FEEDING A DREAM
PART 2
THE NIGHTMARE
The events of this chapter are intentionally bizarre, surreal, hard to follow, and confusing. There is no explanation for what happens, and the reader is supposed to be as lost and confused as Azusa.
"We should have just stayed home and played video games." Jun pouted as her and Azusa walked side by side in the nice little park that bordered the edge of the woods Azusa was so interested in. Azusa often forgot how many ways you could get into the forest around town, and just how immersive it was. She had wanted to go alone, but her parents insisted she went out around town with a friend. Jun was her only option. Her plan was to set up a little picnic on a park bench, excuse herself to the little restroom station there, and sneak away unnoticed. Something would guide her to Yui; she was sure of that.
From where she was standing, those woods looked sinister. It was February, and the lack of leaves left the forest looking like an endless sea of brown, gnarled skeletons that stretched forever over a carpet of dead foliage. The way to Yui was somewhere in there, and her heartbeat quickened just thinking about that.
"Well, I guess a picnic could be fun." Jun smiled, and placed their cooler on top of the only empty picnic table in the park. Some kid was having a birthday party, and the place was overrun with toddlers running about screaming, laughing, playing with each other. It was a perfect chance for Azusa to slip away and do what she had to do. She felt like eating something would be a good idea, but found she had no appetite. Jun, on the other hand, was already slicing into the big deli subway sandwich they bought, while attempting to drink a beer at the same time.
"Not around kids, Jun..." Azusa grimaced at her doing that. She felt like she should have scolded her more for doing that, but realized her habits weren't any better. Girls their age drinking was almost expected, but smoking pot wasn't exactly the same.
"Oh. Sorry." She shrugged, not really changing anything.
Azusa decided there was no sense in waiting to leave, "I'm going to the restroom to touch up a bit."
"'Kay, I'll just be here eating this sandwich." Jun wasn't really paying attention to Azusa, and was focused on her meal. She didn't notice Azusa just walk past the small little single restrooms, going off on her own somewhere. Jun had noticed that their friendship really fell apart after Ui 'passed away'. Something about only being two of them just wasn't the same, and Azusa was terribly reclusive. Jun had tried talking to her about it, but Azusa didn't have anything to say regarding Yui or Ui. The most the girl could do for her was at least tell her she was there for her when Azusa needed her; which she strove to make clear. Still, Azusa kept her feelings to herself, only wanting attention and sympathy from her friends in the Old Light Music Club.
Meanwhile, Azusa was just out of sight beyond where the trees began to huddle together to form the woods. As she stood at the tree line, she felt a cold, sinister wind blow against her. It felt almost...evil, for lack of a better term. But here she was, about to enter a whole different world it felt like; a world of tales and different moods.
When her foot stepped onto the first dry, dead leaf that had fallen months ago, she knew there was no turning back. Forward was the only way to go, for better or worse. The restricting thorns were far away, out of sight and out of mind to Azusa this time. It was a straight walk through the silent woods, with the sounds of the playing children and distant cars all completely muted. A mist was forming in the distance in all directions, like it did in her dreams. This was good. Her dreams were becoming the reality she wanted them too. Part of her regretted not saying one last goodbye to anyone before coming here, but she felt like there was nothing left to say.
Before her was a trail where the leaves had been pushed aside or stomped down, probably some path for joggers. It was as good of a place as any to start her journey, so she followed its length. Normally brisk walks through the woods entertained her with the scenery, but nothing here was pleasant to look at. The trees didn't just look like normal bare winter trees. They all seemed dead; slumped mournfully, awaiting their turn to rot away into nothingness. The mist stayed away, blurring the way behind her. Azusa made it a point to keep focused on the trail. She didn't want to get lost again. Something told her the woods wouldn't be as forgiving a second time if she ended up lost a second time. The aching pains across her body were a firm reminder of why she had to stay on the path.
