The Unknown Heroes

Chapter 4

          Andrew opened his eyes, and sat up. He reached with his hand to the back of his head. It still hurt, and it felt like he had hit it on something. He looked around to see where he was. I was at Black Castle, thought Andrew. I was with Ashley, then...

          The memory came flooding back. He remembered the horrible headache, and that he must have passed out from it. Probably hit my head on a chair when I fell, or something like that. Andrew looked to see where Ashley was, but then he realized he was alone. There were no tables, chairs, not even the counter where Ashley had just bought their food from. In fact, it looked like Andrew wasn't even in the same building as before.

          The building Andrew was in now was a large building. At least, larger than Black Castle's, and was completely empty. The floor was made up of multi-colored square tiles that made it look like some sort of a checkerboard, but most of the colors were worn away and many of the tiles were cracked or removed altogether. There were huge windows along all the walls, but they were boarded up, so Andrew couldn't see outside. The only light source in the building was from a single ceiling light that was swaying back and forth.

          Okaaaaaaaay, He thought to himself. Weird dream. Guess I better look for a way out. Andrew looked around one more time and saw that there was a door. He hadn't seen it a second ago. He thought he might have just missed it the last time he looked, but he could have sworn that there was just more wall there. Andrew got up and walked to the door. Just like the windows, the door was boarded up. He took one of the pieces of broken tile off the floor and used it to try and pry off the boards.

          *CRACK*

          The boards broke off as easily as if they were made of brittle bones. After Andrew cleared off the boards, he tried the door handle. It was stuck from the large amount of rust that had formed on the handle but after a few minutes of trying, he eventually got the door to open. Andrew stuck his head out to see what was outside. He didn't quite understand what he was seeing.

          It was his town, more or less that is. The buildings were in really bad shape. They looked as if no one had used then in decades, abandoned. Some were even torn down, with nothing but some of the foundation left. But the layout of the town and, most, of the buildings looked the same as the place where Andrew just was, before he passed out.

          Andrew stepped out through the doorway and looked up at the sky. It was an unnatural shade of deep red, with no sun. It was dim, but Andrew was able to see clearly enough to get around without stumbling, much.

          Okay, I'm ready to wake up now. I've had enough weirdness for one day, Andrew thought.

          He rolled up his sleeve, closed his eyes, and pinched himself. When he opened them, he was still in the odd, abandoned city. Andrew thought about different ways on how to wake himself up.

          First, he tried to pinch himself a few more times, but with more force. Nothing. Then, he thought maybe smacking would work. Nothing but pain and a girlish scream on his part. As a last resort, he walked up to one of the buildings, and kicked it. Nothing.

          With a stinging face, red arm, and a throbbing foot, Andrew finally decided to just wait until he somehow woke up. Maybe he'd be lucky and he was about to wake up with water in his face.

          10 minutes pass.

          20 minutes pass.

          Andrew sat on the curb, waiting. He was starting to get impatient.

          "This is ridiculous!" Andrew yelled at no one. "How hard is it to wake up a 19-year-old college student at a Black Castle?!"

          He looked up at the red sky, wondering what to do.

          That's when he felt it. Someone's eyes on him. He was being watched. Andrew looked around but saw no one. He hadn't seen anyone else in the city. He started to look at the buildings, to see if there was any movement. For a while, Andrew didn't see anything and thought that his mind was playing tricks on him. But then he saw a light in one of the windows of the building that he had kicked.

          Andrew kept staring at the light, thinking about if he should go investigate. I mean, it was his dream after all. It's not like he could die or anything. In the end, he decided to go check it out.

          It was a pretty big building, about four stories high. It looked like at one point it was a store. The light was on the top floor and the very last window. Andrew walked in, since the doors were long gone, and looked for a staircase. There were selves and hangers that littered the floor, but besides that the building was empty. Eventually, Andrew found a staircase that went up to the next levels.

          After about ten minutes of climbing and mentally whining about there not being an elevator, Andrew made it to the top floor of the forgotten store. There, he noticed a door with light shining through the bottom. He walked over to the door.

          "There is not a serial killer in here, there is not a serial killer in here, there is not a serial killer in here... Oh, come on! I'm not a 6-year-old who just watched Scream." Andrew said aloud.

          Andrew slowly opened the door, preparing himself in case there really was a masked killer behind the door. When the door was fulling open, Andrew was more than relieved to find it empty. Of life that is. As he walked in, he saw that the room was actually full of lit candles, which was the cause the light. They were on the windowsill, the floor, some were even hung on the walls.

          Then, Andrew realized that if there were lit candles in here, then there must have been someone who had...

          Andrew's train of thought was interrupted by the sound of footsteps behind him. He turned around to see a hooded figure standing in the doorway. Unlike the black figure from before, this one seemed to at least be human. The hood covered the person's face, so Andrew couldn't tell if they were male or female. It wasn't until they spoke that he discovered they were a female.

          "... You are him, aren't you?" she asked.

          "Ugh, I-I, who do you t-think I a-am?" Andrew asked back. He was frozen in fear. He didn't know what to think or what to do. It's not like they teach you how to deal with weird hooded people in your dreams at school.

          "Him, the one who is to save us. All of us." She replied.

          "S-sorry, I don't think I k-know what you're..."

          "You need to leave," She interrupted. "you are not ready yet. I'm sure we will see each other again, farewell."

          "What? Wait, how..." Andrew began to ask way they were going to meet again and how he was going to leave. Then he got an answer.

          From the back of his head, Andrew heard a voice calling his name. It was faint, but it began to grow louder, and louder, until it was like the voice was in the room.

          "Andrew?"

          "Andrew!"

          "ANDREW!"