Hey! This is my new horror fanfic, which everyone requested from my last story. Just so you know, the plot will be a little confusing at the beginning (definatly a lot of 'what the heck is going on?'), but will clear up eventually. This chapter may not make a lot of sense at first, but as you read more chapters I promise you will understand what's going on.
"Fear is only an illusion. It is the illusion that creates the feeling of separateness - the false sense of isolation that exists only in your imagination".
—Jeraldine Saunders
"You okay?"
I looked down to where my knuckles were bone-white as they strangled the steering wheel, and noticing this I loosened my grip. My fingers were painful for a moment as the blood flowed to the tips once more, but after a moment I assumed my grip and pulled out of the parking lot.
"I'm fine, Mal," I snapped sharply, not wanting to talk at this time.
It had been about a week since Shawn had been put in a medically induced coma, and it was about time to 'pull the plug' as Mal had put it. I agreed, but Captain Yeong wanted us to follow up and make sure he was really gone. I figured she didn't want someone from the inside making it appear he was in a coma, only so he could escape later. She didn't want another comeback, and neither did I. So I had witnessed him die before me, watched as a heart monitor slowed to one solid beep. I had expected to feel relief because it was all over, but instead felt nothing. I figured it was a combination of Shawn's much hated presence and the environment of a hospital that made me so on-edge. Either way, I had snapped at anyone who got in my way as we left. I was expecting Mal's question.
"— and take the back way"
"What?" I asked. I was consumed in my own thoughts that I hadn't heard him.
"I said go around the hospital and take the back way. If we take the regular way we'll be stuck in traffic until morning".
Without another word I obeyed, pulling past the emergency entrance and entering the outskirts of the city. Buildings melted into trees, which melted into shadows as the sun set. It was late spring, so the air still held some of the suns warmth in it. I rolled down my window as I drove, feeling the wind take away any negitive feeling I had and replacing them with a feeling of peace.
"Look out!"
Mal had obviously seen something I hadn't, and at the speed I was going on this back road it was almost too late when I saw it. The inky-black form of a girl, how old I didn't have time to tell, was standing in the middle of the road. A scream of surprise stuck in my throat, I tried desperatly to swerve around the girl. I managed to just in time, missing her by a few mere inches. I tried desperately to regain control of the car, but as hard as I tried to turn the wheel it seemed stuck at an odd angle. I slammed down on the break, but I was just a second to late. I heard a deafening crunch, glass shattering, and finally Mal yelled something, and then everything went dark and silent.
There was a moment when the darkness and silence seemed to suffocate me, and then I felt a sudden chill. I felt no pain, but at this point I didn't know if that was a good or bad thing.
I opened my eyes slightly, only looking at the world through slits, fearing rubble getting in my eyes. "Mal…?" I called, but got no response. I opened my eyes wider looking around. I was still in the car, but it was almost completly undamaged. The windshield had a slight crack in it, the front barely crumpled up againt the tree I had hit. I was confused, I could have sworn I heard the windshield shatter. I looked beside me, panicking slightly when I saw no one. In fact, the seat belt was neatly unbuckled and the door was shut. It was as if Mal had never been there. Wondering what the heck was going on, I unbuckled and got out.
"What the heck?" I whispered, taking in my surroundings. There was snow, at least three inches on the ground, and it was still coming. It was faintly tinted grey, like when snow mixed with soot. Without closing the door behind me, I walked slightly away from the vehicle.
'Where the heck am I?' I thought. Surely I wasn't in San Fransisco, it didn't snow there, especially not in spring. But if I wasn't there, than where te heck was I?
"Hello?" I called, walking around the border of the trees "Mal?".
I turned back, concidering waiting by the road until someone else came, but I found there was no road anymore. Just more trees.
Completly creeped out, I turned back to the treeline before me. In the distance I could smell smoke, and hoped it was from a building. Maybe someone nearby could make sense of what happened. I cautiously walked past the trees, my trainers soaked with the grew snow by this point. When I cleared them I shivered, and it wasn't because of the cold.
"No…not again"
I knew where I was now, but that didn't mean it made any more sense than before.