Dream Catcher

Chapter 4 - Your Worst Nightmare (Part 1)

Slowly the man reached out his left arm toward
me, and I tried as hard as I could to flinch back
further. The outstretched arm forced its way
closer palm out, fingers wide. The hand was
wrapped in tightly tied fabric strips that were
splotched with metallic red blood. I watched in
horror as he reached his right hand, which too
was covered in bandages, into one of the
containers of sand at his belt. He had stopped, I
realized, as I could no longer hear the clicks of
his shoes, but my heart still loudly clicked the
beat. My breathing was gasping; I could feel the
beats of sweat run down my face in sheer fear.
The man's face tensed in exertion, and I
watched in horror as his efforts were directed at
me. My eyes shot to the hand in the sand at his
hip as a thin, glowing, red ribbon curled out of
the sand, sand that was slowly being diluted,
but not with water. With blood.
My eyes wide, I followed the trail of the ribbon
up his arm as it curled around it and around it
like a snake until it slid up over his shoulder
and down his collarbone with slithering beauty.
The ribbon curled in on itself once, then,
rearing back like a viper ready to strike, it
plunged straight into the man's chest with a
brilliant flare of light. As I squinted my eyes, I
saw the man pull his hand out of the sand, and
then throw both his arm wide, splattering thick
drops of reflective, deep red blood on the white
walls. He threw his head back and let out a
deep spine chilling scream that felt like it was
rotting my very bones from the inside out, my
skin being torn off them, and my brain
screaming confused messages of fear and panic
as it pumped adrenaline through my veins. My
heartbeat fluttered frantically and skipped
beats. I couldn't breathe.
Slowly the searing light faded and I could open
my eyes again. The man's body convulsed twice
as the ribbon finally finished immersing itself in
his body, and he took a step backward to regain
his offset balance. I managed to choke out a
frantic gasp and the corners of my vision faded
slightly. But clarity snapped back as the man
turned his haunting face to me once more. He
breathed in deeply through his nostrils once
and returned his hostile glare into my eyes as
he smirked a malevolent, twisted smile.
My voice stuttered out as I sighed in soul deep
fear as the man began once more to saunter
towards me.
"Mmmmm," the man murmured, content. "You
are pretty. Shame though, really."
My voice stuttered out again as I gasped
sharply. My eyes welled with salty, terror-
brought, tears that stung as they blurred my
vision. But through mismatched blurry shapes
and colours I could still make out the thick
black figure of the man. He was closer. Ever so
much closer, as if he moved with an agility my
eyes were not capable of deciphering. The tears
welled over and ran down my face in burning
torrents that froze and dropped with light
tinkles on the floor below.
Avoiding the man's eyes, I followed their decent
down to the shining white floor, only to find
thick black boots there. My body shaking with
heavy emotion, I felt a sticky, wet, rough hand
slide under my chin making rough, scratchy
sounds on my skin in the eerie silence. I slowly
tilted my head up towards the man's face that
was inches away from mine. It held my face
high, forcing me to stare into the deep endless
blue eyes I was drowning in, electric blue lines
with heavenly gold around the pupil that called
you into the darkness. The darkness I loved,
that called me to embrace and dive into, a place
where I was safe, though my conscience told me
otherwise.
I tore my gaze away from the eyes' passionate
calling to me, and watched the sticky, blood
drenched, poorly bandaged hand that was rising
toward my face on the right hand side. It came
down gently on my cheek, caressing it. I could
feel the warm, wet streak of blood left on my
cold cheek as the hand travelled down my
jawbone, leaving a tingling sensation like
needles as it went. My senses raked in his heavy
scent as I shuddered and gasped in breaths. As
his hand reached the base of my neck, it curled
back around stroked my tangled chocolate locks
behind my ear, coating them in the foul sticky
substance as well.
"So beautiful," the man whispered softly into
my face, I could feel his damp warm breath
along my bridge of my nose and my cheek
bones. My heart was beating so fast, I was
shocked I hadn't died yet. The power in his
voice was so compelling, I longed for it, though
it was right there in front of me. It made my
brain confused and sleepy, yet it fought to
regain control of the need to flee from the
presence pitiful stranger.
The man clicked his tongue with displeasure
and shook his head at me.
"My darling, relax. Such a beautiful face does
not look pleasing to the eye with such a fearful
expression! Shhhh..." he said to me caressing my
arm now, smearing the ever-flowing blood with
sickening slicking noises. I fought to hold back
tremors and whimpers with all my might.
"There we go, my sweet. So lovely. It's a shame
he hasn't found you yet. You really could have
been the one. You're just so pretty. I'd so sad I
have to break you though. I can't risk it. You're
too powerful. You need to be destroyed. Only
one person can hold the cards in this world,
and it's not going to be some fragile female. No,
not on my watch."
"What... what do you mean?" I managed to
stutter out in a high pitched voice, heavy with
terror.
The man shoved even closer to me if that was
possible and ran his bright red fingertips along
my exposed collarbones. I could hear him sigh,
and see his tongue run along the inside of his
lower lip. He watched his fingers leaving marks
on my body as he traced my protruding bones.
When he finished tracing them, he flicked out
his fingers as though he were a painter
completing a stroke. His tongue rested in the
corner of his mouth, on his lower lip, and he
looked up at me through spiked hair and long
eyelashes.
"Tell me," the man said in a deep husky voice.
"What do you fear most?"
The man touched my throat where my
collarbones met, and I screamed and convulsed
to his burning touch. It was like ice fire, slicing
down my throat and into my lungs causing my
screaming to stutter. As it spread, a cold hand
wrapped around my heart, squeezing it in
painful jolts.
"What is it, hmmm?" the man persuaded gently,
closer to my face than ever. "Is it the fire? Is
that it?" His bloody right arm shot out and
through the searing pain at my throat, I turned
to see tongues of brilliant orange fire shoot out
of his palm and race around the room. They
engulfed it, towering high to the endless ceiling,
and leaning in closer to me as the man
beckoned them onward with the twists of his
scarlet fingers. I could feel their heat radiating
onto my body, my sweat dripping down my face
faster then before. I whimpered pathetically.
"The sweet, powerful flames of glory? No. It's
not that." the man thought pensively. "It's not
that kind of flame. It's the burning light of
daybreak, the singeing arms of mother sun as
she stretches out into the morning and takes the
velvet cloak of night from under our very
unconscious noses, teasing us Dreamers with
her taunts of simplicity. She calls us into the
day, out of the slumber for which we long for
and cherish. It's sunrise that you fear, my
darling. The glorious early morning symphony
of reds and purples. And the fire."
As the man uttered the last of the words, the fire
surged inward, building in torrents around me,
locking me into its burning prison. It reached
out and licked my bare arms singeing the skin
even more. I screamed in terror as I watched
the man outstretch his arms and beckon to the
bubbling black of the Nothing that poured out
of his palms and engulfed the room is wicked
blackness, though the fire burned on. I could
not see him, but I could hear the man's
malicious laughter ring off the nothing from
impossible angles. I screamed and tried to fight
of the pain and the fear, I panicked and
squirmed and with all my might, pushed myself
off the wall and straight into the bars of fire the
stood tall before me. I ran through them and
into the darkness beyond.