Should've Turned Back

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I bent down on my knees to get a closer look. I didn't exactly know what we were looking at...but it seemed that we were looking at...ourselves. We were staring through some type of window, looking down at our motionless bodies that laid on the filthy floor of the supply closet.

"Are we...dead?" Chresanto wondered. My heart dropped forty stories at the thought of us "moving on".  Maybe this was some entry to heaven. That's when I saw my chest heaving up and down through the window, my body in the supply closet rolled over, nestling onto Chresanto's chest.  This was indicating I was very much alive and I was alseep.  "Get off of him, ME."  I shouted down at myself.  "Hey hey hey, let yourself sleep there, I don't mind."  Chresanto teased.  I scowled at him and rolled my eyes in annoyance. 

As we continued to study our bodies, trying to make sense of all of this, we heard a noise. In unison, our body's stiffened, and we slowly turned our heads. A few feet away from where we stood was a gray mist that resembled the shape of a door. A deep moan came from within it. I gripped Chreanto's upper arm as I peeked from behind his back. "What is that?" I cried in fear.

"Only one way to find out." Chresanto's voice was shaky but he began to walk forward, I yanked him back.  "Chresanto, we don't know what that is." I pleaded.  "Ava, do you want to figure out what this dreaming shit means or not?!" he exclaimed.  I released the firm grip I had on his muscular upper-arm.  "Ok, when you're in, look around and then come back for me, I wanna' make sure it's safe."   I dazed at him as he disappeared into the mysterious mist.

"Chresanto?" I wept.  Nothing but silence filled this empty void.  I stood there for 15 minutes the most, my palms pressed together praying for Chresanto to return.  My body was inches from the fog, the coldness from it caused my body to begin shivering.  "Ok Ava, it's time to man up." I encouraged myself, and I stepped through the fog, one body part at a time.

I opened my eyes and my hands flew up to my mouth in amazement.  I could've sworn I was in Wonderland.  Dozens of vibrant colors exploded everywhere on exotic objects: purple tree trunks with blue leaves, turtledoves squeaked in harmony, singing "The Twelve Days of Christmas", literally they were singing the words.  I walked through a small field of red poppies, they suctioned onto the bottom of my converse, making a pop sound as I lifted my foot up.   

"Chresanto?!" I bellowed, cupping my hand over my mouth.  "Chresa-" a pair of hands went over my lips. I began to scream but the noise was muffled, my body was being dragged across the field of poppies, they squealed as my heels dug into the soil.  I began squirming my legs frantically as my finger nails dug into the person who was silencing me's skin. They yelped and removed their hand, I was on my knees and my hands gripped onto a tree root as my lungs gasped for air.

"Shh Ava!" Chresanto screeched quietly. "Chresanto, why the fuck-?!" I yelled but he cut me off. He put his finger to my lips with wild eyes. He turned my head slightly so I could look at the reason we were to stay silent. My jaw dropped and I collapsed backwards.

A couple yards away was an enormous beast: pointy gray fox ears twitched at every sound, it's dagger teeth glistened with a yellow tint. It's claws were 5 inches long and it's thunderous roar boomed across the land.  It's body turned from a fox face to a black bear's body, standing at least 12 feet tall. "We have to get out of here!" I hissed. I glanced back at that entrance but nothing was there except for a rocky wall. "Where did the entrance go?!" I panicked.  Chresanto pulled on my arm as we crawled on the ground and began to hide behind boulders and bushes. "You see that cave?"

I squinted through the leaves of a bush and saw a darker entrance to a rocky cave a couple of yards away. I nodded my head.  "We're gonna try and make a run for it. Ready. Set. Go!"  We sprung to our feet and I began sprinting behind Chresanto, I could feel the beast coming our way as it stomped heavily on the ground. I began panting and droplets of sweat stung my eyes. "Wait where did the beast go?"  I glanced back and could here the stomping, but could not see the monster.  I didn't realize the tree root hidden under some leaves and I tripped over it.  My back slammed against the ground, knocking the wind out of me, but sadly my head got the worst of the impact. 

I pressed my hand firmly on the back of my skull, and stared at my trembling fingers that were coped in dark crimson blood.  "AVA!" Chresanto shouted and darted back to me, he bent down in my direction.  He slid his hands under my back, trying to pick me up.  My heart beat came to a halt and all of my words were shoved back down my throat.  I gripped his hoodie with my weak, bloody hands and turned his attention to what was behind him.  The monster's paw scooped down and took Chresanto into his grasp, squeezing him between his claws.  Chresanto yelped in pain and begged for air.  "CHRESANTO NOOOO!"  Those were the last words that escaped my numb lips as my eyelids shut softly and terrifying blackness took over my vision

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