Fallen through - Short Story

Chapter Two

Narrator POV

She runs behind the back of a house, but instantly collides into somebody.

"Oh my gosh, I am so sorry I am just in a hurry and-I'm sorry." She stutters out.

She looks up to meet their eyes, and sees that it is a young man, her age, around 25.

"That's okay, my name is Mark. Why are you in such a rush?" He asks her.

"Well there was this monster, and it was in my kitchen and it was following me, I think. I'm lost, I don't know where I am or what this place is." She rushes, basically saying it in one big sentence.

"Ah, I see. This has been a rumor for a long time now, passed down by generations. We should probably get out of here then."

Mark leads Iris away from the town, and onto a path near the forest. They walk for about 10 minutes, telling each other about themselves.

"So, you don't know where we are going, but if you keep walking along this path, you can get away from here and possibly get back home." Announced Mark.

"Wait you mean just keep walking through the wood, and hope that somehow I get back to my apartment?!" Iris said as her eyes widen.

He takes out a necklace with a red and yellow, marble like charm. 

"Here, take this pendent. The red represents bravery and the yellow represents optimism. On your journey back, you need to stay positive and brave, and if you do, you will make it home. I would come with you, but this is the town limit, I am not allowed to leave anywhere past this point. Also, I must stay here to take care of others that are in need."

"Thank you Mark, without you I wouldn't have any hope of getting home, and I would probably be stuck here. Goodbye!"

"Goodbye Iris, it was a pleasure to meet you. I have a feeling that we shall meet again soon." He says.

Iris puts on the pendent, then turns around and starts her journey back home.

Iris POV

I walk down the dirt filled path, with luck, I will make it home. After a few minutes of walking, I start to get a weird feeling again.  Once again I look around me, but there is nobody there.  Something black moved in my peripheral vision. Whipping my head to the side to look, there is nothing there but trees. As I turn my head back forward, the black shadowy figure is standing right in front of me. It moves to grab my arm, but before it can even touch me, my reflexes kick in and I turn around to run. After one step, I trip and fall over a root. The last thing I remember is something hitting my head really hard before blackness took over my vision.

Pain. My head is in so much pain. Throbbing. My head is throbbing. I blink open my eyes and get up from  off my living room floor. I walk to my bathroom to get some pain relief, but stopped in my tracks.

"Wasn't I just with Mark, in that weird land, and the monster was following me?" I murmured out loud to myself.

Must have slipped and hit my head on the floor, and has an insane dream. I look into the mirror to see that I am wearing the same clothes from earlier and my hair is a disaster. My eyes wander over my messy hair, until they catch the yellow and red charmed necklace around my neck. It really did happen. Someone just rang the doorbell. Holding my pounding head, I wander over to the door and slowly open it.

"Hello Iris."

"Mark?!"