Strike At Midnight || Luka Couffaine

Chapter 13 ❧ Remember

I begin to hyperventilate, sucking in gallons of air. My surroundings shift with a smoky blackness like a thick dark fog, but it doesn't envelop me. Besides the sounds of my ragged breaths, there's nothing else I could even faintly hear. "Grimm."

"I'm here," he says, hovering in front of my face. A light glow seems to shine on him like a candle in a dark room. I glance down at my own palms and see them shimmer too.

"Where are we? Are we dead?"

"Don't be frightened. I've only brought us to somewhere safe and undetected," he assures and my heart seems to calm down. "I have isolated you from the physical world and returned you back to the simpler plains of your mind."

"What?" I splutter- even I couldn't understand the complexity of his words.

"To simplify matters, I've pulled you from the real world and into your brain. In the real world, you have only temporarily disappeared."

Surveying the area, I see nothing but smoke that could go on forever. "My brain looks sort of empty."

It's only natural-" I throw him a disapproving look. "-I mean this is the deepest part of your mind. Only old memories you don't have to remember occupy these spaces. Try not to stray too far away."

I was about to ask if there's a way out when I feel a pull at my side. I turn to the same direction, but there's nothing but endless smoke. I reach my arm out and the smoke seem to whirl around my arm instead. Without warning, I jolt towards the same direction, feet skidding against the ground.

"What's happening?" I ask, panic rising. The smoke seem to eddy and churn now as if in anticipation. "Grimm?"

I turn to Grimm, but he isn't there. "Where are you? Come on this isn't funny!" Even though he wasn't the type to tease and prank for fun, I sincerely wish that he's joking right now.

Silence came as its reply. It dawns on me that I'm all alone then fear cuts through me like the sharp edge of a knife. I know that Grimm would never leave me unless something inexplicable happened to him. His words were genuine when he assured me that he wouldn't.

With my heart beating painfully against my chest, I quickly decide to start walking and hopefully reach somewhere- anywhere. I catch a yellow light from a distance, flickering behind the mass of smoke. Overcoming my dread, I run for it like a moth to flame.

My surroundings begin to shift and solidify. When I halt in my tracks, the ground turns to concrete and the sky a dark purple hue with twinkling stars. When I rub my eyes, I realise that my hands are tiny and my arms are short and stubby. A small red dress adorn my body. Complete with red kindergarten shoes. W-what am I wearing? And why do I feel so short?

Shattering the silence, a head-splitting boom reverberates through the air. Police sirens begin blaring from down below and the thunderous flapping helicopters above me shake the sky. It dawns on me that I'm atop a building...again!

One of the helicopters shine a bright spotlight over me. A loudspeaker announces, "Police! Stop now. Keep your hands in sight!"

I yelp when a huge hand pulls onto my collar. It drags me forward as my shoes scrape onto the ground. "Where is he? I'm waiting Chiroptera!"

"You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can be used against you in court." Armed men clad in black point their weapons at me... or someone behind me. Although I neither have the intention nor the notion to do so, I start to wail. High-pitched cries of a child tear through my own throat.

The hand grips my collar even tighter. To my horror, it lifts me a feet into the air and then dangles me over the ledge. I'm left speechless, staring at the thousands of feet I'm from the road below. Vehicles and crowds of people litter the ground below, but the whole area seems familiar.