The silence in my head is so loud, it is almost deafening.
Everything is dark around me.
It feels like I am floating.
Then I realize why that is. My eyes are closed.
I blink once and immediately regret it. The brightness of the sunlight almost blinds me. Instinctively, I squeeze my eyes shut again and allow myself to slip back into that surprisingly cosy darkness.
I am just about succumb to this weirdly comforting sensation when the silence is turned off like somebody hit a light switch and noise crashes over me like one massive wave. My body involuntarily twitches because of the attack on my hearing and my eyes automatically fly open.
It takes me a moment to figure out where I am and what is going on around me. Like on auto-pilot, I go through a mental checklist, which quickly tells me that everything is still in order – at least when it comes to any physical aspects.
I can feel all four of my limbs and none of them are hurting. My ears are working perfectly, too. And my eyes can see just fine.
But once my checklist reaches the item which is labelled as "brain", I wish that I could immediately go back into that blissful oblivion. Because as the wheels in my mind are steadily gaining speed, everything comes back to me and dread starts to fill my body from head to toe.
Sam!
Simultaneously to his name flashing through my mind like a neon sign, I take in my surroundings. It appears that I am standing amongst a group of strangers. None of them are paying me any attention though. Everyone's gaze is fixated on something that is happening further away, partially up the mountain.
Where is Hannah?
Wasn't she right next to me, only a minute ago, right before that weird feeling started?
A collective gasp escapes the people around me. I look in the same direction that all their heads are turned, but someone is standing right in my line of vision, blocking the view. I want to sidestep them, but my feet don't want to move. I feel like I am in one of these nightmares where you want to run away from something bad but you are rooted to the spot, unable to get away.
Nausea erupts inside of my stomach like a volcano when the details of what I witnessed probably only minutes ago – right before said darkness engulfed me – slowly start to come back to me. It is like a movie trailer playing on repeat in my head. The same snippets of information, over and over again.
The stranger standing across the road, giving me a creepy smile.
Sam racing past us, biking up the mountain.
That new guy in the ocean blue shirt, coming out of nowhere.
The same guy cutting off my brother's path.
Sam losing his balance.
Sam disappearing right in front of my eyes.
No! This can't have happened!
I must have imagined things.
Is there such a thing as nightmares during the day, while you're awake?
This is the only explanation I'll accept.
I am still musing over this, trying to keep down the bile that is gradually creeping up my throat, when suddenly the person obscuring my view steps aside. This finally allows me to see what everybody else seems to be focused on.
Like in slow motion, I watch how two men follow Hannah, who is running up the mountain trail the bikers went up just moments ago. She has already made it halfway to the point where Sam disappeared over the edge. That's when the men finally catch up with her.
YOU ARE READING
Rekindling
Teen Fiction+++THIS IS A SEQUEL - To be able to follow the storyline, please read „Unravelling" and „Dissolving" first!+++ Lily and her brothers are stuggling to come to terms with yet another tragedy that occurred to one of their own. The previously tight-knit...
