I had grown attached to the oddball. With a quick flick of my wrist, the apple flew through the air. It landed in front of the, significantly less sharp, clawed scrounging hands awaiting a present. 

"I-i-is Grim waiting on the other side? He will want to see you." Care had seeped in the scratchy voice which in return, had quietened it. Crunch. Crunch. Jagged teeth tore into the apple making its juice drip to the floor. 

"Yes. I should go now. You need to get back to confinement." A snap of my fingers and I was away. 

I always expected bright, vibrant colours when I got back but the alley withheld that from me. 

Tick. Tick. Tick.