AN: I had major writers' block! What have I gotten myself into? Thinking that writing a fan fiction would be easy? It would be amazing just to finish this story, even if I believe it's crappy.
Just to clarify things, the story will be a mix of the Narrator's POV as well as the characters.
OK on with the story. Here's chapter 6, don't really have a title for this, just different parts.
Part 1: Half-Moon
An Alternate Reality, that's not something you hear every day. Sure, if you suffered from Depersonalization, when you don't feel right in your own skin, like a bystander watching your life past by. Or a Personality Disorder, where you create different people within yourself, bringing multiple personalities into existence. But in this case, it's different.
You don't wake up feeling numb, uncomfortable, or different. This time you wake up with- pain.
The drowning figure, the storm, and that scream, was still fresh in his mind. What's going on? That smell- where is it coming from? Wake Up Chandler! Wake Up now! Ugh! Great…
Chandler let out a sigh, his refusal to open his eyes, and talking to his mind made him feel- He felt his right leg twitch.
Chandler, Chandler, Chandler… He heard an unfamiliar voice, more of an echo, repeating his name.
It reached his ears and sent a chill down his spine. OK Chandler, he told himself, just open one eye at a time, haphazard a peek? But where was he? In a Hospital? No, it's too dark. Maybe it's night-time? Yeah or maybe I've gone into the light.
The repeated echo again. The voice was so unfamiliar, so unreal. He felt a slight gust of wind pass his sweaty forehead. His eyelids flickered open, revealing his cerulean eyes, picking up- green? Green?!
Chandler hosted himself up on his elbows and looked around. Hedges, in all directions, about 10 feet high, seemed to surround him. He was now in panic mode, but the stinging in his right leg prevented him from doing anything. Ugh! He felt slightly dizzy and nauseous. Maybe he could puke in the bushes, add a little decoration. The fear that shadowed his mind, worsened as a rustle of leaves was heard to his left. Quickly glancing there, he prayed to the heavens that nothing in there dared to harm him.
"Chandler? Chandler." He heard it like a frantic whisper. Instead of being spooked about it, it calmed him; the voice was gentle, peaceful, yet almost hysterical, and it sounded familiar.
He tried to get up as best as he could, and holding his right leg with his arm, he followed the voice without trying to aggravate his bad leg. The path led him right; there was a left turning, a north, and a west.
But when he turned the corner, he gasped. He didn't think he could take any more surprises for one night. But there she was. Just the way she was last time he saw her. And, in this moment of time, he wished that she wasn't here, with him. The place almost seemed like someone's backyard, or a giant's backyard, if the hedges weren't so large. And he still couldn't figure out where he was. Maybe this is all a dream, he thought.
"Chandler, where are we?" Monica whispered shakily, "How did we end up here."
He couldn't answer. "I just wake up to this before I saw you."
Sighing, she let her eyes wander, "I want to go home. If this is some sort of trick, or, or-"
"Monica, shh," Chandler put his finger to his lips to silence her as the rustling of leaves was heard yet again. "Some one's following us," he stated. Actually he didn't know if it was a 'someone' or a 'something,' but he didn't want to scare her even more. Shivering, she hugged herself, denying her weak legs from sitting down.
"Come on there's no time to play Guess the scenery." Grabbing her hand, they headed forward, away from the thing lurking in the hedges. Their pace was slow, they turned right, desperately wanted to get out, he tried to walk faster but that caused him more pain shooting up his leg.
"What happened to your leg?" Monica asked when she noticed.
"Dunno really, I think I fell on it."
He could tell by her expression that she was frustrated from their lack of knowledge, squeezing her hand tighter; he led the way forward, feeling just as nerved.
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"They just vanished!" Ross was answering questions to the police as news reporters poured into the scene, keen on gripping information. It happened ten minutes ago.
Ten minutes before- 12:00am...
A loud scream emitted throughout the beach. Rachel looked ahead and saw Ross go ballistic. She couldn't blame him for behaving that way, after all his sister was the one in the water.
She wondered how Chandler had gotten that far. It seemed almost impossible to walk against the wind.
Battling through the wind and rain, she reached Ross, just in time to stop him from going any further.
Suddenly, and Rachel not expecting it, Ross turned and sobbed. She hugged him and tried to comfort him, as her own tears broke out. She heard him whispering his sisters' name, over and over, as if she would magically appear before them.
Rachel's POV:
Oh God. Oh God. My best friend- Gone. I never thought such a word could cause so much pain.
No, she's not gone, must keep faith. Where the hell are they? What kind of rescue team comes late to rescue someone, what if it is too late? Stay Optimistic. But how? How can I do that?
Must stop being selfish. I may lose a best friend but Ross may lose his sister.
Not Being Selfish.
Narrative's POV:
"I've had it, I'm supposed to be a man, not cry and do nothing about it!" Ross wiped his eyes with the hem of his shirt harshly and turned to go back in.
