My Darkest Rose

Chapter 30

Drag Me Down With You

That night, Jack dreamt of Rose. A fever dream like the kind he had as a teenager when they started dating.

He woke covered in sweat. The room was pitch black and even though he'd spent many nights in Moonwood, the complete darkness still surprised him.

There was something on top of him, straddling his thighs. He could feel it locked onto him. At first he thought something had fallen onto the bed where he slept, maybe even a tree had fallen through the roof during the storm, but when he tried to sit up, he saw its white eyes open, and all the fear he'd been suppressing the past few weeks came rushing in like a tidal wave.

He screamed as claws dug deep into his chest and pulled him to the floor. He struggled against it as he was dragged across the floor, but the pain was too much to bear, and he could only hold his breath and try not to black out.

He grabbed at it only to be struck in the face with something hard and wet. Blood poured from his forehead, burning his eyes and nose.

The creature dragged him through the house. Just before he was pulled through the open doorway, he thought that he'd been wrong. Terribly wrong. Fear was not a barrier, it was a window. Fear was an open door, and thought it, the creature had come for him, for all of them.

Mud filled his mouth as he was pulled off the deck and onto the ground.

By the time they reached the lake he was barely conscious. He had one final thought - Rose - as the creature dug its claws deeper into his chest, tearing great gashes down his torso as it dragged him into the water and the waiting fish below.

Water filled his eyes and nose as he was pulled under water. He felt the hard, scaled bodies of fish rub against his back and legs, felt their sharp teeth dig deep into his calf and tug him further underwater.

Beside him, the creature writhed and screamed as the fish tore into it, taking it down with him, down into the dark.

Across town, Robbie woke with a start. He'd been dreaming of the night he'd been watching Jack's house through the trees. He'd seen something moving in the forest near the window. Something dark with white eyes.

He rolled to the side of his bunk and sat up, placing his sock feet on the cold floor. Above him, his cellmate snored softly, oblivious.

He took a deep breath and tried to calm down. The dreams were coming every night now, so much so he began to fear the dark, like a little kid.

Just as he was about to lay back down, something caught his attention outside his cell. He looked between the bars and saw something looking at him. Something was crouched in the cell across the hall, just on the other side of the bars, watching him. It's eyes were white and empty as death.