Unraveled

Everyone has their demons. Sometimes, they're all we have.

Chapter 1

Wandering and lost, I made my way deeper and deeper into the dry ditch where I made a place for myself to lay. The dark sky and quiet air matched the mood of my soul. Cool water began to run down my arms down to my fingertips. I felt my hair grow damp as goosebumps creeped down my spine. My mind told me to get up and run; but I couldn't get myself to do so. My body felt heavy and weak. I continued to lay in the ditch as the water flowed faster. It had not reached a height more than a few inches yet, but I knew what was coming. With my eyes closed, my mind started to scream for me to rise out of the ditch, but my body would not move. I opened my eyes and watched as people walked by on both sides of the ditch, staring at me without saying a word. Tears began to stream down my face as I fought to cry for help.

As the water was rising, my body grew heavy as if it was an anchor keeping me grounded to the wet floor. I was aching for someone to save me as I looked each person in the eye as they walked by. They were looking directly at where I was lying, but they acted as though they did not see me, as if I did not even exist. Some even smiled as they walked by. I couldn't bear watching each person ignore me as the water rose, so I began to stare into the dark night sky. Without a star in sight, I began to feel all hope wash down the ditch along with the cold, grey water. The tears running from my eyes and the overwhelming current of the water flowed into one stream.

I did not understand why my body was not cascading down the ditch with the water. But then I realized why it felt so heavy. I began to feel arms grab hold of me and pull me farther into the floor. Not my arms, but the arms of a creature beneath the concrete. With this realization, I began to move and struggle. I grabbed onto the arms, but the skin was covered in sharp shards that cut the inside of my hands. The creature began to laugh a hysterical, awful laugh. "HELP ME! "I was screaming, but no sound was coming out. All I could hear was the swooshing movement of water. I closed my eyes again and took a breath as the water moved over my entire body. As I opened my mouth to attempt one final cry for help, the water rushed over my face and caused me to choke.

There was no more air to breath. I felt my chest collapse. I began to fall through the water. The ditch had grown deeper and the hands had released me. But now, I was floating to the bottom of wherever this deep ocean ended. I tried to get one final glimpse of the surface, but everything had turned black. I closed my eyes.

Gabriella barged into my room, immediately opening the blinds. "C'mon Cassie. The food delivery is going to be here in the next hour and I need you to help me hand everything out." I opened my eyes to see my older cousin place a glass of water on the floor next to my bed. Seeing how terrified I probably looked, she knelt down and gently moved my hair behind my ear. Barely moving, I touched my pillow and felt the dampness where my head had laid.

"You had another nightmare again, didn't you?", Gabriella asked me.

I nodded my head, still mentally trying to come back into reality.

"Same one?"

"A little bit different this time," I said while slowly sitting up. "I was able to move a bit more in this one." I tried saying it with a half smile so Gabriella would take it more lighthearted, but she just looked at me in worry. "I'm okay, I swear! It was just another bad dream."

"I know you are. You're a strong girl," she kissed me on the forehead before getting up. "I'm going to wake up Nathaniel. You know if I don't, he'll sleep all day."

As I watched Gabriella scurry out of my room, I felt relief knowing that I had just had another dream. But the nightmares don't actually end when I wake up. They have only started.

I walk over to my white antique nightstand and pull out the wooden box from underneath. Inside, I take out my pill bottle. I grab the water off my dusty, wooden floor and take my medication for the day. After I swallow the pill, I look into the bottle and realize that I have less than a week's worth of pills left. A sense of worry flashes over me when I remember why I began taking then when the hallucination first occurred.