When Hell Comes (#wattys2017)

Chapter VI - Welcome to the Dark Side...

*AN: Hello dearest readers! So that was an unexpected twist (I hope!!!). Hang on! Things will be getting a little interesting in this chapter...

I would like to dedicate this chapter to @Ithildaeforever who has been keeping me inspired and entertained with her fabulous book Infernal Blade! Do yourself a favor and read it! You won't regret it...

Enjoy*

Stacey awoke slowly. She had no recollection of what had happened... She became conscious of her surroundings, hearing nothing but silence. When she opened her eyes she saw nothing but darkness. She closed her eyes and opened them again with the same results she had the first time - nothing but darkness. She sat up then from the cold surface beneath her and realized that she was definitely not in a bed - not in her room. After a few more tries, all without success, she became frantic and began to call out as loud as she could. "Help me!!!"

Her words soon faded into the distance and she called out again for the second time, and then a third before sobs tore from her throat. Stacey felt helplessness and despair seep into all of her limbs as her thoughts ran haywire. 'Am I blind??? Or worse... Am I dead? I can't die now... Can I? I can't be DEAD!!!'

After what felt like all of eternity, Stacey gave up on crying - no one came to her aid. Her brain felt as if it were filled with cotton wool... She shook her head for a moment to clear this sensation, and felt a sharp stinging pain. She tried again - harder - to remember where she was and how she had gotten here, but no solid thoughts seem to come to her mind...

Then, she thought of a single letter... 'K'. Trying to hold on to this shred of clarity with all her might, she wondered for a moment what the significance of this letter was. She focused on it as hard as she could, and finally - as if by magic - a vague face appeared in the very depths of her mind... She couldn't make out the exact features of this face. She saw only blurred colors - ashen hair and the darkest of onyx eyes... Stacey knew that this lady was somehow connected to the situation she found herself in.

With all her might she focused on this face, and as if struck by lightning, she remembered her name - Katey. Stacey held on to this name in the depths of her mind, and tried to clear the fogginess which had frayed the edges of this thought - this memory. She took a deep, calm breath - and as she exhaled this breath, all of her memories of this 'Katey' flooded back to her. Stacey saw every memory - FELT every emotion as this flood of recollection seeped into her mind, like the ocean would. Wave upon wave... It overwhelmed her for a minute, but she grasped onto her sanity as soon as she could.

Stacey had nothing but this that seemed familiar to her, and so she tested the name by speaking it first in a whisper."Katey..." Then, when this name felt right as it crossed her tongue, she called it out, as loud as her cries for help had been... "Katey!!!" She kept silent for another while and listened - until the name, too, faded into vast nothingness that surrounded her. She cried it out for a second time, and soon followed suit for a third time.

Just as Stacey again felt hopelessness overcome her and was about to call out this name for a fourth time before giving up, she heard a voice speak right behind her. "Would you stop with your pathetic cries already?!? Good lord, you're giving me a headache! I heard you the first time, you imbecile!!!" Katey commanded in a frustrated, but amused tone.

Stacey apologized and continued by giving voice to the horrific thoughts to Katey, which had earlier plagued her mind. "Thank God, Katey... I'm sorry. I thought I was all alone!!! Would you please tell me why I am - " She was about to finish her question with 'here' - but realized again she didn't exactly know where 'HERE', was. So she inquired this instead. "Would you care to explain - WHERE exactly am I???" She still couldn't see a single shred of light around her, and wondered if Katey did this on purpose since she knew Stacey was absolutely terrified of it - terrified to the point of paralysis.