Don't Come Back

Chapter 2

I open my eyes slowly. The florescent light sears into my eyeballs, so I quickly clamp them shut again.

"Oh, good. You're awake." someone says on my right.

My eyes shoot open again and I jump but immediately a sharp pain shoots from my head to my shoulders. I groan loudly and lie back into the pillows on the bed.

"Whoa there!" the voice says. "That was a nasty knock to the head. You don't want to injure yourself anymore."

When the pain stops throbbing, I look over and see a girl, eighteen probably maybe twenty, with impressively dark black hair and coffee brown skin flipping through some papers on my bedside table.

"Who are you? What happened? Where am I?" I ask her nervously.

The girl laughs which calms me down for some reason. If someone can still laugh then things must not be that bad. "Slow down. We found you when we were doing rounds to see if there were people who needed our help." her face turns serious and she continues, " You're incredibly lucky. That head wound of yours made you lose a lot of blood, you were probably there for at least a day before we found you. I'm surprised you're still alive."

I could have been dead. Like all those people in the park. Like...Meredith and my parents. I suddenly feel like there's a crushing weight on my chest that's taking all the oxygen from my lungs.

The girl seems to realize something's wrong because she gets a sad look in her eyes.

"I'll let you rest and introduce you to everybody later."

She walks to the door but turns around," Hey, what's your name? Mine's Zoe."

"Britney," I reply wryly.

Zoe smiles and closes the door. I collapse back into the pillows. All of this was real? Meredith really is...dead? I don't believe it-can't believe it. And in a puddle of grief, I slip into the world of dreams again. 

I'm back at the park. Everything's the same except Meredith is standing by the edge of the pond. I stare at her until she turns around. I scream. There's a knife in her hand dripping with blood, and she looks different...like one of THEM. Meredith begins to walk, no, glide toward me. Bells ring in the back of my head, but my legs are rooted to the spot. I can't move. When she gets close enough for me to see her eyes, I notice they're the same warm, chocolaty brown I've known since pre-k. That dream lasts until I see the chillingly beautiful look of murder etched in my best friend's features. She's I'm front of me, so close that I can smell her signature lavender soap. I close my eyes. 

"Times have changed, so we have been rearranged. Our bodies, spirits, and souls are no more, for my kind is here to strike fear in your heart and tear your fragile bpody apart. Flee, I say, so that I might not have to prey upon your bones and rob you of your home,"  Meredith rhymes. 

"What the hell...is wrong with your voice?! You sound like a friggin' children's poetry book!" I scream at Meredith. 

"Don't yell, wee child, for I keep my voice mild. I am warning you, so you must do what I command you to. Shall you not heed my warning, thee will soon be mourning."

"What happened to you? Why are you one off them? What will happen to me if I don't leave?"

"My soul is cursed, so I must do the worst. My kind will slay you humans for they are much superior women. If you wish to see a taste of their power, I bid you be at the tallest tower on the 'morrow, but, be warned, my sweet, there will be much sorrow. Our hearts are filled with hate, so I pray...don't wait until it's too late. 

"Too late to what? What is the tallest tower? What's going to happen there?" I ask confusedly.

"My time is too short to give you the full report. I must go and prepare for the show or I will be punished with insane rubbish," Meredith finishes. 

My best friend turns away from me and quickly fades into the distance, ending my dream.