𝒜 𝐻𝒶𝓅𝓁𝑒𝓈𝓈 𝐸𝓃𝒹𝑒𝒶𝓇𝓂𝑒𝓃𝓉

2 - 𝒮𝓌𝑒𝑒𝓉 𝒟𝓇𝑒𝒶𝓂𝓈 𝒜𝓇𝑒 𝑀𝒶𝒹𝑒 𝑜𝒻 𝒯𝒽𝒾𝓈

It's hard to perceive anything around her. The static in her mind is almost crippling and blocks out all her thoughts. Distant whispers erupt throughout the world of endless greys and blacks. It's like she's fallen into a void and cannot escape.

A gust of air crashes into her; burning yet ice-cold at the same time. It induces terror; utter fear that grips her heart and compresses her lungs. She finds it hard to breathe and looks around frantically. It's the same. Everything is the same. She can't even see the floor beneath her feet, but she knows it's there. It has to be there. What else would she be standing on?

The static grows stronger, and louder, overwhelming her senses and making her grab at her head in a desperate effort to cut it off. The breeze billows and the voices become more distinct, but she still can't hear what they're saying. Are they even saying anything, or are they simply murmurs of agony riding the wind with no further significance?

"Y/n..."

That voice. Something about that voice sends shivers down her spine and prompts her heart to speed up at an unhealthy rate. Her gaze shifts around, trying to locate a source, though ultimately failing.

"Child...come."

"Come"? Come where? The grating static somehow thickens and stills at the same time, and she furrows her brows. A fog kisses her feet as it rolls across the invisible ground, bringing the inescapable threat of impending doom with it. She stumbles back, finding it does nothing, as the area surrounding her leads nowhere.

"Come to us..."

"Who are you?!" she yells, immediately tensing. She can't hear herself. She's been...muted. The noise continues to get stronger, and she hits the side of her head, trying to make it stop. It cancels out her thoughts, making her feel helpless. All while a suffocating sensation settles in her chest and it becomes more and more difficult to collect oxygen.

"Join me... Come..."

～

Her grip on the sheets covering her torso tightens as she shoots up in bed, instantly greeted by light from the morning sun shining in through the window and being forced to squint her eyes. She sucks in deep breaths, savoring the air invading her lungs as she tries to calm her rapid heartbeat.

She has had a lot of weird dreams before, but none compare to the one she just woke up from. She stares at nothing, in particular, blinking away the tears that formed in her eyes and refusing to cry. Taking notice of the fluffy feline curled up on her thighs and looking up at her with startled eyes, clearly not happy about being disturbed, she lets out a soft sigh and strokes his back, finally able to steady her nerves and focus on more positive things.

"Sorry I ruined your precious beauty sleep," she mutters sarcastically, wiping her eyes to get herself awake. She tries to brush the dream off as nothing; just stress creeping its way into her head and injecting her with freaky thoughts. But something about it...unnerves her; like it's much more serious than what she'll give it credit for.

Leaning her back against the wall of her bed, she runs her hands through her messy hair and releases a yawn, rubbing her eyes before grabbing her phone off of the stool that she had pushed up beside her bed the previous night and turning it on, curious to see if anybody sent her a message, wanting to get her mind off of the nightmare.

None. She drops her phone by her side and slumps down, disheartened. I guess nobody cares anymore. Then again, who can blame them? I'm just an inconvenience, anyway.

She managed to catch a glimpse of the time in the top right corner of her phone before she turned it off, discovering that it's around 9:40 in the morning. "Sorry, buddy. I've gotta get up," she says, looking down at the cat in her lap that's gotten settled and is now trying to go back to sleep. His ear twitches in recognition, and she runs her fingers through his thick fur before gently sliding him off of her and standing up.