Stuck in his nightmare

Rowan

I was stuck in a loopless hole of darkness.

I couldn't touch anything, couldn't feel anything. My body was weightless, like I had been untethered from existence, floating in a vast abyss. I tried to move, tried to blink, tried to scream, but nothing happened.

Paralysis.

Was I dead?

No.

If I were dead, there wouldn't be this gnawing sensation of fear, this suffocating panic coiling around my ribs like iron bands.

I was stuck.

Trapped inside my own head.

And that was worse.

The darkness twisted around me, shifting and morphing until suddenly I wasn't floating anymore. I was standing in the middle of a dimly lit room, the air thick with the scent of sweat, leather, and something metallic, blood.

I knew this place.

I wished I didn't.

The realization hit like a fist to the gut, and my entire body locked up in dread.

I was home.

No, no, no. Not here. Anywhere but here.