Devil's Gateway

Chapter Eleven

"Trevor," a meek voice whispered into the black void around me.

Every inch of my skin ached. I felt like a sheet of ice with hairline fractures all over the surface.

"Dinner's ready," the voice continued.

I peeled my eyelids opened, squinting instantly at the bright light I saw. A silhouette blocked out part of the light, shading my face. The figure's outline looked strangely familiar.

"Kara?" I asked in disbelief.

She was dead.

"Come on, Allison is waiting." Her cold fingers ran down my arm.

"Kara?" I repeated.

My eyes adjusted against the bright light, turning the blurry silhouette into the thin blonde I had known over the years. No evidence of the coaster's brutality lingered on her skin. She looked whole—unharmed. Pink smiling lips. Smooth pale skin. Beautiful hazel eyes.

"Trevor, are you alright? You look a little pale."

"How are you..." I trailed off, fumbling for words.

My hand shot up to the back of my head, expecting to contact tender skin and warm blood. Instead, my palm met hair.

"Are you feeling okay? You're starting to worry me." Kara's light eyebrows furrowed in concern.

"The clown and the coaster and—"

"Trevor, we made it out of the house three years ago. Don't you remember?"

Memories of Kara falling to her death played in my mind. The crack of her back hitting the track still echoed in my mind. The haunting feeling of her warm blood covering my skin still felt ever so present.

"No, you died, Kara. This is just another trick. All of this is just a trap to let my guard down."

She looked at me as if we already had this conversation several times before.

"You had that dream again, didn't you?" She placed her hand tentatively on my arm. I flinched back at the touch. Her fingers were ice. 

"It's not a dream. You aren't real. None of this is. I'm probably lying on the ground somewhere close to death."

"Trevor, we made it out. You caught me before I fell. You saved me."

"I won't fall for your illusions," I spat. My heart had hardened. Especially after the Allison fake-out.

"Try to remember, Trevor. You always have difficulties when you first wake up." She looked at me with her soft eyes.

As if a blindfold had been pulled off my eyes, her words seemed to trigger a flood of memories. My hand reaching out to meet hers as she fell. The coaster's cart busting through the roof of the house and sending us several feet down the gravel driveway. She rushed me to the hospital. Allison. Therapy. All of it came back in a fraction of a second.

"No, no, no," I whispered. In my chest, my heart picked up speed as the world closed in on me. Purple and black spots danced across my vision. My breath came out in quick huffs.

"We are done with that awful place. I've helped you get back on your feet, so has Allison."

"I—I can't trust it. It's not p—possible."

"Is he having trouble again?" Allison's voice called from the doorway.

Flicking my eyes up, I saw her gorgeous obsidian hair shining in the bright light. Her blue eyes sent a wave of calm over me.