My demons (book 1)

Am I dead?

She was lying in the bed, looking at nothing. Monsters were all around her, one uglier than another. Her only company were the shadows of fear, not letting her sleep tonight. Inside of her, restlessness was building up and filling her head with dark thoughts. 

She saw Claire's face in the back of her mind.

Her thoughts were spinning with an enormous speed, but they were always coming back to images that frightened her the most. Lucas was walking up and down with a concerned look.

The fast stream of thoughts was building up question after question and with every answer, her heart beat faster.

But was she really awake? Was she even in her bed? She stood up and looked around. That was not her room. Dark, overgrown forest was rising all around her and she couldn't see the end or the beginning of it. In the air was the smell of her fear.

Was Alina crying?

She shivered, certain it's not from the cold. She started running. Her heart was beating faster and faster as she ran, as it seems, to the heart of the forest. Her eyesight was getting foggy and it was ringing in her ears. 

She heard Claire's voice in the distance.

She yelled, but she couldn't hear the sound of her voice. What betrayed her, her vocal cords or her ears? Behind a tree she saw a pair of eyes, but she didn't dare to look at what was hiding in the shadows. She stood still for a moment, listening to silence. Apart from her heartbeat, she could clearly hear a laugh. Terrifying, deep voice was laughing out loud at her distress. 

Lucas was talking to Alina about something, she couldn't hear them.

She started to look around herself but everything was foggy, distant. Her imagination was mixing up with reality and her senses had abandoned her. She could no longer tell what was real and what was in her head. With high speed she worked her way forward on that forest trail and soon started running. 

Claire was crying. Why was Claire crying?

Her fear was paralysing her senses and thoughts, the evil laugh still reverberating in her head. She had stopped relying on her eyesight a long time ago. Dark shadows were following her and she couldn't tell if they were real or a part of her imagination. They were gaining on speed and her legs were too tired for another chase. She gave up. She closed her eyes and waited. Nothing happened.

She opened her eyes. Was she dead? A glaring light blinded her as pain pierced her body in the place the bullet had hit her. She whined in agony, trying to figure out where she was. She was supposed to be dead, she had been shot. But dead people didn't feel pain, did they?