Cross My Heart

Demons

Enjoy the song at the top of this chapter. Heathens by Twenty One Pilots. I think it helps create the mood :)

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BECKETT

It was dark, as if all the world's colors had been sucked out and replaced with a never-ending, all consuming, abyss of black. I couldn't even see my own feet as I walked. The only thing that alerted me to my movement was the sound of leaves crunching under my shoes.

There was a chill in the air. Shivers ran up and down my spine, my hair standing on its ends. My hands were out, searching the air, making sure I didn't run in to anything.

Where was I?

"Beck," I heard a whisper.

I whipped around.

"Beck."

I turned again, straining my eyes, trying to pick out anything. Any light. Any movement. All I saw was black.

"Beck."

"Who's there?" I asked, my voice trembling. My hands were shaking at my sides. My heart pounding against my ribs, threatening to escape.

"Beck." The voice came from behind me. It was low. Familiar.

My entire body went rigid and I clenched my mouth shut, scared to even breathe. I slowly turned, the sound of the leaves under my feet suddenly sounding like claws on a blackboard.

From the darkness, a hand appeared, and my eyes nearly bulged from their sockets.

"Beck," the voice said again, "take my hand."

Without thinking, I moved my hand forward.

I should run. I should hide somewhere. But where do you hide when even the darkness isn't your friend?

As my hand made contact with the floating one, a sudden calmness spread through me. And just as my breathing slowed, I was jerked forward into another scenery. My eyes were flood with light and my hand went up to shield me from the intensity.

Slowly, my eyes adjusted, and my surroundings came into focus. The sky was a bleak grey. There was a lone tree sulking in the distance. To my far right, there was a worn down building - a warehouse of some sort - and all around it was wired fencing, enclosing us in a space together.

Some kind of liquid hit my cheek and I looked up to see it was raining. As I looked down, I saw a dark liquid pooling at my feet. As I looked closer I realized it was...blood. I took a panicked step back, and my hand went to my chest, my heart beating thunderously beneath it.

Unable to look away, my eyes followed the trail of blood, now flowing like a stream because of the rain. My feet, of their own accord, started walking down the path of blood and only stopped when they came into contact with something.

I was shaking. From the cold or the fear, I didn't know.

I kneeled down, my hand shaking, as it made its way to the lump of black clothes. My mind knew what it was but my heart refused to accept it. It was...a body.

"H-h-hello?" I shook the body. "A-are y-you okay?"

I bit my lip and squeezed my eyes shut as the tears began to fall.

"Are you...a-are you h-hurt?"

I felt my heart sink as the realization sunk in. I started rising up, unable to push myself to turn the body around. Putting a face to it would just make it worse. I know I couldn't handle it. As I started turning away, something suddenly gripped my hand and pulled me down. The head, which had been turned away from me, began turning my way.