Wonder World: Ignition

The Stuff of Nightmares

He was alone in the apartment,  except it wasn't quite right. It was a swirl of crimson shadows rising from twisted caricatures of the walls and furniture. He was looking for something, he just didn't know what. He stepped past the sickly dining room table and wandered down the empty hallway. The voice spoke to him again, seeming to emanate from somewhere deep in the recesses of Kyle's skull.

"Closer," the voice whispered. "Closer." Kyle walked dutifully down the narrow hall as the walls warped and swayed. The doors in the hallway were closed, save for one. Sarah's bedroom door was left ajar. His feet seemed to move on their own, drawing him forward like a magnet.

"Enter," the voice hissed. The words filled Kyle's mind like a black fog covering the harbor. His hand stretched outward on its own. The door buckled at his touch before dissolving into dust.

The whisper seeped through his skin, sinking into Kyle's very bones. "Find her," it commanded. Kyle heard whimpering from within the dark bedroom. A child's whimpers.

"Sarah!" Kyle tried to yell, but the words burned away in his throat. The whimpering grew louder as Kyle stepped towards the bed, fear threatening to choke away his very breath. Where was Sarah? Where was his sister? He tried to call out her name again, but when he opened his mouth his tongue turned to ash.

"Find her!" The voice was impatient. Something under the covers moved. Kyle pulled back the sheet and recoiled in horror. He collapsed to the ground, shaking violently. He gagged and acrid black sludge poured from his mouth. It couldn't be real. It couldn't be.

"Look at what you have done," the whisper sounded almost proud. "Look at what you have wrought, Kyle Reeves."

Kyle stared at the body, unable to comprehend what he saw. Her skin looked like melted wax and her black hair smoldered in the crimson light, but Kyle would recognize her anywhere.

"I'm sorry, Sarah."   

Kyle woke with a start, his tank top soaked in sweat. The nightmares had been getting steadily worse. At first they only happened once or twice a week, but now they were almost nightly. His heart was still racing. He tried to focus on anything else, willing himself to fall back asleep, but Sarah's twisted face kept coming back to haunt him. At long last he drifted into a fitful sleep.

Kyle was dead tired the next morning. Mom was already at her first job, but she had left some toast and scrambled eggs on the stove.

"Sarah!" he called, "Time to get up, sleepyhead!"

"But I don't wanna!" she yelled back.

"If you're not up soon I'll send in the Tickle Monster!" he teased.

"I'm up! I'm up! I'm up!" she screeched, and Kyle smiled. Sarah had started first grade at Arbor Elementary this year, and she still wasn't happy about having to get up every morning. Finally she stumbled out of her room to grab breakfast, rubbing the dark circles under her bright blue eyes. Kyle was halfway through his toast when he remembered he had forgotten to write his English paper.

"Shit!" he swore. Sarah started giggling. "I meant crap. Don't say that in front of Mom." 

He was ten minutes late to first period. Sarah's bus was late and she was scared of being alone, so Kyle had to wait with her for fifteen minutes while he scrambled to come up with an idea for his paper, which made him miss his bus. By third period he knew he was doomed. Next class was English and all he had was a half page of handwritten ramblings about holding grudges and injustice. Not exactly the expert analysis an American classic like Wuthering Heights deserved, but it would have to do. Besides, he had only read the Wikipedia summary of the plot, so its not like he was going to get a good grade on this paper anyway.