"Excuse me miss." A small child spoke, shattering the silence. Azusa almost screamed from surprise. Standing in front of her was a little girl, one that was around the same age as the kids at the birthday party. Except she recognized this one, it was the younger sister from the two she saw the night before who lived where Yui and Ui had. The little girl had part of her hair tied up in a little tail sticking up straight from the top of her head. Something about that was familiar.
"Y-You shouldn't be out here alone." Azusa stuttered in surprise.
"Neither should you." The child smiled innocently, and skipped past her back down the path.
I-It's alright, she'll be fine if she just walks down that way back to the park. It's a straight line, Azusa justified to keep moving forward as opposed to seeing the little girl safely back. She walked on, wondering just what that kid had meant with 'neither should you'. That was a flat out bizarre thing for a little kid to say when approached by an adult. But Azusa realized that even if she was almost 20 years old, she barely looked 15.
After another twenty minutes of walking forward, Azusa had begun to get a little tired and bored. The trail had thinned a bit, and made so many subtle turns that she couldn't tell which direction she was heading. She decided to take a quick break by sitting on a stump next to a little stream going over a bed of rocks. The stream was narrow enough to simply step over, far too small to be the one from her dream she was searching for. The fog had crept up on her, and was now much thicker. A feeling of loneliness swept over her as she sat in solid silence, unable to see more than ten meters in any direction because of the white mist. When she heard footsteps coming up the way she had, she wasn't sure whether to be grateful or frightened.
It was that little girl again. Beneath one of her arms was a brown paper package tied with thin green ribbon. That prompted Azusa to feel frightened, but didn't stop her from showing some responsibility, "Excuse me, are you lost? I can show you the way back to the park. I'm sure everyone's looking for you."
She felt silly for feeling frightened, the little girl no doubt giving a present to whoever was having the birthday, and had wandered off and became lost. However, the child didn't say anything. She just smiled, walked up to Azusa and placed the box in front of her before turning around and skipping away, back into the fog. Azusa sat up and called after her, "Wait, don't go off alone!"
By the time she was to her feet, the girl had broken off into a full sprint into the mist, disappearing quickly. Azusa chased after her just a little, but gave up when she couldn't hear the footfalls against the painful silence anymore. Feeling a bit paranoid and worried now, she turned around to continue forward again. She began to wonder how much of this was real, and how much of this was fabricated from...whatever was making these scary things happen. After considering the sea of thorns from yesterday, her startlingly real dream, and now this; Azusa was sure some sort of spirit was residing in these woods and causing this. It could have been that the spirit took Yui to its own world. Azusa had heard storied like that when she had been in primary school, and they had left her with nightmares back then.
Before long, she got back to where she had been resting, and the brown paper package was still there on the ground. Curious, she picked it up and examined the tag on it.
To Azusa-chan
She dropped it back on the ground and jumped back in surprise. Her heart was beating like heavy rain falling, and she felt her bladder become weaker. Not wanting to cause another accident like the day before (that had been humiliating beyond words for her), she managed to hold it in and take deep breaths to calm herself. She realized she was getting too worked up. This could have easily been something like Jun playing a prank on her.
Tied up with the thin green ribbon was a note just next to the tag. Azusa was surprised she hadn't noticed that before. With shaky hands, she unfolded the note and read it to herself.
"Love her forever"
That was more strange than unsettling. Perhaps it was a sign from the aforementioned spirit that maybe they would be together once more, and inside would be some clue as to where she was supposed to go. She smiled as she carefully tore the package open to see what was inside. That smile faded as soon as she opened the box.
A bread carving knife.
With dried blood on it.
In an instant, Azusa was sprinting away down the muddy trail. It hadn't been muddy up to that point, but it was now. She wanted to scream from what she saw. Scream and run the other direction. Instead she pushed forward, with no idea as to where she was going. Mud splashed from beneath her and stuck to her bare legs in little brown splatters; it wasn't enough to make her regret wearing shorts though. Eventually she calmed down and stopped running. Panting, she took a rest, grasping her knees and looking around.
