Mythical Link ▸ Link Neal {Book One}

Two

     Stevie and Chase brought out a sofa and the lights dimmed. Rhett volunteered to go first, and he laid down on the sofa. He folded his hands over his chest and took a few deep breaths.

     He closed his eyes and focused on the rhythm of his breathing as it filled his lungs and expelled from his nose. Several minutes went by, and he opened his eyes.

     "You're supposed to keep your eyes closed," Link whispered.

     Rhett chuckled. "Okay, okay." He closed his eyes and tried again. Another snicker had escaped his lips.

     "What are you thinking about?" Link had a feeling he already knew the answer.

     "Food." Rhett opened his eyes and sat up. "How about you try and do it, and I'll be the observer. You can fall asleep at the flip of a switch."

     Link smirked and they switched places. He looked ready and prepared to take on this possible lucid dreaming adventure. He wasn't certain it was going to work, since he read that it was best if done after 5 hours of initial sleeping, but they cared more about the fun rather than the science on the show.

     He closed his eyes, waiting with his arms above his head for the aching signal to let them drop. He felt the electrical sensation wrap around his biceps and work its way down to his fingertips, which gave him the urge to drop his arms.

     The sensation became stronger the longer he tried to hold it, and he waited until it was so strong he literally couldn't hold it anymore. He let his arms fall to his sides, and he stared into the blackness of his eyelids.

     He couldn't give a single thought to the itch on his nose, or whether they were within the frame in the camera. He had to trust his crew, and he had to focus. After what felt like five minutes, he started to see vivid colored patterns in front of his eyes and he felt his heart race.

     His body was heavy like somebody had placed a two ton weight on it, and he knew he had sank deep into the couch. He tried to move his toes, wriggle his nose, purse his lips, tense his arm, and he couldn't do any of those things. Almost as if he was paralyzed.

     Panic flooded his chest for a brief moment, laced with a tint of excitement from something actually happening. His eyes raced back and forth behind his eyelids and followed the swirls of patterns.

     He was then sucked into the images forming right behind his eyes.

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     Incidentally it had turned out to be the studio, and Link opened his eyes and sat up. He looked around the room frantically.

     "Rhett, it worked! It—" he trailed off and peered around the room, slowly this time. Everything was hazy. He couldn't see anybody in the room with him, but everything looked normal.

     He slowly brought his hand up to his face, taking his opposite hand and he brought them together. His hands went right through each other and he gasped.

     The room started to rumble; subtle at first, but more violently as it progressed like an intensifying earthquake. He could hear Rhett saying his name, but he shook his head.

     "No. I'm finally lucid. I'm dreaming. Stabilize!" The room stopped shaking abruptly and everything became crystal clear. He swung his legs over and let his feet touch the ground.

     It literally felt like he'd just woken up from a cat nap. His arms were speckled with goose bumps because the thrill had pumped through his veins with such a rush that it made him cold. He finally did it.

     Link rose from the couch and headed toward the open door, eager to find Rhett. He found Rhett right outside, and Link's blue eyes lit up as he ran across the parking lot toward his best friend.

     He could tell it was Rhett in the dark, being as tall as he was, crouched behind Link's car. Rhett's muscles and stance had gone rigid as he watched ahead. Link took no notice of what was causing Rhett's state of alarm, breathless and excited when he finally reached Rhett.

     "You're not gonna believe this! I'm dreaming! This is a dream, Rhett! Let's go flying!" He reached out to touch Rhett's arm, and flinched backward when Rhett turned his head to look at him.

     Rhett shook his head vehemently, and brought a finger up to his lips to shut Link up. Link's shoulders sank, and he stared long and hard into Rhett's eyes. He instantly noticed that the playful gleam had been sapped out of them.

     "What's wrong," he asked, moving closer to Rhett to see what he was looking at. Link lowered himself to the point that he was almost on his knees to peer past the windshield.

     He turned his head to the side and listened to what he thought was an animal grunting. His eyes narrowed, his eyebrows furrowing over his confused eyes. Rhett looked at Link, and Link detected fear.

     They did an experiment about detecting fear on their show, all jokes and laughs, but he never thought he would actually detect fear on his best friend. Link peered over again to see something large, presumably the animal, standing tall. It looked down at something.

     From their distance, he couldn't tell what, but an odd substance dripped from its hand. Hand? The fact that the animal appeared to be standing on two legs and had hands was so alarming that Link's breath hitched as if he'd had the air punched out of his lungs. It was clearly covered head to toe in fur, and was making strange animal like sounds.

     His eyes widened when he saw the animal throw its head back and roar. The roar reverberated through the quiet empty street, causing Link's tummy to rumble and the hair on the back of his neck to stand on end.

     Link gasped, Rhett taking Link by the sleeve of his jacket and pulling him back out of sight. Link pressed his back against the car. His chest rose and fell rapidly as his heart picked up pace.

     Rhett looked back over after a short amount of time, and gestured for Link to join him again. The animal was gone, but in its wake was a person. A motionless, silent person. Link's heart jumped into his throat.

     Rhett looked at Link with sad eyes. "She's dead, Link."

     Link's mouth fell open and he backed away slowly, shaking his head.

     "What are you talking about? Rhett... You're not the real Rhett... This isn't real. None of this is real," his voice rose higher in pitch as he slowly realized that he was caught in a nightmare. He turned his head to the right.

     Something barreled toward him at an alarming speed, and he couldn't figure out what it was from a distance. He took a tentative step backward, then stumbled to turn on his heel as he tried to run back toward the set. Back toward safety.

     He ran in slow motion as if he had trudged through a pound of peanut butter. Sweat beaded his forehead as he bared his teeth from the exertion. He was caught by the ankle and he dropped to the ground on his knees, grunting as his knees smacked the pavement.

     He clawed at the pavement feverishly for something to grip onto as he was slowly being dragged backward. He bit his bottom lip hard when he felt something sharp prick into the exposed skin on his ankle.

     He opened his mouth to scream but his mouth wouldn't open. It was like he didn't have a mouth, and all he could do was whimper, even though in his head he was screaming for Rhett.