It was dark. Shadows pranced about my mind, their soulless eyes gleaming with hatred. Criticism flew from every corner, but I managed to push the noise away. A cackling laughter vibrated from their cursed lips. It was all I could do to keep from succumbing to their dark ways. They began pushing towards me, faces contorted in evil rage. I tried to run, but found my feet stuck to the ground. They were closing in. One levitated a hand, and delivered a hard blow to my face. The others followed its lead, and in turn, each one struck my face. The shadows have come. The shadows of my past.
My limbs felt like rubber and jelly, and my face burned from their blows. I kept on willing my feet to move, and finally, the obliged. Frantically, I began to run. They didn't bother to follow me. They knew I would just run into another obstacle. Still, I wouldn't give up. The dark seemed to be closing around me, and I clawed the air, gasping for breath. An iridescent glow lumed before me, carrying with it an insufferable heat. I tried to stop, but my feet refused, as if they were being possessed. They whisked me off the cliff, the boiling hot air burning my lungs. My feet hit the surface, and I prepared to experience a fiery death. But they weren't done with me yet.
They pushed terror upon terror on me, until I lay in a sobbing heap. Finally, I awoke. Alek was looking at me, concerned. "Dylan, are you all right?" he asked. "Aye, just a nightmare." I responded. If only he knew. He didn't know how much he comforted me. He couldn't know how much I loved him. Because, you see, he thought I was a boy, Dylan, and not a girl, Deryn.
I will tell him one day, but not now. Maybe not ever.