The Riddle Of The Future

Betrayal In A Dream

I’m running. Running from what I don’t know. I look over my shoulder as if someone is after me. It’s dark. I’m running through water. I can’t move! I’m stuck! He’s going to catch me. Run! I hear footsteps. NO! I’m not going to die! Not today! I close my eyes. The footsteps are getting closer. The sound of cloth trailing across water reaches my ears. My heart starts to speed up. A hand touches my shoulder and I turn around.  I look into those fiery eyes and suddenly there is pain. PAIN IS EVERYWHERE!

I bolted upright. I was gasping. Sweat beading on my forehead. My throat was parched and I wandered if I’d screamed. I was lying on soft grass underneath a full moon. The moon was orange and glowing strangely in the black sky. Will must have heard me scream because he came running over to me.

“What happened?” he asked breathlessly.

“Nightmare again,” I whispered. Will relaxed and wrapped my jacket around my shaking shoulders. I’d been having the same nightmare every night for the past two weeks.

It’s been exactly fourteen days since I rescued Raphael from the rock on the spewing volcano. Fourteen days since I found that evil blue object. The same object that haunts me every day. I can’t bring myself to get rid of it though so it stays in a piece of cloth in which we take in turns in keeping it. We’ve been travelling aimlessly across grassy plains. We’d left the volcanic island far behind but now; all that is in front of us is wide open space and mountains on either side. Lucy has been in a foul mood ever since that day in the cave of pterodactyls. Some days she ignores us, some days she just talks to Will and some days she gets lost in her head. Who knows what she’s thinking when that happens. Whenever is does I can’t help but think about the voices I heard. Sometimes I really think Lucy is about to betray us.

“Are you feeling better Alex?” Will asked pulling me out of my daydream.

“Yeah, yeah I’m fine,” I lied. I’m really not fine. I feel so stressed and I can almost feel that evil hand touching me. I shuddered. It’s just a dream Alex, it’s just a dream. I kept telling myself that until I finally calmed down. I noticed that Lucy hadn’t come out to see me. These days, I hardly know anything about her anymore.

“Try and get back to sleep,” Will advised me walking back to his own patch of grass. I settled back into the soft grass and stared up into the sky. The moon is unreal because it’s so big! As I lay there counting the stars, my hands automatically reached for the blue pentagon. It was my turn to keep it. Whenever I have it, I always feel foul and snap at everyone. My nightmares always get worse when I’m holding it. I know it’s a bad idea just too even touch it, but something draws me to it. I want to know exactly what it is! I eventually fell into a deep sleep holding the pentagon in its cloth.

I opened my eyes slowly. The two suns were high in the sky. It was sweltering hot. I could feel myself sweating already. I yawned and stretched before getting up. Will was sitting near me, watching.

“Good morning,” I yawned.

“Morning,” he answered.

“Where are we going today?” I asked. He seemed to always have a plan. He was starting to get his bearings back and apparently we were heading back to the city.

“We’re going to take a shortcut,” he said and wouldn’t answer any more questions. For some reason whenever he spoke about this ‘shortcut’ his eyes would light up and a mischievous grin would appear. Lucy finally woke up and came to sit with us. She looked distant. So it’s going to be one of those days then is it? I thought bitterly. Will served up a breakfast of something that looked suspiciously like a squirrel. I was used to killing and eating animals now but Lucy hates it. She always refuses to help kill the animal. When we had eaten our fill Will told us to pack up and prepare ourselves for a long day of walking.

“I thought you said we were going through a shortcut,” I complained.

“We are,” Will said mysteriously, eyes twinkling. What has he got on his mind? I wandered curiously. We set of, walking through the soft grass and open space. It was like a valley with the two suns in front of us. Now and then birds would fly overhead. I’m always wary when they come close but none of them have had colourful feathers or four eyes.

After walking till about noon, Will started to lead us of off the trail. We were nearing the edge of where the mountains start.

“Where are we going?” I exclaimed. I ran and took a flying leap to jump on Will’s back planning to stop him but he turned around so quick, I didn’t see him! He had me on the floor quicker than you could say crazy! He had really fast reflexes.

“You’ll just have to wait,” he said. I was panting and my eyes widened when I realised how close he was. I heard a gagging sound behind me and I saw Lucy pretending to puke. I smiled and Will helped me up.

“Come on girls! Keep up!”  We kept walking and finally we came to a hole in the side of a giant mountain.

“This is it?” I asked raising my eyebrows.

“Yep. You’re going to love this,” Will said. He took my hand and dragged me to the entrance with Lucy following behind. Once inside I could hear the sound of running water and I looked at Will quizzically. He just smiled at me and went deeper into the cave. It was very dark inside and I only had Will’s hand to guide me through. The walls were damp and slippery. Suddenly we entered a giant cavern that had the biggest waterfall I’d ever seen in my life. It was bigger than the one in the desert and absolutely beautiful!

“Oh my,” I gasped. I heard Lucy take in a breath behind me. Will smiled at me.

“It’s like when we first met,” He was so sweet I almost started crying! I looked carefully over the edge. My head swam dizzily; it was a very long way down.

“This is a shortcut? How do we get to the other side?” Lucy asked behind me.

“We have to cross the waterfall,” Will answered.

He went to the edge and started edging across it to the other side. I followed him and Lucy was behind me. The wall was very slippery from the water and it was hard to get a good grip. Suddenly Will stumbled and toppled of the edge! I leaned over to try and catch him but I felt something push into my back. Before I could try to keep my balance I was over the edge screaming my head off.  The last thing I saw was Lucy sneering at me, waving sarcastically.