Everything around her was dark. She didn't know where she was. She just stood there, looking at nothing except blackness.
Everything was also quiet. No sound to be heard. Rosalyn blinked. As if trying to change the darkness to light just by closing her eyes. It didn't work.
She didn't know what to do except stare into the never-ending darkness.
It stayed that way for a long time. Nothing moved except for Rosalyn's chest rising and falling from her breathing and her eyes blinking every so often.
That is until she started to hear that hellish static sound.
She knew exactly what it was when she heard it. It rang in her ears like an annoying friend who wouldn't stop talking.
The creature was here.
She had to run.
Run as fast as she could.
She needed to escape the darkness.
She ran with ferocity blindly into the uncontrollable void of darkness. She didn't know where she was going or how long she had been running but the static wouldn't leave her ears.
She then felt something grab her arm.
One of the monster's tendrils had latched onto her pulling her back. She screamed, trying to wriggle out from the creature's grasp. Her head was pounding, her eyesight going blurry. Was this the end?
She lashed out at the tendril. Thrashing, hitting, scratching in desperation until it let go of her. She ran forward again trying to escape.
She spotted something in the distance. Light. A place with light.
She ran strait to it. She was inside the light now. She could see it dance around her fingertips as if it was welcoming her like an old friend. It could keep her safe from the darkness, she was sure of it. But then something grabbed onto her leg, pulling her back with such force it made her fall to the floor. She screamed again, a bloodcurdling scream as she tried to kick her way free. But the creature would not let her go. Instead it pulled her backwards again.
She clawed at the floor in front of her, trying desperately to grab onto something, anything. There was nothing to grab on to. She was acting like an insane person. Thrashing everywhere, tears streaming down her face while screaming "No!" over and over. She was going into hysteria.
The creature was pulling her out of the light. She could feel its delight at this running through her. It liked to cause her suffering.
She screamed once more as the creature pulled her back into the darkness.
Rosalyn woke up with a start. She jerked strait up into a sitting position, her eyes wide, her breathing hitched. She had that nightmare again. It was the fourth time this week.
It had started that night after the encounter in her house with the creature. All things considered, she hadn't been able to get a very good night sleep since then because of this nightmare and that was taking a toll on her health. The coughing hadn't subsided. To her, she was pretty sure it had actually gotten worse.
Then there were the nosebleeds. They came at random times, normally after a coughing fit. Other than that though, she felt fine.
Rosalyn rubbed her eyes, trying to make the blurriness go away as she got out of bed. She fumbled around a little, her eyes still a little blurry as she walked to her desk. She squinted her eyes as she looked at the clock on the desk trying to make out the time.
"What no, it can't be that time already," Rosalyn was astonished. Was she seeing this right?
The blurriness went away fully after a few more seconds of rapid blinking. She checked the clock again to make sure her eyes hadn't fooled her.
"Shit, I'm late…." Rosalyn took no time rushing over to her closet and pulled out a random t-shirt and pants and then put on her grey hoodie. She didn't even bother to pick up the other clothes strewn from the closet in her haste. She was late for school. No time to waste.
At school Rosalyn could hardly pay attention to her teachers as they babbled on about whatever. Her mind was fully focused on the dream she had for the past few days.
It was a weird sort of dream. Something you swear was real but wasn't. Like you were actually there, living it for yourself. In a way Rosalyn had a feeling that this dream wasn't just a nightmare happening randomly, she had a feeling it meant something. If she was just having the dream because of all the horror she'd went through since the first encounter then why wouldn't the dreams start until now? Wouldn't they have started after her first encounter with the creature? It seemed highly likely that she was having this dream for a different reason.
What if somehow the creature was able to mess with her mind? This was though Rosalyn hadn't been sure if to take it serious or not. How the hell could it manage to do that anyway?
"Rosalyn, what is the answer to my question? Hello? Rosalyn!" Her teacher's voice suddenly filled Rosalyn's mind. She'd been too preoccupied to hear it earlier. She darted her eyes away from the white wall of the classroom she had been staring at in her concentration and turned them to her teacher.
"Uh….What?" Rosalyn asked dumbly.
Some kids in the classroom laughed at her comment. Her teacher on the other hand seemed to be annoyed if her expression was anything to go by.
