When I opened my eyes, I was back out in the woods but this time I wasn’t in Viktor’s SUV. I was standing alone in dead Mr. Fergusons driveway. Spinning around, I scanned the area. It was so cold my breath turned white.
A twig snapped.
“Who’s there?” I called out. My heart pounded so loudly it drowned out the sound of my voice. I didn’t want to be here but my feet were rooted in place. Glowing eyes appeared from the tree line making their way toward where I was trapped. The heavy footfalls vibrated the earth under my feet. I willed myself to wake up but I couldn’t.
Something slammed into my back. I pitched forward, my hands and knees slammed down into the sharp gravel. “Ow, that hurt.” The pain freaked me out more than the glowing eyes. Since when did you feel pain while you were sleeping? “This is just a dream,” I kept repeating but it didn’t feel like a dream any longer. It felt too real. I stumbled up. Only then did I realize I was wearing my sweats and Sunshine t-shirt from my old school. I looked down. I had no shoes on only my lobster socks from one of our family trips to Maine.
The glowing eyes became four and then six, headed right at me. Since I couldn’t wake up, I did the only thing I could: I ran. The rocks under my feet caused pain with every step I made. Tears streamed down my face and I couldn’t move fast enough. I felt weighted down, moving through sand with sharp jagged rocks underfoot. I heard a roar and stopped. The ocean was sprawled out in front of me and a large tree trunk big enough to park a car in was illuminated in the moonlight. I ran to it hoping for cover. Somehow, I made it to the tree and ducked inside, my breath coming out in ragged gasps. The cold air blew on my back, sliding under my shirt. I tried to tug the material down but it kept coming, blowing against me. “Wake up! Wake up!” I repeated over and over but it was so real…so wrong…
“Amber,” a deep voice soothed. “You are awake.” The sound was familiar and haunting at the same time.
“No!” I staggered back. The bark of the tree scraped against my arm inflicting even more pain. “This is a dream!” I yelled, the sound getting lost in the howling wind. I pressed further back into the confines of the tree and heard a low growl. My skin prickled with awareness and my fight or flight mechanism kicked into high gear. I broke from the tree and ran. The sound of something big chasing me, spurred me to run even faster but there was nowhere to go. I couldn’t outrun it so I did the only thing I could think of to save myself. I dove into the surf of the ocean. The freezing water took away my breath. Gulping for air, I swam away from shore, my feet kicking against the roiling waves. I made it to the calm of the ocean, past the roll of waves and turned toward the shore. Three people were standing on the beach, their outlines silhouetted by the full moon.
There were two boys and a girl, the long dark hair of the girl whipping back into the wind. All of their eyes were glowing. Waves lapped over me and I kicked my feet trying to stay above water but I was so cold. I couldn’t feel my legs or arms anymore and still they stood there, watching me. “What do you want?” I screamed almost too cold to get my voice to work.
Something big and furry broke from the confines of the tree and moved swiftly down the beach, eating up the distance with large galloping strides. It was a bear. The three glowing eyed people turned. When they saw what was coming toward them, they ran. The shapes of their bodies blurred as they ran into the break of trees on the far end of the beach. It all happened so fast I wasn’t sure if I had seen it or if it was my eyes playing tricks on me from the hyperthermia that was surely setting in by now. “It’s only a dream,” I chattered, trying to stay afloat. My lids slowly closed and my body bobbed with the water like a buoy out to sea, pulling me down little by little into its dark embrace.