God's Grayce-ch.3

Chapter 3- Night in the Park

I woke up with a start, jumping from the bench. Breathing hard, I frantically looked around at my surroundings, my heart pounding. I couldn't see a thing; it was pitch black.
"I must've gone to sleep," I mumbled, still half-dead.
Just as I set down, snuggling into the bench again, realization dawned on me.
"Oh my God!" I shouted, jumping up. "I can't believe I actually fell asleep! Mom is gonna kill me!"
I grabbed my school bag with one swoop and began to run for the house. I ran around and around until I couldn't run anymore. When I was completely out of breath, I stopped, panting.
I was lost; big time.
"This is…great," I said to myself, trying to catch my breath. "Just….great. This is…all I…needed..to end…my perfect…day."
I sank to the ground where I stood, my body weary.
This is the exact reason I told Dad to get me a cell phone. But would he listen? No.
While I sat on the ground, holding my bag to me like a lifeline, I thought about what could've made me wake up; I was sleeping like the dead. I had been having a dream…a nightmare really.
In my dream I was in a valley of some sort; I didn't recognize it. It was one of those dreams where you're looking down at yourself, kind of like an out of body experience.
I saw myself sitting on an extremely high cliff; it seemed to reach all the way into the heavens. I was clutching my knees, rocking back and forth hysterically.
The longest waterfall I'd ever laid my eyes on was falling into a large pond at the bottom of the cliff. The valley was full of extremely bright colors, almost like a cartoon; the green grass on top of the cliff…the bright blue clear water in the pond. Everything in it was perfect, even the clouds. They were all the same exact shape and size, not moving, scattered across the beautiful, morning sky.
The thing that really left me searching for breath was the flowers. There were so many of them; they were everywhere, covering the top of the cliff and surrounding the pond. I had never seen so many different colored flowers. I was blinded by the intense rainbow of colors that the valley held.
As I stared down at the magnificent sight, out of the corner of my eye I spotted my other self beginning to move. I was getting up slowly, like I was in some sort of pain. Suddenly my other self fell to the ground.
I quickly turned towards her; I yearned to help my other self up but found I was unable to move. She never made a sound as she continued to lie on the ground, unmoving.
Just then, she began to inch forward; her body never rising. She grasped the ground with her fingernails, clawing herself slowly forward, using only her hands and feet, her face never looking up from the earth.
Where is she going? I thought, looking closer. From what I could see there was nothing up ahead but more of the valley.
All of a sudden, the valley became dark; like someone just turned off the lights. I felt a darkness rise up; an evil so great that I felt suffocated. The evil was overwhelming; it fed on the darkness. Despair and sadness ran through me; I felt as though I was dying inside.
Suddenly, I saw a light shining down from the cliff. Desperate, I clung to it, not letting it out of my sight. The light was moving very slowly and with a shock I realized that it was coming from my other self. As she relentlessly moved forward her light grew brighter and brighter. Although it was blinding, I couldn't make myself look away.
Then, in the distance I saw white beams of light coming out of the darkness. They appeared to be moving, almost at a leisurely pace. My breath caught in my throat as I watched the lights growing closer and closer to my other self.
I wanted to scream, badly; I wanted to scream for her to run, to do something, but I couldn't. I couldn't do anything but watch as the eyes grew closer and closer; closer to my other self, closer to myself.
I peered harder at the scene and finally recognized the lights for what they really were; eyes. The eyes were shining white as they glowed in the darkness.
Figures appeared out of nowhere as the eyes reached my other self. There were six of them; each glowing brightly. One of the figures bent down and caught my other self in its arms, holding her tightly. It began walking towards the darkness, allowing both of their lights to lead the way.
The others followed after them, surrounding myself and my captor. It looked as though they were guarding them; protecting them from the darkness.
Finally, as my other self and the figures faded from my vision, and I was again enveloped into darkness, I was transported to the top of the cliff.
Instead of seeing myself, I was now inside of my body, watching and observing. I was standing in the same spot I saw my other self just a few seconds ago, except the figures were gone and the dark was the only thing left.
Hesitantly, my body began to move deeper into the darkness, as if it couldn't make up its mind where to go. Instinctively, I fought against my body as I struggled to stop myself from advancing, but try as I might, my body continued to move on its own accord towards the darkness.
I was beginning to grow panicked; I knew that this was a dream but a part of me had begun to doubt that fact as I tried again and again to wake myself up. The dream was so real, so terrifying. If it really was a dream I wanted to wake up; I wanted to be safe in my bed at home.
The more steps my body took towards the darkness, the more I wanted to scream; the feeling grew bigger and bigger as I continued to move forward. I felt as though someone or something was calling me into the darkness; something evil and dark. I could feel it drawing me closer, reeling me in as it called for me.