"Answer my question. Or are you too busy daydreaming?" Her teacher said with venom seeping in her words.
Rosalyn just stared at her trying to think about what to say to her teacher's snotty remark. Rosalyn honestly didn't know the answer. Then again, she hadn't even heard the question asked so how could she? It looked like Mrs. Colton wasn't going to give Rosalyn any hints about what she asked either.
Rosalyn tried looking at the board for help with the answer, but there was hardly anything written on it with the chalk and none of it helped her find the answer.
"I have no idea what the answer is." Rosalyn deadpanned.
Mrs. Colton scowled at her but didn't say another word and moved on with teaching her class. Rosalyn could feel some of the other student's eyes on her. They most likely thought she was stupid or something.
After her classes were over, Rosalyn instead of heading out of school as soon as she could went over to her locker. She opened it up and started to dig around all the objects searching for a specific one. It took a while, but finally a blue notebook was pulled out of the clutter. It was exactly what Rosalyn had been looking for.
She felt the smooth cover gracefully with her fingers before she flipped to the first page. It was an empty page. She checked the rest. All of them were empty of any writing. Perfect. This was what Rosalyn had been hoping for: a blank notebook to use. That way she could write down the strange dream she kept on having and try to find a reason for it. She smiled, happy with her finding. She then looked up and promptly closed her locker door.
"Hey Rosie!"
Rosalyn jumped at the sound of the voice, startled by it.
"Holy shit, don't do that to me! You freaking scared me, don't sneak up on me like that!" Rosalyn chirped angrily.
Anna was standing right next to Rosalyn's locker. She'd been behind the door when it was open, obviously trying not to be seen by her unsuspecting victim. When Rosalyn had closed the locker door, she'd freaked out seeing Anna behind it.
Anna giggled, obviously amused by her deed. "Sorry," She paused her speaking for a moment as Rosalyn recovered from her scare. "I haven't seen you for a while, so I thought I'd come over and check on you. I heard from someone that there was a burglary at your house a few days ago."
Rosalyn shifted her weight uncomfortably from foot to foot unsure of what to say. "Yeah, there was a break-in at my house. Nothing was stolen though." Her tone seemed kind of sad as she said this. Rosalyn didn't notice her change in tone but Anna did.
The pair stayed quiet for a while. Anna was unsure of what to say next. She didn't want to bring up bad memories for Rosalyn but at the same time she wanted to know what had happened. Rosalyn on the other hand was staying quiet because she wanted to see Anna's reaction to what she had said and if she was going to pry deeper for information.
"Did you ever see the culprit? Because Rosalyn, you seem pretty upset about that night when you just spoke about it." Anna's voice seemed honestly concerned, but it also had a stern tone hidden in it. Like Anna knew something more than just the robbery was upsetting Rosalyn. Most people might not have noticed how Rosalyn had been acting more melancholy and skittish; even Rosalyn hadn't noticed it. She thought she had hidden her emotions from people. It looked like she was actually wearing her feelings on her sleeve instead if Anna could pick up her emotions that easily. Then again, Anna and Rosalyn had been friends ever since the first day of high school, so they had a lot of history together. Plus as friends, they could normally tell when one of them was not happy.
Rosalyn leaned against her locker, her head swimming a little. She didn't want to lie, she hated lying. She used to do it all the time when she was younger to make friends or to impress her parents until she realized that you can't get friends that way or love. She hated feeling guilty. Every lie told made the hole deeper and deeper and sooner or later she'd have to confess or get stuck and wouldn't be able to crawl out again.
"No, I didn't see anyone. Half of the time I wasn't sure where he was. Sometimes I could hear how close he was though." Rosalyn hadn't noticed her mistake. First she had said she hadn't seen anyone but then she said the person was a male. Anna was suspicious. How could she have known if she hadn't seen him? Yes, she did say she heard him but burglars didn't normally talk while robbing houses.
But Anna decided to let it go. It was better not to pressure Rosie at this time. She wasn't going to just drop snooping around for more information though. When Rosalyn was in a better mood, she'd be asking her questions again. Anna was a very stubborn person when it came to helping her friends. She wouldn't let this go until she knew everything.