No trail anymore.
"How!" She screamed in denial at being lost again. The path behind her was gone, but this time she wasn't caught in a sea of underbrush again. The woods were much more open here, and she could go any was just as easily. The problem was she didn't know which way she came anymore. Really not knowing what to do, she picked a random direction by spinning around in circles with her eyes closed. The way she ended up facing was impossible to distinguish from any of the direction, and if anything her surroundings seemed even more unfamiliar now. She had barely begun walking when she heard,
"Azusa-chan!" It was Jun calling her name from somewhere.
No longer wishing to be here in the slightest, she eagerly called back, "Jun-chan, over here!"
There was no answer, but Azusa had heard the direction her voice had come from. She had no idea what compass direction that was, but that didn't stop her from running towards where she heard her name being called, "Jun-chan, where are you!"
No answer again, and Azusa quickly ran to where Jun's voice should have been coming from. All she could see were barren skeletons of trees all around her above the blanket of leaf corpses. She called out Jun's name for several more minutes as she trudged on in that direction before finally giving up. About an hour had passed since she had left the park, but to her it felt like it had been most of the day. When she had been little, her mother and father instructed her on what to do if she ever became lost in a place like this. That bit of information had been sitting unattended in the back of her mind for at least a decade, but now it was finally being used. Her parents told her that screaming at the top of her lungs would definitely alert someone's attention. While that was meant to be used as soon as she was away from people, not after an hour of hiking, Azusa decided it was worth a shot.
So she opened her mouth and destroyed the silence with an ear splitting scream. Her ears rang, her throat clenched, but she gave it her all. One mega scream that could have probably been heard for miles.
Yet nothing reacted. No birds took off in surprise, no one shouting back from the distance. Not even an echo. Utterly crushed by defeat, Azusa couldn't even take solace in how she had managed to stumble onto the path again, or a path at least. Because of the clouds in the sky, she couldn't see the sun and use it to tell which direction she was facing. All she knew was this little dirt trail split in two directions, and going right would probably be the correct direction.
As she walked back, she kept listening for any sounds, and had to snap her fingers a few times to make sure she hadn't been going deaf. She was half under the impression that she had fallen asleep back at that stump and that this was all a dream. Maybe taking Jun along would have been a good idea, if only because the silence was making her feel like the only person on the planet.
"Are you still looking for Yui-chan?" Tsumugi asked, walking alongside her. Azusa was surprised that she wasn't more surprised by this. As far as she knew, Mugi hadn't been here with her. Yet there she was, walking alongside her in their old school uniform.
"Yes, I have to." She firmly answered.
"But what if it gets dangerous?" The out of place blonde keyboardist asked her, sounding quite concerned.
"I guess I'll have to risk it." Azusa muttered, really not wanting to even think about that. Up ahead on the path, she could hear two people talking, both women, but was unable to understand what they were saying. Tsumugi was gone now, and it sounded like an argument was taking place in the distance. She hoped this was the way back to the park, and that these were just two parents arguing about something silly. Once she got back to the park, she would find Jun, apologize, attempt to explain everything in a way that made her sound at least sort of sane, and then enlist her help.
The trees here were much thicker and closer together, with the trail winding narrowly between them. It was impossible to see ahead because of this, and the sharp changes in elevation or solid fog didn't help much either. There was no way this could have lead to the park again, but another part of town was certainly possible. Azusa was now close enough to hear what these people were talking about, and it really didn't help her spirits about any of this.
"...Showing you just how bad a girl you were by causing an accident like that. But instead of punishing you, I'm punishing someone else." It sounded to Azusa like some mother scolding an unruly child, except the woman's tone was one of pure malice. She couldn't think of anything a child could do to warrant such a hostile reaction. The strangest thing about that voice was how it echoed from all around her, dancing between the trees to get to her.
