Chereads / I N V E R T E D Wonderland / Chapter 13 - Chapter 13: Nightmares

Chapter 13 - Chapter 13: Nightmares

Heavy breaths escaped his mouth, pushing through his teeth and moving away his lips with sweat flying around. He ran and ran endlessly without thinking. Multiple times he tripped over branches and fell on the muddy, putrid land of the bizarre world he seemed to still be in, but was trying to escape. Every time he fell down he would get back up and think only one thing,

-I need to leave.-

The place was full of surprises and there was no way his fragile mind could handle all the pressure it was under. So he ran away as he always did.

As he was sprinting nonstop he yet again fell from branch sticking out of the ground, which sent him flying down a small hill and hitting the back of his head knocking him unconscious without knowing where he fell exactly.

And, After an unknown time went by…

-Someone's running their fingers through my hair…- he thought with his vision still dark. While half awake and half asleep. The fingers were gentle and caressing him carefully yet they were as cold as dawn in winter time. His head was resting on something soft which he found comforting. He didn't really want to open his eyes. He felt if he opened them, the fine sensation and calmness he felt would disappear. But he had to open them when he heard someone humming a song. A sweet and melodic, but saddening melody. And he felt comfortable more than ever. Yet he had to open his eyes because he felt tears coming out of his own eyes. And sure thing. When he opened them, that beautiful sensation and image he made in his head, disappeared.

What he saw made him cringe and stutter. His words piled up in his mouth and couldn't come out like cars stuck in traffic. His tongue twisted and cramped, and his vocal chords tied into knots, blocking his air. Leaning over him was a picture straight from a horror tale. I want to say it was a woman, but it was more like a ghost or monster. Mourning dress on, her eyes were fully gray with a white pupil. And she was crying. Tears, thick, dark streaking down her cheeks for no apparent reason. Upon seeing them they drove chills from his head to the tip of his toes. Where was her mouth? Not to be seen. Covered by a mask of dark matter, Miles couldn't tell if she was smiling or not, which made him all the more fearful of her.

"Miles…" she whispered in a calm tone as her face approached his, a tear fell on him. Waking him up and telling him -RUN!-

He immediately sat up, and pushed himself away from her as quick as he could.

"Wait, don't be scared! I'll make the chain lighter!" She cried standing up towering over him.

"Get away from me!" He screeched back in desperation. But she didn't listen.

"Please Miles, come to me, you won't regret it. I'll make you happy." She said with voice cracks at the end as she reached her pale white hands into the air.

"NO! Get away from me. No no no." He said as he got up and sprinted away.

But she followed.

She ran after him.

The adrenaline rushing into his body made it feel like it melted away. He ran up the hill he fell from at times on all fours, pulling branches, gasping for air, trying anything, to get away faster from the tall white hair "woman" chasing him. With her snow white arms reaching for him as if it depended on her life to reach him.

"Please Miles, I'll show you what comfort is! With me, you will be happy!" She said as she chased him down.

He ran and ran without turning back while the cries of the woman resonated in the back of his head and filled his mind with fog. He didn't know where he was running but she freaked him out enough for him not to care as long as he was away from her. So he kept on sprinting until he could hear her voice.

He kept at it until he somehow, by pure luck, got to the "exit" of the wonderland. His legs were trembling and shaking and crying of exhaustion and his lungs were burning. Something came up from his stomach, forcing him to bend down and throw it up, holding onto a tree to not fall.

-My insides are burning…But I can finally get out.-

The chain was barely even there at that moment. The feeling of the chain seemed to fluctuate in weights.

He went out the exit and was yet again at the dead old tree. Finally out, while he was barely processing what had happened, he went from being in an uncomfortable position, to see something from a horror tale. The other "two" he has met were no problem, but these other ones, they scared him. With every step on the way home, his legs trembled from exhaustion. It was as if he was walking on clouds yet he felt he was the heaviest thing in the world too.

Not much time had passed in the real world either. Maybe about an hour, so his mom was still not home when he arrived. He opened the door with difficulty. Struggling to put the key in. And then threw himself in bed immediately. Passing out from exhaustion. Without once thinking about the deal, or the Coraline-like screams the figure made while chasing him. Nor did he think about the chain, which so light it felt now. None of these things mattered at that moment, he just wanted to rest. He just wanted to be with her, so he could focus on her and nothing else. On her and her only.