I was suddenly exhausted; I grew sick to my stomach and my very bones ached. I didn't have control of my body but I was clearly still able to feel tired.
Just then, I felt this extreme pain in my head; like someone had just electrocuted me with five thousand bolts of pure lightning. I fell to the ground in agony, my hands clutching my head; I rocked back and forth in pain, crying for it to stop. It didn't; if anything, it grew more intense. I began to grow faint from it as the pain relentlessly beat down on me over and over. I distantly realized that I had regained control of my body.
And then, as quickly as I gained it, I lost it again. While I rolled on the ground in pain, my head literally exploding inside, my body suddenly shot straight forward. Still coursing with pain, my feet began to move slowly towards the darkness. A part of me could feel the pain but it was as though someone had turned the volume down.
I fought against the hold on my body, desperately trying to regain control. I could feel the pain growing closer to me as I struggled towards the darkness. I could feel my head beginning to burst again; either the pain was growing stronger, or I was getting weaker. I began hoping, praying that this was only a dream; that I was going to wake up safe and none of this was real.
But the more my legs continued to move forward, the pain now beating at my skull again, I lost hope. I was frozen; frozen inside of my own body. Deliberately, I stopped trying to control my movements; I just let go.
The only thing I did was watch myself grow closer and closer to the darkness, towards the evil. One more step until I was in; one more step and I would be devoured, one more…I raised my leg slowly…and shuddered as my mind zapped out of the dream, into reality.
It had gotten really cold outside; I was shivering uncontrollably. I yanked off my jacket from my waist and put it on, squeezing it around me. It went from one hundred and ten degrees to a full negative five degrees in a couple of hours. Every time I breathed I could see my breath clearly.
I took a deep breath and coughed as the cold air stung my throat. When I finished with my coughing fit I realized that I was wet…soaking wet. It was raining very hard; I couldn't feel my arms or legs and my fingers were turning purple.
After another coughing fit I drew in a shaky breath and huddled closer with my bag and coat trying to warm myself. Somewhere in the back of my mind I knew I should've tried to find shelter or at least a tree to get under, but the freezing cold made it hard to think. I was suddenly very tired as my body became exhausted.
I can see the headlines now, I thought, a little hysterical. Seventeen year old girl turned into human popsicle.
I tried to take a deep breath and grew panicked when I couldn't breathe right; I wasn't getting enough air, and it was becoming harder to move. A couple years ago I had read a story about a hitchhiker who froze to death climbing some mountain. By the time the rescue teams reached him his arms and legs were frozen and two of his toes were missing.
I drew in another aching breath and closed my eyes, praying. I was so tired, so sleepy. Maybe if I went to sleep for a little while….
Right then, as my eyelids closed, I heard an engine. It was nearby, loud; it hurt my ears. As I struggled to open my eyes, I heard tires squeal. Bright lights blinded me behind my eyelids, shooting pain into my head.
This must be what it's like to have a hangover, I thought as I groaned at the pain.
As the roar of the engine grew closer to me, just that quickly it cut off and I was deafened in the silence. I heard a door slam shut and then footsteps were walking towards me; I would've stopped breathing if I had more breath inside of me. The footsteps were fast and anxious but as they got closer to me, they grew slower and more cautious.
I heard a soothing voice reassure me that everything was okay; the voice was deep and smooth. It sounded familiar, but I was in too much of a daze to recognize it. I was gently lifted into the air as the voice continued to comfort me.
I knew that I should've been scared but as hard as I tried I couldn't get myself to move, even a little bit. I coughed painfully as a strong gust of wind came through, and the stranger's arms tightened around me and began to walk faster. The stranger's arms were very warm and I snuggled deeper into them, feeding on the warmth.
I heard a door open and was gently placed into the seat. As my stranger clicked my seat belt into place, reaching across me, I caught a faint scent of cologne coming off of him.
"You smell good," I murmured, unconsciously moving closer to him. Even saying that much hurt my throat and I lost my breath as a coughing fit came over me.
The stranger quickly slammed the door shut and before I knew he had left was jumping into the driver's seat.
I wanted to ask him so many questions but as I opened my mouth, the only thing that came out was a groan. My throat ached so much; it felt like it was on fire while my body was completely numb. I cringed away from the pain and heard the stranger murmuring soothingly. Most of it was complete nonsense but I didn't care.
Eventually I began to relax, my body leaning heavily into the seat. I knew I should've been scared out of my mind, or at least a little worried, but the stranger's soft, comforting words calmed me as he rubbed his hand slowly back and forth over my arm, and soon I felt myself falling into a deep sleep..