"Stop it! You're going to kill her!" Another, much younger sounding woman shouted back. Azusa could hear it all around her, and it was a voice filled with utter terror. That voice had also sounded familiar somehow... but Azusa didn't think on that too much. It sounded like a woman was abusing her children or something along those lines, and this prompted her to start rushing down the path, forced to listen to the exchange from all directions around her.
"Kill her? Well, if you insist?" The tormentor said in a terrifyingly calm and normal voice.
From all around her, she heard the sickening sound of flesh tearing, followed by a choking gargle and someone sobbing uncontrollably. That horrible retching, choking noise was too much for Azusa, and she had to stop running to dry heave a few times.
"If your sister wakes up, she dies."
What am I listening to? Is this even real? Azusa thought as she mindlessly stumbled forward, finding it difficult to walk. Her eyes were blurred from tears caused by her dry heaving, and it made it difficult to make out her surroundings as they changed. No longer was she in a winding forest of thick trees and fog, but now an open field of grass with its boundaries obscured by mist, the forest at her back. She didn't know how far it stretched on because of the white mist, but could tell it was too overgrown and dry to be farm. At the far edge of her field of vision, she could see a few figures walking off into the mist. They moved too quickly for her to make out any distinct features beyond "human shaped".
"This is a dream." She told herself, finding power in those words. The morning before leaving to do this was so vague that she could hardly remember it, along with the trip to the park with Jun. All of that was so surreal she couldn't even tell if it had actually happened. For all she knew, she was asleep in her bed at home.
"You're not dreaming." Someone answered from beside her.
"Mio-senpai, what are you doing here!" Azusa gasped in surprise. Next to her, Mio was standing there wearing her heavy winter clothes, putting gloves on over her hands. She only caught a glimpse, but Mio's hands look almost frayed and stained with some red substance that looked too much like blood. Her senpai was woefully pale, with matted hair and slightly glazed eyes. Azusa thought she looked like she had been out in these woods for days.
"Looking for Yui-chan, have you seen her?" Mio replied with her question, and surveyed the field in front of them, "Hm, she could be anywhere in all this fog. We'd better split up to look for her."
"Wait, no!" Azusa cried out as Mio turned to walk away, "Don't leave me alone again!"
"Huh?" Mio turned back around with a raised eyebrow, looking completely confused, "You're saying I left you alone?"
"No, that was Mugi-senpai. She just disappeared!" She flinched at Mio's surprisingly hostile tone.
From behind her, Tsumugi replied, "I didn't leave you, you walked off without me."
Azusa spun around to meet her, "I'm sorry, I didn't mean too. These woods are just so confusing, and-"
"You're blaming the woods now, Azusa-chan?" Ritsu smirked from beside Mio, causing her to spin around to meet the two of them.
"There's something wrong with them, yes!" Azusa tried to tell them, but realized just absolutely insane she must have sounded, "The trail always disappears, I see and hear things that aren't there, and keep getting lost when I shouldn't get lost."
Jun was the one to answer, standing next to Tsumugi, "Then maybe you shouldn't have gone on your own. I tried looking for you, but you ran from me."
"I did not!" Azusa was beginning to cry now, unable to take the cross-examinations from her friends, "Please, just help me find Yui-senpai so we can all go home."
"Why Yui?" Mio asked.
"Yeah. What about us?" Ritsu frowned.
"Aren't we good enough for you?" Tsumugi looked hurt.
"We try our best." Jun told her.
Azusa started backing away from them while slowly moving towards the woods, "That's not how it is! I want Yui-senpai to be here so we can all be a band again, like the old days! She's here somewhere, I know she is!"
"We don't need her, you're a better guitarist." Ritsu said.
"No, it's not about guitar playing!" Azusa countered, taking another step back. The four of them were staring at her now, and every time she blinked, they looked more and more sinister.
"She only wants Yui-chan. She doesn't want us around..." Tsumugi whimpered, and turned toward the field, walking away with Jun following her.
