L U C I D || A Dreamcatcher AU

6 | Desolation

Darkness was the only thing keeping Handong company.

She lay as still as a corpse inside a long rectangular box with its lid shut tight, devoid of light. Should she attempt to get out of the box, she would be met with a bloody end by the dozens of spikes mere inches above her. Handong strained her eyes, attempting to make sense of her surroundings, but all she could see was the pitch-black darkness. "Hello? Anyone?" Her lips were parched and her throat was dry. She was afraid, terrified. More terrified than she'd ever been in her entire life. She could feel the sweat drench her skin, the throbbing of her own eyes, the ringing screams vibrating in her ears, and the thumping of her heart against her chest. Handong's fingers were curled into a fist, nails digging into her palm. Her breathing becomes erratic, deep, then shallow. She could not even fall asleep without a nightlight in her own room, much less trapped in a small, pitch-black space. Handong felt herself short of breath, a wave of dizziness and nausea striking her as her anxiety caused her heart to palpitate irregularly. She felt as if she was trapped in the void between life and death; not existing, yet also not ceasing to exist.

Last she recalled, Handong had been at home folding the fresh laundry in her bedroom. She deduced that she must have fallen asleep while doing so, which meant that this was just simply a nightmare. Handong tried to calm herself down by telling herself that she was just dreaming and that none of this was real, but her heart still continued to race in fear. Everything just felt too real to be a dream; the humidity, her surroundings, she herself. She twitched her fingers, trying to confirm whether or not this whole thing was a dream.

Her fingers twitched.

Okay, I can move my fingers. So that means...this is either real and she had been kidnapped, or that this was a dream. An overly-realistic dream at that.

Where else could this horrible place have come from? She couldn't wrap her head around the situation that she was in. Nothing made sense. If she were being honest with herself, Handong would much rather die than stay here for another second. And that says a lot, considering that she loved life too much, and she was at her peak. A University Graduate in Medicine, commanding a rather generous salary from her job at the hospital, having all those she treasured around her, and successfully overcame her demons from the past. She was truly living the life. Why did this have to happen? This...place, or whatever it was, was a frighteningly accurate depiction of what Handong imagined Hell to look like; full of her worst fears. The dread that filled her was like an invisible demon sitting heavy on her shoulders and all she could hear was the sharpening of its knives. To die alive and to die alone was her worst nightmare, and all she could do was pray and hope that God would deliver her. The only thing keeping her sane right now was her raspy breathing, where her lungs threatened to collapse every second.

Where in the world was she and why was she here?