Sleep did not come easily to me, so the fact that I found myself being woken in the middle of the night caused a nasty flare in my mood. For a brief moment, I tried to remain asleep, a stubborn and futile effort as all vestiges of unconsciousness slipped away. Sound was always the first sensation that came back to me when I woke, and what I heard was whipping wind, far from the regular whir of the fan at the foot of my bed. Forcing open swollen and aching eyes, shimmering lights of red and orange painted the walls and ceiling. Was some truck pointing its headlights in my window? No, this was more like an abduction scene. Adrenaline heaved the rest of my senses out of that bleary fatigue, and I sat up.
Papers, and clothes whipped around the air. Wind blasted past my face, hot and dry enough to chap my lips immediately. It was almost painful, and I held up my hands to protect my face. Even a few more seconds, and my skin would start to blister. A metallic odor, like burning wire and chlorine bleach reached my nose. Was my room on fire? Too much was happening too fast. I couldn’t make sense of things. I didn’t know if I should run, hide, or start throwing things.
In the midst of this chaos, a most unexpected sight greeted me. A figure popped up at the foot of my bed. I could only see her face, and her hands grasping the edge of my bed frame, like a puppy standing at the edge of a counter. Her features were gaunt, almost emaciated. Her short hair was jet black and messy. And oh yeah, her skin was the color of aged pinot noir.
She stared at me with shimmering yellow eyes, and I gaped at her. The debate between my fight and flight instinct was interrupted as bewilderment took center stage. She sighed, rolled her eyes, looking every bit the indignant teenage girl, then with a supernatural speed leapt from the foot of the bed straight at me.
I put up my hands to defend myself, but never felt the weight of her fall upon me, rather, the next thing I knew, I was being pulled towards the source of the shimmering light. I tried to kick and flail, but I couldn’t find the source that was pulling me. As I continued to slide down my mattress I beheld the source of the lights, and wind, and smell of ozone; A pentagram searing the air above a deathly black hole. I screamed. I grasped desperately to stop my descent. My fingers dug into my sheets, and mattress, but that did nothing to slow my plummet towards that mark of evil.
My feet fell in. It was hot. So hot. I grabbed my bed frame, but my fingers were weak, and I slipped free, plunging my lower half into that darkness. I fell onto the floor, knocking the breath out of me. In a flailing grasp, I caught the foot of my bed with one hand. Strange sensations rippled through my chest where the symbol cut through me. I could feel a sickening wrongness well up within me, like I had drank deeply of chemical filled waters. With all of my strength I held onto the foot of the bed frame. My whole bed began to slide towards that abyss, and I sank lower, losing more and more of myself to that horrifying wound in the fabric reality.
I grit my teeth and held tight with all of my strength. Then, my bed stopped moving. I stopped falling. I jutted my other hand out, and grabbed on to the bedframe with my second hand. I caught a desperate deep breath, burning my lungs, and heaved myself out of the maw of horrors until my shoulders were free. Breathing deeply of that ozone burnt air, I summoned the energy to wedge my elbows on the floor between my bedframe and the hole. I could still feel the furious force tugging me towards the darkness, but I wasn't falling anymore. Alas, one last surprise was waiting for me. I looked up, and caught sight of a figure standing before me… No… Not just a figure. Me. My body. My face. My form. I nearly fell from the shock. And then my body betrayed me. It put a heel on my forehead, and kicked me into the abyss.
(This stopping point was deliberate to allow for multiple different story options. I plan on taking it an unexpected direction that others may not enjoy.)
