Cobweb Head

t w e n t y - e i g h t

I sat there alone for what felt like days, but would've probably been hours. Staring up at the cave's crooked roof was like watching paint dry – I could slowly feel my sanity slipping, my restlessness growing.

I built small towers in the dirt and buried tiny holes, just to occupy the time. I tried climbing up the hole at one point, but ended up reaching the top and falling, hitting my knee in the process. An ugly blackish bruise had formed along the skin.

I sang songs beneath my breath, useless tunes that died on my tongue.

With anger welling in my chest, I groaned loudly, which echoed across the silver walls and rang back at me. I didn't expect a response – but I got one.

"Will?"

I sat up. The sound of Leo's voice rang from through the hole, and I staggered to my feet, lifting myself up the ledge to look up.

I blinked as the light stung my eyes and placed a hand over my face as I looked up. There were shadows moving along the dirty walls. Leo spoke again. "Oh, thank god. I didn't know if I'd find you down here or not."

I coughed as dust fell down onto my face, wrinkling my nose. "How'd you know I'd be here?"

"I hadn't seen you in a few hours and you'd just gone to see headmaster Grimm. When I heard about the captured nightmare walker, I volunteered to bring you food, just to see if it was you," all I could see was his silhouette. "Looks like I was right."

"You're gonna get me out of here." It was meant as a question, but came out more like a statement. I swallowed back what had formed in my throat.

"If you don't want to go through with the extraction."

"The fuck is that supposed to mean? Of course I don't want to go through with it. I don't even know what it is – they threw me in here!" After hearing myself, I realised how much I sounded like a whining kid that didn't get the lollipop he wanted. Rightly so.

"It's where we try and take nightmares out of the silver instruments to replace them with better ones. But with nightmare walkers it gets a little weird – the Frights haven't even attempted it with a person yet." I could hear the frown in his voice. "I'm surprised the headmaster decided to try it."

"I might've pissed her off a little." I'd wiped off the dried blood from my face. "But that's not the point – I don't have a nightmare inside of me, Leo. That would be gross."

"You might not even know it."

"I think I would know!" I groaned and gripped at my hair. "Look, I don't want to go through with it, alright? Are you gonna help me up now?"

There was a thin lining of sunlight around his silhouette. I could see the ringlets of his hair, the fuzz of his sweater. He was quiet for a moment, as if thinking. "Alright," he said. "But I can't get you out now – they'll know it was me who helped you, and they still think you're a spy."

"Which I'm not."

"Which you're not." He repeated, and turned away. When he reappeared, he was lowering down a box by a rope, casting a dark shadow across my face. "I brought you some Cocoa Puffs."

"When are you gonna come back?" I pulled the box down. A bowl, a whole carton of milk, a large box of cereal and a spoon was placed messily inside. I smiled at the sentiment.

"As soon as I can without alerting suspicion," he looked up from where he'd been turned to me and another distant voice sounded from the surface. "I have to go – make sure to eat that!"

I opened my mouth to say something, but Leo had already closed the surface off again, leaving me in a lonely darkness. I took the box and slid off the ledge, grazing my elbow in the process.

Cursing loudly, blatantly, I slumped down with the box. While jostling the cereal into the bowl and shoving the spoon in with it, loud voices rang from above, and I tried my best to listen through the sickening hum that came with the silver cave. I didn't know if I would be able to stomach the chocolate puffs.

The voice was distorted, but definitely Mae's. "You're siding with—" the words that followed were blurred. "Sick! That thing isn't—"

I had the distinct feeling this conversation was about me.

Fun.

I was not going to be able to eat this cereal, not matter how much it beckoned me in with its mouth-watering sugary smell and taste. All I wanted was to curl up into a ball and lay down in the dust and try not to listen to what was being said about me.

Because I knew it would be bad.

And so I did exactly that.