"No, it's not like that!" Azusa called after them, too afraid to move from her spot. Jun and Tsumugi simply disappeared into the fog seconds later. She turned to see that Ritsu and Mio were gone, with only heaps of smoldering ashes where they had been. Still, she could feel their gazes upon her in a way that triggered emotions she couldn't describe. In a way she felt like she was being watched, but at the same time she had that feeling of being the only one left in the world again. The sky overhead was turning black, signaling night coming. Azusa didn't understand. There was no way she could have been out there for more than a few hours.
Not knowing what else to do, she walked into the field, hoping that she'd catch up with Jun and Tsumugi again. The mist swirled around her, limiting visibility severely, and the grass of the field quickly gave way to dirt. No longer was she in a tranquil meadow, but an isolated sea of earth with a dark, moonless, starless night, completely surrounded by cold white haze.
This is it. I'm either dreaming, or not in my own world anymore, Azusa realized it had to be one of the two. She could only hope that it was the former, but it was getting harder and harder to believe that. Memories of the various news stories of young children getting lost and never appearing again in these woods flashed in to her mind, and she could completely understand it now. Still, the thought of a six year old wandering alone until he was either swallowed by the evil or devoured by his nightmares incarnate was a depressing one. It made her wonder just what her chances of ever getting out of there alive were.
She didn't know how long she wandered forward through the blackness, wondering just what was illuminating the mist and the ground beneath her. Once she found Yui though, everything would be worth it. She couldn't wait to bring her back and show her all the new things she learned on guitar, the new bands she found, and all the fun things they would do together. It was like being ten years old again. Planning out all the things you would do when your friend came to stay the night. That was exactly how Azusa felt right then. It was the only thing pushing her forward into the unknown. Plus, she was certain Yui would have stories to tell about just how she managed to get there in the first place.
"Where are you going? This is the wrong way." Sawako said, walking beside her. Azusa noted her Death Devil stage outfit, and found it strangely suiting for this environment.
"Do you know where I'm supposed to go?" She asked her old club adviser, only sort of wondering what she was doing here too.
"Not completely, but I can tell you that this is a dead end." Sawako replied, and sure enough they were greeted by a concrete wall looming in front of them. Azusa could only stare in wonder as it loomed high above them, disappearing up into the mist and stretching onwards in either direction as far as she could see in the churning sea of fog. The concrete was tinted yellow with green stains of moss and lichen, making it look like the wall had been standing there for decades. Out of place graffiti was splattered here and there from what could have been spray paint. None of it was in any language Azusa recognized though, with the exception of an English word she struggled to make out...Nyarlathotep... "Nothing this way, maybe we should turn around and see if the others found anything."
"I've been walking for hours this way though!" Azusa wanted to cry now, "I just need to get back to the woods. I got distracted and ended up here. I wasn't supposed to be here."
Sawako pressed her back to the wall and slumped down into a sitting position, hugging her knees close. "You really did get lost, huh?"
Azusa sat next to her, resisting the urge to cry. "Uh-huh..." Her face was turning red and she was sniffling.
Her old club's adviser placed an arm around her shoulder, holding her tight so that her face was resting against her bosom. So far, Sawako had been the most understanding of her plight it seemed. The older guitarist spoke in a soft, motherly tone to Azusa, while petting her hair. "Shh, crying won't fix anything. I miss Yui-chan too, so I'm going to do everything I can to help you."
Azusa's heart fluttered at that, and the tears slowed, "You...you will?"
"Of course, I loved her just as much as you did." Sawako replied, whispering in her ear. The sensei's other hand was resting on Azusa's upper leg, just at her thigh, the fingers tracing circles against the fabric of her tight shorts. Her hand slid down just a bit more, stroking the soft flesh of Azusa's bare leg, going over the scabbed cuts from yesterday. She took in a deep breath and whispered in the small girl's ear again, "Do you want to know just how much I loved Yui-chan? Just how much she loved me back?"
"I..." Azusa felt Sawako's cold fingers gently working their way up inside the leg of her shorts. Every fiber of her cried out in protest at the advancement, but all she could do was squeak out, "Yes."
