Dreamers [#Wattys2020]

37.

Noah.

I fell asleep for the first time in a long time, although, I'm not sure where because when I opened my eyes again I was in the dark place.

This can't be possible, but it has to be.

"Hello?!" I shout out into the void around me.

My voice echos back, but none of this makes sense. There's nothing but the floor for the sound to bounce off of.

"This has to be hell," I say to myself.

I don't expect to get an answer back but, "Maybe it is."

I swiftly turn myself around to see who's there, but there's no one.

"Who are you?!" I let out as I can feel my face turn red.

That can't have come from inside my head, it sounds and feels too real.

I keep waiting for the voice to speak again, but it never does.

My jaw quivers under the uneasiness in the air. I feel like the darkness is slowly suffocating me, making me so small that no one could even hear me scream.

"What do you want?" I finally ask it.

Still nothing.

Part of me just wants to run away, but where would I go? This fucking place has no end and I know it controls everything. I was stupid in thinking this was all just a lucid dream.

I can't stay in this one spot forever, so I take a step forward and then another. It's as if I'm walking on eggshells, yet I don't care if they break under my feet. I keep going for what seems like hours until, again, I finally hear something.

"This way," the voice whispers in my ear.

"Hello?" I instinctively call out.

The voice, something about it is different than it was before. It was soft and gentle-like, unlike the demon that has apparently been following me around.

My only option at this point is to walk in the direction of where I heard the voice. I know if this was ever a scene in a movie that everyone would be yelling at me that I'm making a huge mistake, but I have nothing to lose. It's just like Dr. Carling said, I will probably never see Rover again.

The voice speaks up, "Come."

I take a breath in, but when I let it out it's cold and I can see it in front of me. I do it again, bringing my hands closer to feel the air. It's freezing.

When I take my gaze away from my hands, I find that I'm outside in the snow, wearing my black dress and it's New Year's Eve.

I turn to my left to find my sister's car up against the sidewalk and there's someone else standing in front of it.

"Do you have a phone?" he looks to me.

"Sorry, I don't," I shrug.

"So what do we do?"

I'm about to reply, but I stop myself.

Instead, I say, "We've had this conversation before."

"We have?" he questions although his face is still obscured to me.

I had this conversation with Rover.

"Rover?" I say his name.

His expression turns sour.

"What are you doing?!" he almost yells.

"Rover?" I try to get closer to him, but he moves away.

"Okay," he says taking my hand.

Something is wrong, really wrong.

"So what are we doing on my car?" he questions, the leather from his jacket brushing against my arms.

"We aren't on your car," I tell him.

"They're beautiful. The only thing we can see in this darkness."

"What?" I question him.

He just keeps going, disregarding me completely.

He looks at the watch on his arm then back to me, "Ten o'clock."

"Rover!" I pull him into the light.

It's not him... No, staring back at me is Nick Colton.

"You say such weird things," he chuckles slightly.

"Stop!" I yell.

"Yeah."

"Stop it! Just fucking stop!"

He replies, "thanks."

I feel my soul grow weak as tears form in my eyes. They sting my skin as they roll down my face and all I can dream about doing is to burst into flames and just make all of this stop.

I wait for him to go on with that stupid conversation all in the hopes to just get over with it, yet he stops and looks up right through me.

In the silence, I try to calm myself down, but it really only makes me more worried than I was before.

"Nick?" I try to get him to reanimate.

Nothing I do works, he just doesn't move. It's as if he's died and frozen in place.

"Nick?" I say his name again in hopes that he can hear me.

"Don't move," the mysterious voice, once again, blows right past me.

I turn around to try and follow it, but there's still no one in sight. I'm starting to doubt that I will ever know where this is all coming from.

"Whoever you are, just quit your bullshit!" I say to whoever is obviously watching me.

I know they're too much of a coward to actually respond anything, but I'm sick of being their toy. If their some sort of god or the universe itself becoming conscious they better watch out because I can tell they're underestimating the lengths I will go to to find Rover. In fact, Once I do find him, they better start running cause I will hunt them down and make them feel everything they've put us through.

"Hey!" I yell out to the open. "You're just going to disappear?!"

I get nothing back, just absolute quiet as the snow continues to fall around me.

I'm all but ready to leave this spot and walk away, this little game isn't fun.

"Come back," the flowing voice returns.

I don't understand the use in listening to it anymore.

For the first time, it doesn't stop. "You need to come back. Stay asleep..."

"What?" I wish I understood their reasoning. "Stay asleep?"

But the voice doesn't say anything more.

I decide to turn back to see if Nick is still a statue, but everything goes black. I can't see, the world is completely gone.