Tightrope

Chapter 9

Neon's POV
I had my final tightrope dream that night.

The mist was even foggier than ever. I could hardly see through it this time.

As for the tightrope?

You might have already guessed it, but yes, it was even thinner than ever. By this point, it was almost like a thread instead of a tightrope.

I was struggling to stay afoot and struggling even more to see through the thick fog, but in the end, I couldn't see a thing.

I wobbled on the tightrope-if I could even call it that, since I said it was more of a thread than a tightrope this time-but ended up regaining my balance.

"Okay....focus on the thread....see if that helps." I thought as I averted my eyes to the thread I was currently balancing on.

I could just barely see the black, thin line I was on. It seemed like the fog covered everything in front of me, not below me.

So I continued to focus on that, and as I began walking, I noticed I seemed to become steady on this thread. Yeah. Maybe all I needed to do was focus on this thread in the first place.

Before I knew it, I heard three familiar voices call my name. I realized I was closer to the cliff that this dream normally ends with.

Alright, so lately all these dreams have ended with me falling. You know what I mean.

I looked up and was just barely able to see three hands reaching for me through the fog.

I knew very well who those hands belonged to.

"Take my hand, Neon!" I heard Kori say.

"You don't have to go through this alone!" I heard Yuki say.

"We'll always be right here!" I heard Kira say.

I began to focus on those hands instead. When I reached out my own hand, I began to lose my balance, the thread shaking violently.

With my own hand still outstretched, I completely toppled over and began falling into the dark abyss below, all the while still staring up at those hands. I didn't even get to touch them this time. I shut my eyes.

But then everything stopped. My feet weren't on any sort of ground.

I realized I was being held by something. When I opened them, some black mist was wrapped around my waist. I could see blue eyes appear on the black mist as it let me go.

"Everything is finally worse for you. You can't hold on for much longer." Said the mist-my darkness-as it let me go.

"Yeah, yeah, you win. Is that what you wanted to hear?"

The blue eyes of the darkness seemed to change just a tiny bit as if it were smiling, like the corners of the eyes seemed to stretch upwards just a small bit.

"Oh, it sounds even better when you say it."

"Of course it does." I muttered.

The darkness flew closer to me.

"So close....so close to giving up...." It said in a gleefully disturbing voice, almost as if it wanted me to die.

Then, it jumped-literally-onto me and began to envelope itself around my entire body.

It was trying to suffocate me!

I began desperately trying to grasp it. I actually got a firm grip on it! So I began trying to claw it, trying to get it off me, but to no avail as my fingers simply began to slip through the darkness, no longer being able to even grasp it anymore.