"Honey there's nothing we can do!"
But before she could stop him, they heard footsteps approaching quickly.
Three men came running towards them.
"Miss …?"
"Green."
"Miss Green, I need you to tell me what happened, don't leave out any details."
Rachel looked at the men; they all had blue jackets on.
She took a shaky breath, eyeing the guy.
"Don't worry ma'am we're the rescue team, we're not imposers or anything." He gave her a toothy grin that seemed contagious and encouraged her to start.
"My- my best friend. Monica Geller was out there," she pointed towards the water, "Ross and I came running out after Chandler, Ross's best friend, and we saw him go in after her. They both disappeared after that, before Ross could even reach them."
Not being able to hold in her emotions anymore, the tears leaked out from her eyelids. Ross held her as she cried. The guy gestured for the two men to go ahead.
And, without hesitation, they started running towards the water. It almost seemed hopeless to go search for them, as it felt like hours when Rachel last saw Monica.
Ross hugged her tighter and watched as the men with their blue jackets, and bright yellow, bold lettered prints "NY Search n Rescue Team," take a dive. The colours faded, and all that was left was the black sky. Behind him he heard sirens. The Cops. The Sky brightened, but it wasn't from the sun.
Ross looked up. The Moon had seeped out from the dark clouds. It emitted a white glow that shone throughout the beach and the wreckage. The reporters left, Footsteps.
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"This is all just a dream, yeah that's it." He could tell that she wanted to assure herself, because he wanted to too.
"Then whose dream is it?"
He didn't want to ask her but common sense was better than just being irrational.
"It just seems real to me, not like in a dream," he whispered after Monica gave him the 'You're not helping' look.
"Well this is my dream then, because it sure as hell not real to me." She pouted, exasperated, and wanting to get back home.
"We've been roaming around for like hours and all I see are hedges and turnings everywhere I look, it's like we're in a-"
"Maze," He finished for her. She nodded, sulking wasn't going to help matters but that was all she had as they continued walking and picking which way to turn.
After a minute Monica felt she had to say something, or do something, "There's got to be a way out of here, if it is reality." Chandler nodded, suddenly noticing his hand intertwined with hers. Feeling embarrassed, he slipped it out of her hand and shoved it in his pocket. Monica, who was concentrating on finding a way out, noticed herself go cold. There was a chilling breeze that seemed to make their skins go cold, the warmth they shared suddenly broke. It felt like winter, which seemed odd in the middle of summer, and she wished Chandler hadn't let go.
Dark blue sky turned to black as Monica felt her eyelids close over her eyes. Feeling weak, she finally gave in and let her legs rest.
"Monica, No, we need to keep walking, who knows how long we'll be in this."
"But, I'm so tired, hadn't…Slept…for…..hours," her last words were whispered as she felt herself fall asleep. Chandler however, refused to stop there, they're encounter with the 'thing' hiding in the hedges didn't give him an enough sense of security. So he tried to sway her before she was fully wiped out with exhaustion.
"It's not safe Monica, you know that, don't let sleep get to you, we need to find someplace safe so the," pause, "…person doesn't follow us, Come on, you can do it."
She opened her eyes and mumbled something; Chandler took her hand and helped her up.
"I hope your right." She whispered, yawning and leaning on Chandler for support. After a while, fatigue stole Chandler's energy, and he too felt the need to sleep. His right leg hadn't pained him for a while, which made walking easier.
Finally, after what felt like an eternity, they came across an opening. What surprised them was the large tree that stood firm in the middle. Monica took a step forward when she felt Chandler stop her. "Don't." He whispered. Rolling her eyes slightly, she walked over to the tree and sat against it.
"Chandler, don't be so sceptical, we're tired, hungry, and cold, we might as well get some sleep."
Taking a look around nervously, he decided to accept the offer.
"OK fine, we'll sleep, just until the sun comes up, Hold on." Walking over to the hedges, he dug his hands into the leaves and pulled out some twigs. After grabbing as much he could hold, he scattered them around the large tree.
"What are you doing?" she asked, as he passed her and scattered more around.
"It's um, a trap, in case anything here decides to come near us while we're sleeping, then if it does we'll hear the twigs snap, see" he pointed at them, "I'm thinking ahead, it's safer this way."
After rubbing his hands together he walked over and sat beside her. Immediately he felt himself fall asleep, opening his eyes when he felt Monica shiver. Monica was half-asleep when she felt a jacket being wrapped around her. She could only offer a weak smile in his direction. The bitter cold helped little in getting their sleep, she put her head on his shoulder and dosed off. He gently wrapped his arm around her and put his head atop hers so that they can stay warm. Looking up he saw white light illuminating from the sky, giving the tree its shadow. Taking his finale yawn he soon dosed off, matching his breathing patterns with hers.
The only source of light upon their darkened world was up in the sky, a glimmer of hope that smiled down on them while they slept.
Half Moon.