And Silent Were The Stars

- 1 -

The long corridor stretched ahead and no matter how fast she ran, she could not reach the other end of it. Rebecca stopped and looked around. The metal walls were too tall; squares of fluorescent lamps cut into the dark ceiling above her head every couple of meters; the door handles were so high above the floor she could barely reach them. She felt so small. So alone. And only Tom's voice, coming from somewhere up ahead, was there with her in the cold emptiness.

"Enie, menie, miny, moe..." His voice echoed through the corridor.

"Tom!" Rebecca heard his name come out of her mouth and reverberate, dissolving into the never-ending corridor. "Tom!"

She heard his laughter bounce off the walls, one moment sounding far away, the next so close it made her turn around, her thin brown braids spinning in the air and slapping her cheeks. But he wasn't there. He was never there.

"Beccs..." he stretched. "Come out, come out wherever you are..."

"Tom!" She called out louder and felt tears stream down her cheeks. "I don't want to play anymore!"

Another whirlpool of laughter surrounded her and then dissipated into the darkness which now was gathering behind her back. She turned around and fear traced its chilly finger across her backbone, raising every smallest hair on her skin. There was something in the pitch black. It was watching her. And it was getting closer, slowly, patiently.

  "I don't want to PLAY!" She sobbed, rubbing the tears off with the sleeve of her checkered dress and backing up. Suddenly, she felt someone grab her by the shoulders from behind and heard Tom's voice loud in her ears, "WAKE UP!"