Purity

Chapter 3 - Nightmare

Sleep took over Travis' body before he could even fight it off, fear etched his mind, black smoke covering his vision before he was fully submerged and had no way out. This was it, this was the moment Travis knew his life would possibly be over before he even realised it, this was the night the first nightmare racked through Travis' brain like a horrifying tornado. This was the night Travis knew he would never want to go to sleep again. 

~Nightmare~

Travis was stood in his room, he knew it was HIS room because of the posters on the wall, and the darkened version of his bed sheets on the bed next to him. Black smoke swirled around him, it wasn't thick enough you couldn't see through as Travis could see everything that was going on around him. Small black figures danced around the room, he couldn't see any faces or make out who/what they were but the sight of them filled him with terror and dread. The smoke began to thicken as the figures danced around faster and faster until they blended in with the thick smoke that soon turned Travis' world to pitch black. Travis couldn't see anything for what felt like an eternity before the smoke began to disperse and he could see he was now in the 'haunted' forest that everyone at school spoke about. The forest he was always too afraid to go into despite not knowing what happened there. 

The sight of the forest filled Travis with even more fear and he quickly looked around trying to find a way out but soon realising wherever he was, he was in the middle and would have to walk for miles before he could even get out. Travis peered through the thin black smoke that continued to swirl around him and decided to head north-west to find a way out. Every step felt like it was taking years, he knew he would never get out before the creature got him. 

Once Travis managed to walk around 10 steps blood began to spill over the ground, covering his bare feet. The feeling of the thick red blood on his feet made him feel sick. He began to run as best as he could, however, the blood made it harder and the smoke began to get thicker. 

"HELP ME!" Travis' head snapped to his left with lightening speed, fear coursing through his body. "W...who's there?" He managed to shout out into the thickening smoke. "Help me!" The voice of a young girl shouted. Was this one of the victims of the creature? Do you get trapped in this horrible dream forever asking people to help? As Travis thought this more and more voices began to cry for help until he could no longer think for the noise. He could hear every single person, every voice sounded so close but also sounded so far away. Travis didn't know what to do, he listened, he watched, he searched but the whole time the smoke got thicker until once again his vision became nothing but black and silence fell once again. 

Travis starred into the darkness, fear filling his body with every breath. The darkness began to grow lighter again as the smoke dispersed, it was only then Travis realised he was back in his room causing him to begin feeling relieved. It was only then did he notice the long metal 'finger' coming towards him, this caused the fear to paralyse him. He fought to move but every inch of movement made his body ache and him become tired. The metal claw got closer until it was touching the mark on Travis'  leg. Travis looked on in pure terror as the metal claw drew a line diagonally through the circle on his leg. The pain was excruciating, the worst pain he had ever felt. "One..." was all Travis heard before he passed out. 

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Travis woke up in a state of pure shock, he shouted out but soon stopped his voice before waking his parents. He was covered in sweat and his sheets were soaked from it. Slowly he looked down at his leg...

Sure enough there was a diagonal line right through the circle on his leg.