Sawako's hand removed itself from her shorts, much to Azusa's relief, and the older woman used those fingers to massage the areas around Azusa's neck, as she breathed in her ear, "It was before you were there. Yui-chan needed to learn how to play guitar... Do you know that story?"
"Yes, you taught her one on one."
"That's exactly what I did. " She chuckled, and pulled Azusa's small body on top of her lap, both her hands stroking up and down the sides of her body, "I was a lonely single woman, who had never succeeded at love. Isn't that sad, Azu-nyan? Yui-chan sure thought so. I be-"
"Yui-senpai would never think that way about anyone!" Azusa cried out, squirming uncomfortably in the position she was in on the woman's lap.
Sawako held her tighter, one hand cupping a small breast, squeezing tightly. Azusa gasped and shuttered from it as Sawako continued her story, "It doesn't matter what she thought then, but she must have felt some sympathy for me... Yui-chan; she was such a naïve little girl back then, not knowing really much about anything. I was lonely, and took advantage of her. Does this make me a bad person, Azu-nyan?"
Azusa couldn't speak from everything that was happening to her now. Sawako was roughly groping her breast with one hand, and rubbing her through her pants with the other. The feeling of violation made her almost want to just die right there on the spot, but at the same time she had never been more aroused. It was an unnatural sort of feeling that threatened to take over her mind; a strange mix of fear and loathing towards her situation, and the lust and longing to just tear her clothes off and frantically masturbate on the cold dirt in a sea of fog.
"It does, doesn't it?" Sawako mock pouted, and continued her story while breathing in Azusa's ear and molesting her, "She was too confused and young to know that adults like me weren't supposed to make her do things like that. Or if she did, she was good at hiding it. I made her feel my breasts first before my pussy..."
The primal sexual urge was overpowered by fear as Azusa desperately tried to get away. She didn't know what had come over her former adviser, and she was just beginning to question the logic of any one she used to know even being here with her. No matter how much she struggled, Sawako was just too strong, and kept her right there.
"...I made her touch and lick all those places, lick them as fast and hard as she could. Then it was my turn..."
Azusa felt herself growing weaker and weaker the more Sawako grabbed and had her way with her. The will to resist was fading, and part of Azusa's mind wanted to just lay back and spread her legs. But she knew that was what Sawako wanted, what this place wanted her to do. There had to be a way out. She had come too far to have it all end like this. She knew that if she didn't get out of Sawako's trap, then it would result in her death, or probably worse. Fighting through the weakness and how uncomfortably horny this was making her, Azusa drafted a quick plan. First it would require subtly, "S-Sawako!"
It had taken all her effort to shout that, but it had worked. Her captor was interrupted, "Do you not like my story?"
"N-No, I l-like it... a lot... and..." It had worked, Sawako had released her grip just a little, enough to allow her to completely turn around so that they were facing.
"And what?" Sawako gave a wicked grin, the face she used to frighten students when her glasses came off. Azusa planted a kiss straight on her lips, using her first as a desperate attempt to escape. Her lips were cold, and instantly Azusa felt like her very soul was being drained from her body. It was hard to stay focused, to remember what she was doing and why she was there. Sawako's tongue brushed against hers, first gently, then intruding into her mouth, feeling as cold as death itself. So Azusa did what she believed was the best course of action. She bit down on that vile tongue.
She bit down as hard as she could, locked her jaw and yanked her head back. There was a brief bit of resistance, then she fell backwards as she tore Sawako's tongue out with her teeth. The taste of blood filled her mouth right away, followed by the sounds of screaming. Azusa scrambled backwards, spitting out the bloody piece of flesh from her mouth. She managed to get to her feet and force her tired body to sprint into the fog. Sparing one last glance behind her, she saw that Sawako was gone...or had never been there.
