Rifted away

Chapter 3

Alex tried to grab onto the armchair that was standing in the room, but only his fingertips could touch the fabric. He got pulled into the rift, with Lukas, Lucy and Willow in front of him, closing his eyes in fear. 

When he stepped out of the rift, it immidiately closed behind him. Nice, he thought. No way back. He looked around, and so did the rest of the group. What they saw, was....different. He was standing in grey grass, that came up to his middle. He guessed it must be at least 1 meter long.  A few flowers with colored, illuminated cores sticking out of it were spreading a cozy light. It was all dark, with blue and green aurora flaming in the night sky. There were fireflies everywhere. In the distance, he saw a forest, presumably. The trees had colorful, blooming flowers in them, that also had illuminated cores. Alex was astonished by the beauty of this landscape. It was so delicate. He heared some singing, far away. Maybe a bird, it was a very high sound. 

He got scooped out of his wonder by Lucy, who tapped on his arm. The whole group of friends had gathered around Alex, all trying to get as far away from it as possible. But from what? He followed Lucies her gaze to the ground. The grey grass was whispered to him, but there was no wind. 'What is going on?' Lukas whispered, with a huge voice-crack in the middle of his sentence. Willow started sobbing in distress. Since the grass was so high, they couldn't see what was happening underneath them. Especially Willow, who wasn't tall at all. As always, Lucy took the initiative. 'Okay guys, we are going to run towards that forest together as fast as we can at the count of three.' She whispered below her breath. '1....2.....3!'

Alex had never ran so fast in his life. He heard the swish behind him even louder. Lukas was the fastest, and they all ran after him. The grey grass flashing in front of his eyes. One time, he almost fell over a tree root. He stumbled, got up again and ran on. Meanwhile, the swish came closer and closer, and the distance between them and the forest became only smaller. Willow screamed: 'Everyone! Into the trees!' He saw that Lucy, Willow and Lukas were already climbing a tree. 'Help!' He screamed. He tried to run harder. 1 meter. Almost there. He saw the tree, and jumped onto the tree. Only, trees are not meant to be jumped on. That is what he realized when he fell. He heard Lucy screaming, he tried to get up and run to the tree again. He looked up and saw Lukas, Lucy and Willow coming towards him, to help. He heared them yell, then everything went black.