Like death, the forces of sleep pulled Halo's eyes down and paralyzed her exhausted body. While warm, mesmerizing blankets caressed her, her wavy river of hair flowed down small purple hills of the pillow and trickled down her bedside. A sigh escaped her lips. With lazy thoughts, she let the tendrils of an approaching dream draw her into a deep sleep.
The hazy world swayed from side to side as it faded into visibility. Halo's blurry eyes slowly focused just enough to see her own two feet. Stumbling along, her senseless hands met the cold walls of the alley. Nothing seemed real. The usual, dreamy hypnosis lead her wide dark eyes as if showing her something she knew was present. She could barely make out two familiar bodies lying in a ground of dirt. They seemed to float in a glistening mud of blood and soil. Her parents' eyes stared up at her, motionless. They still felt alive, however, and their motionlessness burrowed into her soul. What really set her on edge was those shiny, untwitching marbles. She kept expecting their dead lips to curl into a smile, their bloody arms to wraparound her, but she was left unsatisfied. Realization and shock kicked in, sending a resonating twinge of mental pain throughout her shivering body.. Your parents are dead. Their dead. You're alone. Gripping agony squeezed tears out of the girl like a rotten lemon, weak and broken. Her only known family came to nothing.
Suddenly, in the middle of a sob, the air around her shifted. The atmosphere had grown noticeably warmer, triggering anxiety again. A bass drum heartbeat penetrated the teen's mind. Rotating instinctively, an unusual tall figure invaded her space.
Halo didn't take time to look at it. She mindlessly bolted forward, adrenaline surging through her veins. As she dashed through sharp turns, confusing forks, and narrow alleys, her eyes began to adjust to the darkness of the maze. With every faint corner she turned, hot gases curling from the murderer's grin heated her nape. And each time she felt such sickening heat, she fearfully urged her legs against the overpowering current of doubt. In the distance the creature's outstretched nail tore the back of her blue shirt. Halo could barely twist away from the Thing's sharp, needle fingers, freshly coated in blood from its previous victim. Another nail reached out and slashed her back, leaving a huge bleeding gash. The monster's eyes widened in increased hunger. It only desired to tear that gash open, exposing a world of muscles and veins. Before he could, Halo planted her foot against the damp dirt, and her flexible body lunged a few inches further toward the endless, dark maze. The fear shoving her onward made it seem like it would never end. Incessantly, voices in her head told her of how close she was to death. Knowing she might not be so lucky anymore, she began to concentrate on not falling to the ground in exhaustion. No matter how much her muscles screamed, though, she managed to keep up her maximum pace.
A somewhat different wall ahead loomed over the exhausted teen. Trapped in a twisting hallway, she squinted at the space of black on the right, indicating a turn. Before she could swerve there, her eyes caught a more appealing darkness of the left. The current trip conveniently transformed her tripping motion into a brilliant swerve. Her mind replied by redirected the exhausted limbs toward the other way. A new scene instantly settled into her brain again.
Another wall! Another turn! she thought.
Instead, three dark walls ensnared her. The only way of escape lay behind. Before the horror smacked her across the face, a glimpse of 8 faint words on the left wall captured her attention. "Two lives left before you die in reality."
Eyes as large as saucers, Halo tearfully turned her head toward her swift fate. Already, the black jaws stretched over her head, skin meeting teeth. While she screamed in agony, hundreds of nails sank into her skull, chin, and smooth neck.
Halo found herself panting heavily when her sweat coated head jerked up. A sudden stream of light slipped into her wide pupils before she could protect them. Then her damp eyelids flicked down several times. Gradually, the light allowed the surroundings to soak in. The light in the room lingered, a cloud of fog alone in the small area it was somehow confined to. But the light was confined to a series of bars, allowing her only to clearly observe the darkness outside. A rusty creaking door blended into the bars behind her invited her hand to slip through and swing it open. When Halo gave up her search for a light bulb, she forced her exhausted body off the ice cold iron floor. Suddenly, the previous happenings stabbed her.
