Not so Imaginary // On Hold // GxB Paranormal Romance

Part Five | They Hunt in Packs... Or Do They?

F I VE  

The good news is that I didn't forget Ren. Not when he burned the diary, not when my memories were supposed to disappear. Perhaps his blood had something to do with it. It was weird, the way it happened, but slowly the feeling of nausea began to subside and a sense of calm replaced it. A tired calm, the kind like after a good cry. I found myself so exausted that I fell asleep on the floor.

The bad news is that when I woke, my vision had got worse. I could hardly see. And there was this dull buzzing rising up through the floor and the walls and rattling my toothbrush in the holder by the sink. The sound, or maybe the feel of it, must have been what woke me. I knew I'd been having a bad dream but couldn't remember what it had been about. A thick feeling of dread remained.

I got up off the floor and half-walked, half-crawled to my bedroom. Everything was so dark. It was hard to see where I was going, and I found myself on a collision course with first the bathroom door frame, then the bedroom wall, then the floor again. All around me, the buzzing rose. Higher and higher the pitch grew until it was so sharp and loud that it hurt even with my palms pressed against my ears.

Until it got so sharp that the window shattered. I scrambled back the way I came, trying to find my phone to text Ren, trying to just get out of my room and away from what I knew was there. Wait. No--what I could see was there. As my room and bed and furniture swam out of focus, the moths clouded into view as dark blurs at first, then into sharp outline. The lines of my room became darker and harder to see. It was like... the more I could see of Ren's world, the less I could see of mine. My vision was returning to that of my childhood.

To my great horror, one of the moths folded its long, spindled legs and squeezed itself through the broken window. I was trapped. I clawed at the wall, searching for the door I knew led down to the hall. Four moths were already inside and crawling closer by the time I found the opening of the door at my back. I fell through and rolled out into the hall. From there, I closed my eyes. Maybe it was better I couldn't see the sharp talons that clicked against the doorframe and walls as they squeezed through after me.

I managed to get out of the house before they could catch me, but there was nowhere to run. I was surrounded. Four, six, twelve other moths were waiting in ambush as soon as I got out under the sky where they could unfold their wings and descend from above. It was stupid, really. I had nowhere to go. Even if I stayed inside, even if I had locked myself into a closet, there was nothing I had that would repel their talons.

The only hope I had was my phone. And I could barely see that it existed, let alone compose a text. I had to try.

Here's the strange thing. I couldn't see my house, couldn't see my phone, but I could see my fingers tapping where the keys should have been. And the moths. I could see those.

The message I ended up sending to Ren probably made no sense. I couldn't even be sure it sent. But at least I tried before--The air rushed up in great gusts against the beating of slick scales as the creatures circled closer and the first struck out toward me with its talons. There was nowhere to run. I was surrounded on all sides, even from above.

I jumped as a long, armored leg slashed through the air where I'd stood moments before. I'd say I did a pretty good job dodging that first blow, except for the fact that I hadn't anticipated the second creature standing at my back to try to claim what its fellow had missed. I rolled again, this time feeling burning pain rip through my lower leg as a talon grazed my skin. My shoulder knocked into something stony and cold at my back. The sidewalk. I was down by the street, which meant I was not just in danger of getting eaten. I might get hit by a car--one that I could no longer see.