How could I have thought that was her! The black haired girl's mind screamed as she got a glimpse of the winged monstrosity that had taken Sawako's place there. Apparently naked, sickly colored flesh stretched over malformed bones with wide cankered wings sprouting crudely from its back. Human sized, with a human build, the only feature its face had was a wide toothy maw that blood was spewing forth from. That was it. She was the prey among a world of hunters swimming in the fog.
The screams the thing emitted were other worldly cries of pain, piercing Azusa's ears and rattling her very bones. Exhaustion hit her almost as soon as the demon was out of view, and her short burst of energy had faded. Those twisted, wretched screams made her wish she had just let the monster have its way with her instead of forcing her to listen to that. Not to mention the fact that anything else within miles would surely hear it, if there were others. Its scream reminded her of a baby crying out, being torn apart by hyenas, with their cries mixing together to form an echoing wail.
After only moments the screaming stopped, and the fog swirled around her so thick that she couldn't even see her legs anymore. The weakness in her was making it hard to just stand, and she realized how hungry she had become in all of this. One step after another, she kept pressing herself onwards until her body would finally give out. The taste of blood in her mouth and the memory of what that tongue had felt like served to keep making her gag and dry heave as she kept going. Every step was more difficult than the last, making her wonder just how much further she could go before finally collapsing.
From the midst of the fog around her, an excited, exaggerated voice cried out, "Crunch! Tear! Splat! Like that."
Azusa nearly fainted from surprise, her heart her heart was beating like a horse galloping in a frightened frenzy in her chest. She wasn't ready for another trick this place had to offer, it would just be too much for her to take. But she had recognized that voice, like it had been heard in a distant past life.
"Stop!" Another, more frightened sounding girl replied. Those voices were all around her again, now mixed with the sounds of crowds of people talking, laughing, and walking, with crickets chirping over them all.
Then there was third voice, a voice Azusa would have recognized anywhere. This time it was Yui happily saying, "But Ton-chan's still small, so it'll be fine."
"Yeah it'll be fine!" The first person went on, who Azusa now recognized as Ritsu. There was laughter, the sound of her own laughter amidst it. She remembered this; it was a night they spent together at the festival. Why she was hearing it again in the fog was just another mystery to add to the pile, but it made her long to be with them again. Be with them and be out of that place. All be a band of friends who sometimes played music again.
It's always so much fun hanging out with them.
Then there was the sound of fireworks, just like that night before. Azusa waited for Yui to take her hand, shouting and telling her to go with her, just like that night before. She even put her hand forward, waiting for a pale, slender hand to grab it out of the fog. The ground below her changed from nondescript dirt to cold water rushing over her ankles. She slipped, now walking over stones, and the water quickly rose so it was pouring past her knees. The fog began to clear just a bit, and she saw she was now standing in a river of rushing red water, illuminated by a pale moon overhead in a starless sky. Behind her was nothing, just a barren landscape of dirt stretching endlessly, but past the river she stood in was the forest again. This time it was lively; fireflies dancing around bushes adorned with gorgeous flowers.
It's so pretty...
Am I dreaming again?
She couldn't move forward. The blood red water had frozen around her knees, forcing her in place. The bitter cold was painful, and it was almost impossible for her to keep her balance in that position. The fog faded from a pale white to a stark black, causing all the beautiful fauna to wither and die in front of her eyes. It was like some grotesque, living, sentient thing that existed only to torment and confuse her. A shiver ran down her weak back, as she heard the sounds of the decay before her eyes. A renewed terror struck as she heard a familiar monstrous screaming from a distance behind her. Stuck in place, that winged abomination could surely catch up with her and get revenge for what she did to escape its grasp. Her legs wobbled, her bladder failed her, finally soiling herself with warm liquid. That was the last thing that happened before she fell backwards into the frozen river. The sensation was mind numbing, still being trapped in a solid object, but falling through it at the same time.
Blackness overcame Azusa as she fell below.
TO BE CONTINUED
(You don't have to force yourself to review, but it's always appreciated)