"Oh, okay," Anna decided it was then best to change the subject. "Did you hear about party that going to happen this week? I think it'll be awesome especially since all the jocks are going to be there. I'm pretty sure I could find a way for us to get invited. I just need to….."
Anna kept going on and on. Rosalyn had her thoughts on other things. She didn't feel too good right now. Kind of nauseous….
Anna stopped mid-sentence to look at Rosalyn after she realized her friends wasn't paying attention. Rosalyn was grimacing, a pained expression on her face. "Rosie are you okay?" Anna clutched her school books in her hands tighter, obviously worried.
"I…I'm fine." Rosalyn said weakly. It took her a while to say all the words; her mind was more focused on the massive headache that just exploded in her head. She bit her lip from the pain.
Anna reached out her right hand and touched Rosalyn's forehead.
"Oh gosh Rosie, you're burning up!" She frowned at this. "I think you have a fever."
Rosalyn didn't answer. Instead she pushed off the locker and stood, her head drooped, her arms hugging the notebook lying on her chest.
"I'll take you home. Good thing I brought my car today." Anna took Rosalyn's hand and pulled her along to the parking lot. There they found Anna's car: an old blue Chevy. They were about to drive off, but Rosalyn quickly jumped out of her seat and promptly threw up on the grass behind the car. Now that her stomach was empty, Rosalyn felt much better, but her head was still pounding and she still had a fever.
No one spoke a word through the drive to Rosalyn's house. Rosalyn hadn't felt like talking. She had felt really drowsy during the ride.
When they reached Rosalyn's house, her mother was the one to answer the door. She ushered Rosalyn and Anna inside and brought them into the dining room. Rosalyn slumped into the nearest chair with a bang. She literally just let herself fall onto it.
Anna left shortly after that. Now that her good friend was home she didn't have to worry. Anna had said a quick goodbye and then walked quickly out of the house.
Rosalyn stayed in her seat hardly moving. A cold rag was on her head trying to cool her down. It wasn't helping much. She honestly should have gone upstairs to rest but she waited down here anyway. Her mother was making lunch and since Rosalyn had emptied her stomach earlier from feeling queasy, she was terribly hungry. For lunch they were originally going to have chicken and spaghetti, but since Rosalyn was sick, her mother was making soup instead.
Her mother moved with such grace in the kitchen. Getting all the ingredients was a breeze. She knew where everything was and in a few quick movements, she had snatched the item up and was heading back to make it part of the soup.
This recipe was from Rosalyn's grandmother in France. It was something her mother had learned from her mother before she came over to the United States to go to college. Rosalyn had never met her grandparents in France. Her mother wasn't very close to them, hence the reason why she came over to the states.
Nevertheless, Rosalyn's mother even though she never talked about her family back in her native country at least hadn't lost any of her ways by coming to the states. Her mother could speak English quite nicely. Years of staying in the states made her accent not as thick as when she had first come to the states, but it was definitely still there. It got thicker when she was angry though. Sometimes Rosalyn could hardly understand her mother when her mouth kept on spewing out English words with a thick French accent mixed with random French words.
Her mother's assaults with French normally happened when she was in the kitchen. Mainly if she had messed something up like the veggies getting too mushy or burning toast. It was humorous to watch her yell at toast as she threw it into the trash most of the time but as of now Rosalyn wasn't paying attention to her mother yelling in the kitchen as some chopped veggies fell to the floor.
Soon the soup was done. Rosalyn ate wholeheartedly even though she could hardly see straight. Afterwards, she felt much better. The headache and fever remained though.
Rosalyn went upstairs into her bedroom. She dropped her book bags and etc from school by her bed but she held onto the blue notebook. She crawled into bed making herself comfortable. She took a pen from her pocket and started to write in the notebook.
Although she hardly felt well enough to write she wouldn't allow herself to stop. She feared if she didn't write what was in her head now she would forget it when she was better. It took a while to write down the dream. Her hand was somewhat shaky and her writing suffered for it. At least Rosalyn could somewhat read what she had written.
She then dropped the note book by her school supplies and placed the covers over her body as she got comfortable.
As soon as she was better, she'd try to figure things out.
