The Five Dimensions Part 1: Shadow World

Chapter 20

Hailey had this weird dream about falling, just falling, nothing more than that. Falling straight into darkness. It felt more real than a dream. She still had some power over her own body, unlike in her usual dreams where she just watched whatever happened as a mere bystander.

At first, she screamed but after realizing she was just wasting her energy, she stopped. She knew that if she hit the surface, she would be dead and screaming wouldn't make any difference now. So, she tried to prepare for the blow, squeezing her eyes shut and relaxing her body.

She waited.

But the blow didn't come. She didn't feel any pain, she was just annoyed by the lack of, well, anything.

After a while she let herself fall, her arms and legs spread out. The air glided around her as if it was water. Sometimes she rolled around unwillingly but it was the most bearable on her back. Anyway, if she would hit anything underneath, she didn't want to see it.

It seemed like forever had passed when Hailey heard voices, coming from the dark.

"Miss Fell?" a voice said. It was unfamiliar and belonged to a man. The voice was heavy, so the man was probably an adult. He had a British-like accent, but not like the one Hailey's father had, it was how she imagined British people talked ages ago.

She knew the man was trying to wake her up, because there was a faint feeling of being shaken by someone. Since her body in the dream wasn't shaking, it must've been her actual one.

"I don't think she'd like being called miss," another ― also male ― voice said. This one she did know. She noticed there were similarities to the voice from before and this one. But thinking about the owner of the second voice pushed that thought out of her head. A feeling of hate was bubbling up in Hailey's body ― she couldn't decide if it were her real body or dream body though.

Ash.

Except, his voice was different. She was completely sure it was him, she would recognize him anywhere, but he now had the same accent as the first voice. Had he been hiding it the whole time they had known each other?

"Hailey, Hailey Fell, can you hear me?" the first voice tried again. Hailey tried to respond, but the darkness held her back. She willed herself to wake up, forcing the darkness to lift.

"She'll probably respond to her second name. She hates it," Ash said with a little chuckle. His voice was otherwise toneless, all the emotions that had been in his voice just before Hailey became unconscious were gone. Nothing of the gentleness was left, it must have been all an act. She felt like hitting herself for falling for it.

"Ooh, what is her second name?" a new female voice asked. She sounded like an adult too, but not middle-aged yet. She was probably in her twenties or something. She also had an accent, although it was slightly different from Ash's. Somehow, Hailey was aware of Ash taking a breath to reveal her second name, and she willed herself to wake even more. The darkness was pushed aside slightly, and she managed to open her mouth, but her eyes stayed shut.

"Don't," Hailey said quietly. It sounded more like a groan than a word. She didn't feel like she was falling anymore; she could feel something soft underneath her. She tried her voice again, "Don't tell."

"I told you so," Ash said, his tone was much cockier than she could remember. And that was saying something. But then again, he had abducted her. He wasn't the person she had thought he was.

"Asshole," Hailey said, her voice still weak, completely opening her eyes now and trying to get up. It took a moment for her eyes to adjust to the light, she blinked impatiently wanting to see her surroundings. The man who had first spoken and the woman seemed taken aback, but Ash just chuckled.