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Chapter 1: Night Terrors
He recognised this place.
It was dark and black—everything was black. No light, no warmth, no sound. Not even a floor was present underneath his feet. This place had no name and no physical landmark that could give him the slightest indication of what it was.
And yet, the endless void felt as familiar as the last time he'd been here. And with that familiarity came dread.
He couldn't remember how he got here. He couldn't even remember what happened the last time he'd been here… but he knew. He knew, from the smothering darkness and the familiar prickle of dread, that something was coming. Something was going to happen—something bad.
His breathing hitched. Small, agitated gasps flittered in and out of his mouth as he tried to get a grasp of his surroundings. He tried to find his voice, frantic as his anxiety grew.
"H-Hello?"
But even as he spoke, the darkness swallowed it up, leaving behind a distorted and muffled echo. He tried again, "Hello? Anyone?"
The silence coiled around him like a cocoon. His words carried no weight as they got distorted the mere second they left his mouth. A cold chill suddenly spiked in his body. He found himself desperate for something familiar—something else, something that wasn't this cold, dark void.
"Spiral?" He tried, but still no answer. He forced his voice louder against the deafening silence, "Elli? Cyli?"
A twinge of panic seeped into his voice, a desperate plea for the comfort and familiarity of his friends, his teammates. Where were they? Weren't they nearby? Are they in this place too?
Suddenly, something shifted in the void.
He felt it before he heard it. The ripple of a raw, unhinged moved and churned somewhere in the darkness… and then came the sound. A low, drone-like thrum, but so faint that it was barely audible, rising ever in frequency like a hissing whistle.
A feeling far worse than dread seeped into his mind as fear took hold of him. It was close. Something was coming and it was getting closer, but no matter how hard he tried he couldn't remember what was coming. Fearful and alone, he clung to whatever bit of rationality he had left, fighting the need to cry out for help.
In a moment of desperation, he whimpered out into the unforgiving darkness. "…Mom? Dad?"
The next thing he knew, he was choking.
Pain shot through his chest and his throat constricted. By some strange force, the air was completely sucked out of his lungs and an invisible, overwhelming pressure slammed into him from all directions. He barely managed to utter a cry as what felt like tendrils of darkness forced him down to his knees. Panicked, he thrashed and struggled, desperately gasping for breath like a fish out of water.
"Stop!" he yelled, fearfully. His cry was strangled and soundless, and yet he could suddenly hear screams sounding off all around him—familiar screams, but they were not his own.
Despair struck him when he realised that they were the screams of everyone he knew and held dear—Cylindria, Spiral, Elliptica, his aunt, Sir C and the rest. All of their cries morphed into a distorted wail within the darkness.
The void was devouring him whole, and as the screams intensified around him, the same low thrumming from earlier now joined their wails. Only this time, it grew louder and stronger until it rang painfully in his ears. Slowly, a black rim started to creep into his vision.
Help! He internally begged for anything or somebody to save him. He was too weak to struggle against the invisible constraints anymore. Help…!
But in response, the thrum and screams of the void changed, and low, menacing laughter resonated in the dark, ringing in his head.
And with that, his light winked out…
"AAH!" Pac woke up with a start, gasping and flailing his arms to fight against whatever demon was swallowing him whole.
The darkness vanished, along with the screams and the sensation of being dragged down to his death. Above him, he saw the mattress of the upper bunk bed, where Spiral was sleeping.
His hands flew to his chest, heaving with every sharp inhale as he regained precious oxygen. Cold sweat clung to his skin. Frantically looking around at his surroundings, he realized with sickening relief that he was back in his room—it was still night.
It took a moment before the realization sunk in that he just had a nightmare. Another one.
He fought hard to resist the prickle of tears behind his eyelids.
With laboured breathing, Pac sunk back into his bed. His eyes were glazed and unfocused as the remnants of his nightmare faded away from his memory, but the phantom sensation of being suffocated still lingered in his throat. His ears were still ringing from the horrific wails he heard. It was the quiet of his room, Spiral's faint breathing—and snoring—and the chirping of crickets outside that reminded him of reality, that he was still alive and at home. Not in some dark, endless void that held him prisoner.
When his heart finally stopped racing, he numbly turned his head to face the other side of the room. The twin moons shone brightly through their window—too bright, in his opinion, for the horror that he'd just experienced. His berry dispenser sat there on his desk, ready at his disposal.
If only power berries could keep away the demons that haunted him in his dreams.
The stillness of the room did little to calm his frightened heart. His mind was racing with unsettled thoughts. Why does this one bad dream keep coming back? What is that dark place? Why is it always the same? Why are they screaming…?
That last thought unsettled him the most. The screaming itself was disturbing, but what scared him was the fact that he could recognise every single cry and who it belonged to. It haunted him. The thought of his friends and family being caught up in something that caused them so much agony and fear, and the feeling of helplessness he felt when he couldn't save them…
Pac squeezed his eyes shut. It was just a nightmare. No one is hurt, everyone is safe, even Spiral is still sleeping, like normal…
His eyes opened and trailed up to the bunk bed above him, where his best friend was still sleeping soundly. How the red jock managed to sleep through Pac's fitful awakening, he didn't know.
Pac looked towards the window. He could just faintly see a rim of light beyond the trees—dawn was already upon Pacopolis. He was not getting any more sleep tonight.
As he settled down and waited for the early morning hours to tick by, he tried his best to push the nightmare away from his thoughts.
Yet, as the sun slowly peeked over the horizon, he couldn't shake off one nagging question in the back of his mind.
What is happening to me?
It's been a while.
Updates will be slow :) but if you like this first chapter, stick around as I'd love to continue this if there's enough interest from the readers.
'Till next time x