Mythical Link ▸ Link Neal {Book One}

Sixteen

     Dinner was painfully quiet. The boys played amongst themselves, not eating their vegetables while Christy scolded them. Lily would glance up at her father every once in a while with curiosity etched in her features. Link absentmindedly stared at his plate, and had picked apart the pork with his fork without a bite.

     The disinterest in his eyes was evident, his lips curled into a deep frown. He couldn't help but feel like a walking freak show. First the lucid dream that actually came true, then the sandstorm where he and Rhett saw a human wolf, and now the incident in the bathroom with the snakes. It was too much to bear. He swallowed and looked around at everyone's faces. "I'm really not feeling too good right now. I think I'm gonna go to bed."

     Christy said nothing as she bit her lip, her eyes laden with worry. He gave each of the kids a kiss and then hugged and kissed Christy before he trudged upstairs. He took the stairs slowly as he remained hyper-vigilant, wary that his hallucinations would return. As soon as he made it into the bedroom, he hurried to the bed and jumped under the covers. He didn't even bother to get changed into a set of pajamas, since he'd just thrown his day clothes back on after the incident.

     He closed his eyes and wondered why his perfect world was falling apart. How and why did this all happen? What suddenly brought this on? His head swam with the thoughts and every time he latched onto a particular thought, it kept on leading to the one person he felt had a connection to it all.

     Terra.

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     Link found himself in a sparsely wooded area, and he looked below him. He noticed a creek bubbling with fast flowing water. Off In the distance, he saw a boy that sat on a rock with his feet dangling over the edge, his legs not quite long enough to actually reach the water.

     The boy wore a blue and white striped polo, with tan cargo pants. His dark brown hair swept to the side, and it covered a good portion of his forehead. Link felt reminded of himself as a young boy until he noticed his chocolate colored eyes that scanned the creek below him. There was a smile that dressed his freckled face but, the smile didn't look like one of amusement.

     Link tilted his head to the side as the boy rose to his feet, his balance slightly thrown off by the uneven surface of the rock. In the creek were several large jagged rocks that could rip through a human's flesh easily if they weren't careful, and Link scrambled to his feet. He ran toward the boy and threw his hand out in front of him. "Hold on!"

     His echoes rang through the wooded area, and the boy looked in his direction. He suddenly found his balance as if nothing had even happened, a mischievous smirk danced on his lips. Link stopped in front of him, his shoes muddy from the wet soil. A shudder slowly crept down his spine like it was being poured over his head as he found himself deeply embedded in the gaze of this kid's eyes. He appeared far more mature than his physical body was able to portray.

     "You weren't seriously going to try and save me, were you?"

     Link was taken aback and he arched an eyebrow in confusion. "Well I wasn't going to let you fall onto that rock and impale yourself." He gestured below them.

     The boy laughed, and it seemed to echo through the still air. "You should have come two minutes ago."

     Link slowly turned his head to look behind him, and his heart dropped into his stomach. Wedged between an embankment where the water met the land was a girl. Link made his way down toward the water, and he slid down the earth. His pace quickened as he slid on the loose dirt until he found flat land. He ran until he met with the girl, then lowered himself to the ground to look in the girl's face. His eyes watered as he did so. His nostrils flared as he flew up to his feet and he pointed an accusatory finger at the boy.

     "You killed Terra!" He spat, and he watched as the boy skipped off of the rock and approached Link slowly. As he moved toward Link, his eyes shifted from dark brown to grey. His face sprouted grey hairs, and covered his entire body like a cascading wave in the ocean. His face morphed and he grew a long snout. His teeth dripped with saliva as they grew into dangerous enormous fangs.

     Link took a step backward, and he fell onto his backside when he'd tripped on a twig. He quickly scrambled to his feet with a scream. He tore through the woods to put as much distance between the hideous creature and himself as he possibly could.

     He heard the padding of the wolf's footsteps behind him. Link ducked behind the nearest tree, and pressed his back up against it to make himself as small as possible. He held in his breath to keep himself from being heard, although he was certain his heartbeat could be heard from a mile away.

     Birds chirped. Water flowed through the creek and smashed against the rocks and other debris that floated around in the water, the sounds drumming through the air like a cacophony of eery music. Not a single footstep could be heard. Link could even hear his own heart beat in his chest with how quiet it was.

     Link slowly peered around the tree, and to his relief, he saw nothing. The wolf had ended the chase. He let out a sigh of relief, and turned to face ahead of him. He had to figure out how he was going to get home, and he needed to talk to Rhett about seeing the wolf again. He also needed his best friend in figuring out how he had gone from his bed one minute to the woods the next, since all of this was really starting to freak him out.

     Link's eyes widened as he realized that they were now obligated to say something. He pulled his phone out of his pocket and texted while he walked. He bumped into something and thought it was a tree, so he looked up briefly. His phone slid from his hand and his jaw dropped, a snarl ripping through the air like somebody had torn the whole paper mill in half. Link's heart caught in his throat as the wolf brought its paw back to slash at his throat.

     Link sat up in his bed and screamed.