The Beginning

"Fear attracts the darkness. When you have no fear, the darkness fears YOU." — Suzy Kassem

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As soon as I opened my eyes, darkness greeted me.

I was confused for a second, thinking I accidentally turned the lights off. However, I realized there was no mattress I usually slept in underneath me, but a cold, dusty hard floor.

"Where am I?" I asked aloud, trying to piece together how I ended up here. I knew I wasn't the type of person to roam on my own. At the very least, I would bring my friend, Lime, with me. "Did I accidentally sleep…on the street?"

I attempted a laugh, but it fell flat. "My dad would not like this."

While in a daze, the powdery dust on my bare hands triggered a fuzzy memory. "Oh, I was… I was with…" I knew I was with someone. "… He was…" I knew I had been with someone, but the details kept slipping through my grasp just as I was about to recall them.

Dread slowly crept in.

In the deafening silence, shallow breaths and the ticking of my wristwatch sounded unnervingly loud. I hastily stood up but quickly fell down. My weakened legs deterred me from taking even a step. 

"I-is anyone here?" I was caught off guard by the sound of my own voice. It lingered in the air, reverberating far longer than I expected. A dreary rumination swept briefly on my mind as I whispered, "Is someone out there?"

Left with no choice, my trembling hands stretched into the dark and waived blindly. 1 inch. 5 inches. 12 inches.

Yet no matter how far I outstretched my hands, I only sensed the chilly air of nothing. It slowly came to my mind that, maybe I was not in the city, or maybe I strayed into—"No. I shouldn't scare myself even more." 

The people in my fragmented memories knew me. They knew that I loathed being in the outskirts where darkness reigns, even more so being alone. They would never leave me, "Unless something happened."

A strong wind swept around me, adding coldness to my already clammy hands. "There must be a hole somewhere for the breeze to flow in."

Summoning enough courage, I walked forward blindly. I was worried I would crash into something, so I slowly took one step at a time, slowly and cautiously.

However, it wasn't enough.

I tripped on a something that's on the way and fall on my face. I stepped onto a muddy ground and crashed down with a thud. The shirt I was wearing started sticking to my sweaty body, covered with other unidentified stains from the journey.

My brain urged me to follow a single path, but fear drove me to wander. Now, I am lost. 

The field just seemed boundless. I've lost track of the time, but my throbbing feet gave me a clue. I just wanted to give up and sprawl on the ground, so I did. I thought of resting for a moment, then try my luck again. I have to—"What is this!?"

My hand felt a revolting texture, as I crouched on the ground. A freezing temperature jolted me into standing back up. I frantically jumped away from the disgusting matter, but not a single spot was spared. The sticky matter kept sticking on the soles of my shoes, despite the rigorous rubbing to the ground.

The panic worsen when the puddle of sticky liquid started devouring my feet, "A quicksand?" Bad luck. My attention was solely on calming myself down, knowing any movement would sink me even further. I was late to realize that the liquid from beneath my feet started moving and slowly snaked up to my legs.

Before I could process the harsh grip on my thigh, I was already on the ground, hollering in pain for my sprained ankle. My knees and elbows were scrapped from being dragged on the ground. The scream of agony reverberated in the darkness, "No!"

I heavily kicked its disgusting limbs and desperately crawled away, but it managed to instantly seize my feet, savagely dragging me towards its direction. "G-get away from me." But I still fell at its mercy.

It was a hopeless never-ending torture.

I was already disoriented, but I could not give up. In a burst of adrenaline, I desperately held out my hand to grab anything I could latch on. "Fuck!" I did not mind my nails gradually detaching from my fingers, as long as I could escape.

My hands touched a sharply inclining ground. Without any hesitation, I grabbed on the jagged rocks stabbing into my hands and plunged myself into it. I was bleeding all over, but I was fixated on the abomination in the dark.

When I felt like I was already far away, my body finally gave in to the exhaustion and slumped on the ground, but rest was not an option. I ripped a piece of cloth from my shirt and bandaged my wounds. As I was removing the monster's splatter from my legs, I unintentionally breathed its musty scent.

"Rusty… Blood…. Rotten…. A-a dead body—?"

I threw up the little food I had in my stomach, as I placed my hands on the bolder beside me. However, it mysteriously moved and revealed a hidden passage behind. In a state of excitement, I clumsily dived into the narrow hole, barely wide enough to crawl on your hands and knees.

With my ragged gasps echoing throughout the tunnel, I sensed a presence behind me, but I didn't want to turn my head back. Countless thoughts kept running inside my head, but I kept crawling towards the unknown.

Suddenly, an intense anguish of missing a loved one invaded me, as though someone was channeling their pessimism. "What— W-Who are you?" I was overwhelmed by the intense emotions pervading my mind. "Why are you doing this to me?" But no voice came out of my throat. Every sound was amplified in the confined space, but I couldn't hear a thing, even my labored breathing. 

Dread washed over me, "Someone, please help me!".

I pinched myself, slapped myself heavily until I felt a painful sensation. I shrieked in pain, but giggled out loud in delight, not minding my tear-stained face, "I could still feel something."

A foreboding rumble resonated towards my direction. Knowing it was coming for me, "Is this the end?" I expressionlessly lay on my back and quietly waited for the unseen menace.

However, I was jolted awake when a large hand suddenly stroked my legs up to my thigh, caressing my stomach to my shoulders, and gently landed on my face. I shivered in response as another hand slowly reached down to interlock with my ice-cold hands, as though comforting my tense nerves.

A body slowly materialized on top of me.

"Who are you?" I breathlessly asked, "Why are you doing this to me?"

My hands reached for his face, which was an inch away from mine. "Why are you doing this?"

With my hand on his lips, he mouthed, "Wake up."

"What?" I used my two hands to read the shape of his mouth, but failed to figure out his words.

His breath warmed my hands. "You have to escape," he urged silently. 

"What do you mean?" Tears streamed down my face as exhaustion overtook me." I can't hear what you are saying."

His warm touch gently wiped my tears away. "You have to, whatever it takes." But his voice never reached my ears. "Open your eyes."

"What are you—?" A painful pressure came behind my neck and gradually drifted into an infinite slumber.

I gasped awake. "… A nightmare?"