RavenWood

Chapter One: The Dream

            My heart was racing, I was running like my life depended on it. I don't know why, or even how I ended up here, but for an art gallery it was pretty vacant. The pictures along the walls were all of the same giant red roses. Rounding another corner it began to feel like I was going in circles. Like time was slowed to a pause, the hallways began to stretch and I started to become one with the room. More time passed and I was stuck standing still.

"I get it, I have to be dreaming, that's it. Come on Jason, just close your eyes and wake up." The second my eyes shut I had a feeling someone was watching me. My temperature dropped and I could feel the hairs on the back of my neck begin to stand. Then I heard it, breathing, someone was breathing in my left ear. I opened my eyes and spun around without hesitation but to my surprise nobody was there.

That's when I noticed the pictures, what was once rows of giant red roses was now pictures of a boy in a forest holding a popped balloon. His face was down covered by a baseball cap on top of his head. I turned around and nearly jumped from shock, I saw him move. The boy in the picture looked up at me and just stared. His eyes were hollow black, the smile he wore was so twisted it sent shivers down my spine. The boy's eyes and smile wasn't what made me uneasy though, What really made me uneasy was the note he was holding. The note read "Don't Leave!"

It was dead silent, I didn't move for what I thought was hours. Then the boy reached out his hand and ripped through the picture. "Stay with me" the boy said crawling out of the hole he made. I immediately ran, my heart was racing, I was running like my life depended on it.

Then I woke up.

I was soaked in a cold sweat with goosebumps all over my body. "Jesus Christ, What the hell was that?" I got up off my bed and opened the curtains, I smiled and welcomed the warmth of the sunlight. "Thank God it was just a dream."

"Where were you?!" my younger sister Stella asked barging into my room.

"Uh... Sleeping."

"No dip Sherlock, I mean where were you this afternoon? You said you would pick me up from school so I wouldn't have to walk all the way here in this heat. Now I'm drenched and I think my new shirt is ruined! So, Jason, Why didn't you show up?"

I didn't know what to say, I just stood there with a pathetic look on my face. "I totally forgot, I just spaced the whole day, Honestly I have no idea what got over me. I'm sorry Stell, I don't know what to say."

"Don't make empty promises Jason."

"I don't plan on it, jeez, I'll make it up to you." I exited my room and plopped down on the couch in the living room and turned on the T.V. Then I froze. Stella followed shortly and began to say "Hey! Turn that off I'm talking to yo-"

"Quiet!" I hissed at her then I started to raise the volume on the T.V.

"In Breaking News," The anchorwoman began, "Our thoughts and prayers do go out to the parents of the young boy found strangled to death today in the middle of Raven Wood Forest. This marks the twelfth child this week to fall victim of these horrendous attacks. Please we encourage anyone with any leads regarding the matter to contact the local Raven Wood PD..."

My eyes grew wide when I saw the crime scene photos on the T.V. screen, the forest, it was the same forest I saw in my dream. I jumped up from the couch when they showed the photo of the boy. "That's him!" I shouted, "the boy from my dream, that's him!"

"What are you going on about now?" Stella asked, her facial expression more confused as ever. "Where is that? The forest, where is it?" I asked.

"I pass it on my way to school, why what's up?"

"Take me there," I rushed back to my room and grabbed my keys and black leather jacket then headed outside. Once in my car it didn't take Stella long to follow, she changed out of her sweat drenched clothing and put on a much lighter tank top. As soon as she got in the car I started it up and took off. "What's your hurry" she asked.

"I had this dream, it's the reason I didn't pick you up from school."

"Okay, I still don't understand what a dream has to do with you dragging me to Raven Wood Forest."

"If you would let me finish, in the dream I saw a boy. The same boy we saw on the television." I turned to look at Stella and I could already tell she was thinking of committing me to the nearest mental asylum. "Hey you can judge and call it coincidental all you want but that's a big freaking coincidence if you ask me. I just have to make sense of it all, it's just something I have to do." We stayed silent for the rest of the car ride there.

Once we arrived at the entrance of the forest we were greeted with the welcoming presence of police tape and warning signs stating "TRESPASSERS WILL BE ARRESTED ON SITE." "Well, here we go." I said lifting one leg over the police tape.

"Are you insane!" Stella grabbed my arm, "Can you not read?! Do you want to get arrested?"

"Well what else am I supposed to do Stell? I have this weird ass dream of this freaky ass place and my only explanation is a crime scene. Tell me, what else am I supposed to-" Then it hit me, this sudden rush of pain to my brain, like steel pipes were being shoved through my skull. I fell to the ground screaming, everything started to spin. "Jason! Jason are you okay?!" Stella rushed to my aid, putting one arm behind my back sitting me up.

The world around me disappeared as if my own consciousness was being sucked into a black hole. Then everything was silent, I opened my eyes and there was the sky. It was different, faded. In fact everything was faded in a dull like color, it was almost as if the color was removed from existence. "Hello!" I shouted, "Stella! Anyone, hello!" Still no answer. I scanned the area for any sign of life but there was none. No sound, no wind, nothing.

I took a step forward and that's when the ringing in my ears started, it was faint yet annoying. "Help!" Someone from the distance shouted, I knew it wasn't Stella, I would have recognized the voice. I ran towards the terrified shrieks as fast as I could rushing past thorn bushes and tall grass, the closer I got to the cries for help the louder the ringing got. "Hello!" I shouted through the agonizing pain, "Hello, if anyone is here please answer me. Are you okay?"

But I was too late. After pushing past one last bush I saw the body, the boy's body. "Jesus Christ!" I nearly puked at the site. The boy had been strangled but what the news reporter failed to mention were the eyes, the eyes were completely carved out. "What kind of monster does this to children?" Looking around one last time I turned to leave but then the boy grabbed my leg. He stared at me with his empty sockets and began to chant,

"Don't let him near, for he can smell your fear.

There's hunger in his eyes and we're just his meal.

He takes the eyes so you can't see,

What Stares Back in your sleep."

Then I woke up cold, shaking and sweating. I was laying in the back seat of my car, I looked over to see Stella was driving. "Pull over," I said.

"Holy hell you're awake."

"I said pull over!" I shouted at Stella, she immediately pulled the car over to the side of the road. I opened the door and fell out of the car and puked my lungs out. "Are you okay?" Stella asked. "He takes the eyes..." I mumbled to myself.

"Excuse me?"

"There's hunger in his eyes and we're just his meal." I continue to myself.

Stella got out of the car and came around to my side, "Jason, talk to me. Tell me what's going on." She reached out her hand and helped me off the ground. "Tell me, what's happening?"

I froze, I was absolutely lost myself. What in the hell did I just experience, it felt so real, like a lucid dream. I could not have made that up even if I tried, that poor boy. What could have happened to him? I looked at Stella and took a deep breath before speaking. "I had another dream," I told her. "I think a monster killed that boy. Also I believe this is just the beginning."