Replay {Skephalo}

32 | Lost

. *. ~. 'It's lonely here. I miss your light...' . *. ~

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My personal favourite chapter of this book.
Enjoy. Love ya <3 ~ Owl

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-Zak's POV-

It's dark. I can't see a thing.

Pitch black actually, I realise as I open my eyes to darkness. I'm not in the forest anymore. I'm in a black void, looks like it might be a room but I can't tell. It's all a pure black, so dark I can't tell where the edges of the room are. Or even if it's a room at all.

The one detail that leads me to thinking it's a room in the familiar hatch in what I presume must be the centre of the room.

Not this again...

I try to stand and can't. Exhaustion holds me down, like invisible weights are attached to each of my limbs. That's the thing with these dream worlds I never understand, they always place you in the same state as you are in reality.

This means I'm laying in the same muddy clothes I've been running through the forest with. It's just Darryl's black and red hoodie, with a pair of grey jeans. I know I shouldn't have worn Darryl's hoodie after what's happened, but I can't help it. The sleeves are still a little bloodstained, I couldn't get them completely clean after the incident with Zelk. But even now, his hoodie was something that use to cover me in a blanket of safety. I felt safe.

Now I feel nothing.

Grunting with the effort it takes, I drag myself to my feet. My left ankle feels stiff and I wince, transferring most of my weight to my other leg. That's the thing with running away overnight, you can't see where you're going. This meant I tripped over a tree stump, twisting my ankle in the process.

The rest of me is covered in cuts and bruises, exactly like I am out of this dreamscape. Deep purple bruises show through my torn knees from the amount of times I've tripped over. Little scrapes and scars litter my body.

Some fresh ones on my wrists not so small.

I was so close. Almost two weeks clean, then this throws me back into an even deeper put than the last one I had to crawl out of. There's nobody coming to help me this time, no rope hanging over the edge to help me.

I stumble left until I reach a wall, running my fingers along it as I trace out the space I'm in. The place is in fact a room, identical to the one from my last nightmare, except for one thing. The last room was perfectly white, this one is perfectly black.

Well we know how this ended last time...

The hatch opens, and I wait in anticipation for the blood to come. Making myself as comfortable as possible, I wait for my demise. Sadly I'm quite enjoying this room, it's not as cold as the cruel outside. The forest is freezing, and I regret not bringing more layers. I didn't even think about returning to my house to grab anything to take with me, I just ran. Ran as  far away as possible. Now I'm here.

The invisible hands that normally restrain me aren't here this time. They appeared in my two past nightmares, but not in this one. It's strange how I miss their presence. They always keep me away from the dangers in these dreams, but now they aren't here. I've never appreciated them until now.

(Zak is referring to the nightmares from chapters 6 and 25.)

At last, a liquid flows down from the hatch. However, it's not the blood I was expecting. The liquid is extremely thick, so much it's almost solid. It's bright white, the glowing light emitting from it blinding me. I shield my face with my hands, looking away as the remainder of the glowing light reaches the floor. The light dulls enough for me to look back. My eyes widen at what I see.