Onward to 7 Years

Chapter 3: Breathe

"Ian! Help me!" a voice screamed.

Ian tried to make his way through the thick, dark fog. "Barley? Where are you?" he yelled back. Ian kept spinning around, completely lost in the fog. "Barley?"  he yelled again, louder this time. 

"Brother! We don't have much time! Help me!" Barley cried.

"I can't find you! I-" Ian stopped, because the fog all around him started to clear. It was still all dark around him, but ahead of him, there seemed to be someone. "Barley?" he whispered. He squinted his eyes, and then a spotlight shined down onto the figure. It was Barley, and he was tied down to the chair, still struggling. "I'm here, Barley! I see you! I'm coming!" Ian cried. He started to run toward his brother, but the fog started to surround him again. It covered up his view of Barley so he was only a dark figure again. It started to wrap around Ian's legs, weighing him down. It wrapped around his arms, and up his body, covering him, clawing at him. 

"Ian!" Barley screamed at the top of his lungs. "Help!" 

"I'm...trying!" Ian grunted as he tried to break free from the fog. But it was no use. Barley's words started to echo all around him. You can do this. You can do this. You can do this. But then the fog started to go up Ian's neck, and the voices transformed into You can't do this. You can't do this!  It was getting harder and harder to breathe. The thick, gray fog had completely wrapped itself around Ian's neck and covered his face, consuming him. We don't have much time, the voice chanted over and over. Ian now couldn't see anything and couldn't breathe.

Help me!  Barley's voice screamed.

And then everything went completely dark.

  

                                                                                           *****

Ian immediately sat up, his heart racing as fast as ever. Breathe, just breathe, it was just a dream... 

Ian looked around, and it took him a second to realize where he was. He must've fallen asleep after he sat down at a park bench around 9:00 p.m to take a rest after walking for 2 hours. He looked at his watch on his wrist. 2:33 a.m. Ian grabbed his backpack and stood up-he figured it would probably be impossible for him to go back to sleep after that dream. 

The green park bench that Ian fell asleep on sat in front of a fountain. Around the fountain was sidewalk, then grass, and a few trees here and there. Ian looked to his right, and he saw a highway not too far away in the distance with a huge sign over an exit that said You are now exiting New Mushroomton! That was the way to the tavern! It was right outside of the city! Ian smiled to himself, tried to forget about the terrifying dream, and made his way toward the highway.

                                                                                         *****

An hour later, as Ian walked on the side of the highway as far away from the cars as possible, he finally reached the exit. And after walking for another exhausting 30 minutes under the light of the streetlights and the moon, he finally reached his destination.

The Manticore's Tavern.

But then Ian remembered with a jolt that it was almost 4 in the morning! It wouldn't be open!

Still, Ian couldn't dare to wait. His brother was in serious trouble. Maybe the Manticore lives there. Maybe, for whatever strange reason, she'll be inside.

Inhaling a breath, Ian slowly and cautiously put his hands on the door handle, and pulled.