CHAPTER 3, PART 1
NEXT IN LINE
THREE DAYS LATER
"I hope you can forgive me..." I hear a disembodied voice calling to me in an endless abyss of darkness.
"Who?.. Forgive you for what?" I reply to the voice.
"For this." I hear it fade into the darkness.
"GET AWAY FROM HER!" I scream, then, I suddenly kick down the door that appears in front of me. I don't know what's going on, I don't know where I'm at, who I'm screaming at.
"Shin, run! Just go get help! Please!" I hear Natsuki crying from the other side of the room. "I don't want you to get hurt!"
"Playing the hero is only going to end badly for anyone these days." I hear this deep, raspy voice calling from behind me, but there's nobody there. "Heroes never truly exist in the world. And you especially, will never get the 'happy ending' I know you're after! Just do everyone around you a favor and give up!"
"I!... I WON'T LET YOU HURT HER ANYMORE!" I scream at the voice, but I still can't see the figure. I run over to Natsuki and try to grab her, but something's wrong. She...
Why the hell does she not have a face anymore?!
"Just run." A voice emanates from where Natsuki's mouth should be. "You're only going to hurt everyone around you so much more than what you're trying to do to help. Just kill yourself, it would be so much easier. For everyone." I stumble, and try to crawl away from that... thing... masquerading as Natsuki.
"Get away from me!" I continue crawling back, but it's following me. I reach the wall. "YOU'RE NOT NATSUKI! WHAT HAPPENED TO HER?!" The figure slowly gets closer to me.
"You're what happened." It stops dead in it's tracks, inches from my face.
It tilts it's head almost entirely sideways, with a loud, disturbing cracking sound that pierces my ears. I scream.
I wake up, kicking the wall next to my bed, and I reel in pain.
"What the hell?!" I yell out.
I suddenly realize what that dream was about.
"So, she's next?.."