the unknown space

chapter 9

I was back on earth with my family, and my brother. We were all happy playing games and eating food. Karen was there too. I loved it...

"Hey dingus!" my eyes split open to see Karen's face staring me down. "You have been sleeping for over 24 hours, I was getting worried that you would never wake up," Karen said, poking me to get me to wake up. I pushed Karen away from me and sat up, all the pain that was once in my chest was gone.

"I've been asleep for that long?" I questioned.

"Yep, I had to go find food without you so I didn't starve. There were some bonngle berries growing from one of the walls, I still have some if you want some." Karen handed me some berries and I ate them quickly.

"What about water?" I ask, berries still in my mouth.

"Yeah about that. . . I don't think the water from the river is safe to drink, I know this might sound gross but when it comes to it we might have to drink our urine," Karen blankly stared at me. I stared back.

"Well then, I guess we will have to, I mean. . ." I didn't know what to say. I didn't want to admit it but I was incredibly thirsty.

"Well, I don't care I'm just going to drink the water, if I die then tell my story," I snap, walking out of the room and striking a pose as I stand in the doorway which causes Karen to giggle.

"Hey, I can't tell your story if there's no one to tell it to!" She yelled after me.

"Tell it to Dart!" I say with a laugh.

"I'm sure he would love that!" Karen starts to laugh as I walk toward the river. I had no idea where the river was, I was walking around like a mindless pigeon. These caves really were designed like a maze. I heard the sound of trickling water, I walked around the corne, there was the river. I walked over and bent down, scooped some water up and quickly drank it. It tasted weird, it was overly sweet, like juice, but the aftertaste was more like chemicals than anything. I knew this wasn't the same water as from the river we would drink from on the surface but I was too thirsty to care, plus this water had apparently healed me so what was the worst that could happen?

After I had finished getting water I started walking back to where Karen was. I shivered as I noticed small blood stains on the floor thinking back to a day ago when Karen had pulled the piece of claw out of my chest. Images suddenly flashed in front of my face of red and I could hear screaming. Was it me? I looked down at my hands, they were soaked in blood and I felt tears streaming down my face. What was happening? I looked down and saw myself. My shirt was off to reveal the large gash in my chest with blood flowing out in a steady stream. Without me moving it my hand reached down to myself and stuck the hand into my chest. I felt a throbbing pain burst through me and let out a scream, matching the one of the Evander that lay on the floor. I was having a flashback and I'm pretty sure of a panic attack or breakdown. I wasn't sure.

The stone wall was cold against my back and I noticed that I was sitting against the wall. My knees were pulled up to my chest and my head rested in my hands. I pulled my hands away from my face, examining them. There was no longer blood on them but they still seemed wrong somehow. I wiped my tear-streaked face trying to get rid of the tears staining my cheeks. My whole body was shaking but I pushed myself up and started once more stumbling to where Karen would be waiting for me.

As I was walking down the long passageway I heard a scratching sound and snapped my head around to where it had come from. There was a passageway in the wall that I hadn't remembered being there when I first walked by. Must have not noticed it, I thought to myself, but I also could feel something was off about the passage. I walked over to it and peered down the hall. I jumped back as I thought I saw dark eyes staring back at me, but when I blinked they were gone. Instead, I noticed there seemed to be a brighter light at the end of the passage. I should ask Karen if she noticed this.