Nightmare

Dark. Cold. Hopeless. Desperation filled the air...The narrow corridor ran like there was no end.

Its walls were dark and grey, inspiring horror and despair. There were windows on the left, but instead of banishing the darkness, they were inviting it.

Her muscles were burning with tension while she was trying to reach salvation. Breathing was difficult and painful. There was only the hiss of her lungs that burned with unease.

Panic and fatigue enveloped her completely and slowed her movement. Any thoughts of escape were exuding her and she trembled in fear. In anticipation of death, waiting for deliverance. But it wasn't coming and left her lonely, exhausted, and desperate.

The void that was burning inside was replaced only with terror. Her movements started to slow down when her body started to ace from the effort.

The corridor still had no end, but it had doors on the right. An endless procession of doors she could try. She ran to the nearest and tried the handle. Nothing, absolutely nothing.

She ran to the next and next and next. None of them worked.

This was life, this was death. An endless procession of choices brings you to your initial faith. Giving when living, only to take it away when dying. And all she had and could give was demanded of her at this moment.

Her soul - the only thing that she had, had been torn apart by thousands of blades and thrown into the darkness to feed it. But now was not the time. She knew that. All of this was wrong.

The woman knew that her time was not yet to come. There was nowhere to go, but she kept walking. Surely there was a way out, just as there was a way in. If only she could remember how she got into this nightmare.

Then she heard it. A whisper of her name on his lips from a distance - Gabriela... Gabriela...She froze. That was It. It brought her here. It wanted her and would receive her.

Terror filled her insides and blocked her body.

"No!" - She screamed in her mind. "You should not have me".

The fear that held her was not her own, she tried to reassure herself. This could not be happening. The unparalleled horror wrapping around her, the darkness and numbing cold were masters of her body. She could feel the fear moving in the shadows, enveloping her body going into her lungs, conquering her soul.

She knew she would die. She could feel it, but also knew it would not be enough for the creature that haunted her. All this gloom, despair, and pure evil were so intense in her mind that at one point she completely rejected its existence.

The horror of what was happening was so large that the only thing she had left was to deny it.

"I will die and will continue to die screaming in agony - hour after hour, day after day, until the end of time ...".

This was not her idea, she was startled. It could not be. She was not a quitter. No matter how terrible the situation, It would not make her yearn for death. She respected life. But this feeling that tore her chest resembled too much despair.

No, I have to fight, she thought. I would not submit to death without a fight. Everything she was and what she could become, was screaming against It - against what was happening and begged her not to give up.

Then she found what she was looking for - the desire to live, to fight. Pride and conviction that she will defeat what she was facing...

Suddenly the air was again adequate to breathe, her heart got to let go from the iron fist that was holding it. And a flow of thought began to spread little by little the darkness around her.

None of this was true. A realization came to her. It was all an illusion. With the awareness of what was happening her surroundings started changing. Darkness began to disperse and the density, which previously did not let her catch her breath was gone.

Fear began to leave her body and slowly backed away from her wrath. Someone was playing with her, and she did not like to be used. This was unacceptable, angrily she thought. A little more and she could get hurt if she had not realized where she was. She was transferred to a world of illusion with the idea of being lured and defeated. And all this happened only in her mind.

She heard a muffled growl behind her but did not turn. The anger had seized her. As a witch, she knew how important was to rule her emotions, although right here and now she was ready to do anything to give it back to what it was in the shadows.

But her mind was working now. It was not the time, so she ignored the movement in the shadows. She was still feeling the effects of delusion on her powers and did not want to be subjected to further tests. She closed her eyes and breathed deeply. Focused her power only to build an exit.

It was time to return home.