Dreamwalker

Flight.

I whirl around and come face to face with my nightmare.

Mary. She's pale, terrifyingly so. Her eyes are a dull gray-blue, fogged over slightly, her black hair hangs in dirty clumps down to her waist.

She's dressed in a white gown, smeared with dirt and blood. One hand holds a thing dagger, the other she uses to tap out a rhythm on her thigh, humming quietly to herself.

"Silly girl, came to save the silly boy, now the two silly children must die. Mary will slit their throats and stab their guts, Mary loves to see the color red, warm and sticky on her clothes." Her glassy eyes are alight with blood lust as she takes a step towards us.

I take several deep breaths, attempting to quell the rising fear in my chest. I stop Jeremy from moving in front of me, and then turn to face Mary. "We are going to wake up now."

She laughs insanely, the chilling sound crawling through the room, filling every dark corner. "You think you can just wake up? Oh darling, you have so much to learn." She gestures around us. "You're in the uncharted dreamscape, this is my territory, no matter how powerful you are, you've got to find your way out first. Then you can wake up."

"Well, we'll be on our way then." I say coolly, about to take a step forward when Flicker flies quickly in front of me, trilling a warning.

"You think I'd let you go that easily? I was just starting to have some fun with cutie over there, I don't want to lose my newest plaything just yet."

She snaps her fingers, and spiders begin to crawl out of every seam in the room, thousands of furry black spiders, swarming over the walls, ceiling, and floor, surrounding Jeremy and I, crawling steadily closer.

As one crawls within a few inches of me, I lift my heal and crush it, watching at it disintegrates into black dust.

"They can't hurt us because I'm not afraid of them." I state coolly, locking eyes with Mary as the spiders circle Jeremy and I, unable to crawl closer than three feet from us.

She looks slightly surprised, but it's the excitement in her eyes that sends a cold shiver down my spine.

"Well then, I'll just have to try harder." She opens her mouth, and lets out an ear piercing scream, shattering the windows of the building. Blood begins to drip from the ceiling, and the spiders slowly begin to grow larger.

I grab Jeremy and push him backwards, running towards the broken window. "Jump!"

He turns to look at me. "Are you crazy?"

I grab his hand and continue running. "Trust me! Remember the city."

Realization sinks in, and he doesn't hesitate as I take a flying leap and jump out the window, sailing out right behind me.

For a moment, we fall, and then we gradually slow to a stop, hovering a hundred feet above the street.

"Okay...now what do we do?" Jeremy asks, casting a nervous glance back up at the empty black windows.

Flicker flutters around my head, trilling excitedly.

"She said we have to get out of the uncharted dreamscape in order to wake up, so...we have to get back to the wood, which is that way." I point off to the left where I can see the thick wall of fog surrounding the eerie forest.

"Right, well let's go."

We manage to fly a hundred feet, before we start to sink. I struggle to remain in the air, looking at Jeremy who's having as much trouble as I am. "What's going on?"

He falls a few inches, catches himself and holds his arms out for stability. "I don't know...there must be some kind of gravity pull that's keeping us from staying in the air."