Schizophrenic

Accidents Happen

"Run, Ariella," the voice whispered in my ear. "Run fast."

My legs obeyed the voice, running fast and far through the field, a wheat field. I couldn't see anything above, below, in front or behind me. It was as if the wheat had a mind of its own, raging out of control in its haste to be free of the ground.

The voice continued to whisper in my ear, telling me which way to run and I listened blindly because I knew I wouldn't be able to get out of this mess of a field. I listened because I knew something terrible was behind me and I had to get away from it. I didn't know what it was but I had to get away.

"Jump. You have to jump," the voice whispered menacingly in my ear. I didn't know what it was talking about. Why did I have to jump?

I got my answer when I burst out of the wheat and onto a riverbank. The water was moving rapidly, rushing over the boulders sticking out here and there. Across the water was a forest. It wasn't an ordinary forest though. It wasn't trees that made up the forest; it was giant flowers that reached high up as if they've been there for centuries. The flower forest seemed natural to me, nothing at all wrong with it.

But I had to cross the river first to get there.

"Jump!" the voice yelled in my ear. I flinched and instinctively obeyed. I jumped feet first into the rapids sucking in a deep breath before hitting the water.

It was like being hit by a car. The force of the water hit me so hard it knocked the breath out of my lungs. I felt like I was submerged in two feet of snow, as if I was buried there. The water was so cold that my body began to feel numb.

I was being pushed along, crashing into the riverbed or boulders. I was like rag doll in these currents but I knew at least that I was getting away from whatever was coming after me. Being battered and bruised by the water was better than whatever that monster would have done to me. The only problem I was having was the fact I couldn't breath.

I struggled with all my might to reach the surface but somehow I kept ending up further and further into the water. I was going in the complete wrong direction. I tried to open my eyes but it was shut tight again by the water force. I was rolling along the rocky bed of the river as I flew along with the river heading out to sea.

I forced my eyes open and kept them open for as long as I could, which wasn't very long. But what I saw scared me to hell.

It looked as though a fire was burning brightly, swimming towards me. When it got close enough for me to focus on, my mouth dropped letting the salty water flood into my mouth and down my esophagus. I began to choke on the water which allowed more water in and possibly a few pebbles to lodge themselves in my throat.

The fire was sitting on top what looked like a mermaid's head except the face was of something else. It was like the head of a raven placed on a mermaid's body. A giant raven's head, I might add. It swam at full speed towards me before suddenly disappearing. My heart was racing at an unspeakable rate.

I couldn't stay conscious any longer, the water was getting to me. I saw the blackness fading in from the edges of my vision, consuming it until I could see no longer. My body went limp and sank to the bottom of the river like a leaf after the wind had died. I had finally reached a calmer part of the river.

The last thing I saw though was enough to send shivers down my unconscious body.

As I lay on the riverbed I was able to see the fuzzy image of a face peering over the water. An inhuman face. In fact, I didn't think it was human at all. It looked much like a woman with fire for hair. She had no visible features unless you count the leathery material covering her face like a second skin. The fuzzy outline of the woman stood up and seemed to hover over the water. She dropped a pebble into the water and watched it sink to the bottom just above my head.