Whisper

Twenty-Eight

I open my eyes, staring at the pitch black sky. I take in my surroundings. I look to my side and see my home, but it looks different. I look at where I lay and I'm on the middle of the road. I slowly stand up, noticing that the area is foggy and my body felt like it wasn't entirely here either. I look down both sides of the street and notice the quietness of the neighbourhood. There is no sign of life anywhere, not even in the houses except for the fact that some of the lights in the houses are on.

I look down at my hands and I knew. This isn't real... this is a dream.

I must still be with Lucan at the cliff. I must've fallen asleep. I look around for the second time, trying to figure out why I'm here. Why am I dreaming about my home? I keep my eye out for those demonic eyes I kept seeing for the past couple of weeks, this time preparing myself for it despite that I'm not at the waterfall like usual. I keep my stance strong and I cautiously walk towards my house.

I enter inside. Everything is the same as I left the house. The television is on and the upstairs light is as well. Yet, no one is here. Not dad, not Lily and not even Brian is present. I creep my way up the stairs and to my bedroom. I don't know what this dream is trying to tell me or why I am even having it, but it's scaring me. I enter my room and see that everything is in place where I last put everything before sneaking out with Lucan. The window is still half open, the curtains are being pushed off the walls from the breeze and my bed is a mess just how I left it.

"You're scared," I hear.

I twirl around and see Reyna standing in the centre of my room. I haven't seen her ever since I met Draven. I thought she ran away and hide like all the other ghosts. I feel like everyone is abandoning this and went hiding. Only the five of us are left to tackle this situation by ourselves.

"I can sense it. You're scared," she says softly.

My mind went back to thinking about the war. I only managed to forget about it but now, it's back. Reyna reminded me of what is coming. I look away, "Of course I am," I admit. "I'm seventeen years old, how am I supposed to stop all this?" I ask.

"You can do this. You shouldn't be scared."

"Easier said than done," I mutter. "Where am I?"

I don't think I am in the same place, in the same world. This place looks like a replica of where I actually live. This place is cold and abandoned, not a place a human should be. I feel like an outsider here, already feeling unwanted.

"In the realm of the lost souls," she replies. I repeat her words, the realm of the lost souls. I'm in the ghost realm? The place that is not for the living but for the dead. I look at my surroundings again, but with a different view. I'm in the land of the dead and I can sense that I am the ghost in this world.

This world is darker and it's colder. "How did I get here?"

"I brought you here... in your dreams," Reyna says.

"How do I get out?" I never knew ghosts would be able to send me to another world through my dreams.

"Not until you wake up," she answers truthfully. "I brought you here because I needed to speak to you before you woke up, before it happens."

Reyna looks different. Her voluminous blonde hair is brighter, her skin somewhat glows and her eyes are electric blue. She looks more angelic in this world than she does in mine. "What in a dream? Why can't you just tell me when I'm awake?"

Reyna shakes her head, "No, I can't. The Draguis sent me here – they forced me into the ghost realm on the night of Halloween," Reyna explains.

She met the Draguis? "Who is it?" I ask, immediately.