May 20th,
The stars shined brightly that night, lighting up a path for my father as he took my hand and bolted through the woods. I held onto Emily's hand tightly as we dashed passed the endless trees in the night.
"Why are we running?" I asked.
"Get behind those trees!" He shouted to Emily and I.
We followed him until he stopped us behind a think bunch of trees. I noticed that all of these trees had no leaves. They all looked dead. This definitely wasn't my world.
"Last week, I found out that they were going to kill you and your mother," dad said. "They thought that I was getting distracted because I was always thinking of you guys. I tried telling them that I was only sick, but they wouldn't believe me. I was left with no choice but to get ourselves killed. I told them that it was all God's intention and they believed me. I didn't want to do it myself, but something went wrong with the rope and...well, here we are."
He unloaded a lot of information on me in a short amount of time. He looked really panicked as fear took over his entire body. He shook violently every time he took a breath of air and his eyes watered from the heavy breathing and overwhelming feeling that he was going through.
"Why did you do that?" I asked him.
"You guys got in trouble because of me. I just didn't want you guys to get killed because of something that I did."
"That's not the only reason right?"
Dad gave me a questioning look, but then figured out what I meant by that.
"I...I felt guilty about what I did," dad said. "I guess I really did want to take my own life. I hurt your mother and did nothing for you, so I guess that guilt just got the best of me."
I smiled.
"You really do love us huh? However..."
I punched him hard in the face. He may not have felt the pain, but it did sent him back a few steps. And the surprised look on his face was a bonus.
"You're still a terrible father," I said to him. "When we get back to the real world, don't ever pull that shit on us ever again."
"Heh, I figured that you hated me," dad said. "I'll try harder this time. I swear."
We continued walking for as long as the forest would let us until we came across a desolate road that stream her on for miles. On the other side of that road, there was a forest filled with trees that had golden green leaves attached to them. I could smell a faint scent of maple and cinnamon from those trees.
My world.
"That's my world," I said. "The forest is nice, so we can go on some nice walks while we wait to get sent back."
We were about to take the first step, but suddenly something tight wrapped around my foot and I felt myself getting snared back into the dead woods. Before I knew it, I was hanging upside down after getting dragged several feet backwards. I dangled for a while and saw many other ropes hanging off of branches. They were all tied into familiar looking knots.
Nooses.
I tried to untie the ropes, but the knot was way too tight for me to even find the end of the rope. That, and the fact that I was upside down made it hard for me to keep my balance with my hands.
"ALEX," my dad shouted from below. "ARE YOU OK?!"
"I'M FINE!" I reassured him.
Like hell I'm fine!
"ALEX!" Emily shouted with a worried look on her face.
"DON'T WORRY EMILY," I shouted to her. "I'LL FIND A WAY DOWN!"
"More like I will!" Dad said as he took out a familiar looking knife and starting cutting the rope.
*FLING!*
Something struck me with force. I looked around to see what had hit me. I couldn't see anything out of my left eye, so I started to rub it.
What I felt wasn't my eye, but a long stick inside of it. I pulled it out and saw, from my right eye, a huge gush of blood spray out from my left eye.
It was an arrow.
"What...the hell."
I was barely able to choke that sentence out of my throat. My eyes widened and my whole body shook with a new kind of overwhelming fear.
"Damn, I missed the brain."
I looked straight ahead to see a figure in a grey cloak with the familiar pentagram painted on it.
A Polygon.
"I'll show you how it's done." A female's voice said.
I could see her pulling back the arrow on her bow. I don't know what they were trying to do, but them mentioning something about hitting my brain probably means that I shouldn't let the shot one into my head.
I quickly blocked the other arrow from hitting my face with my right hand. The arrow pierced through my skin, inches away from hitting my other eye.
But I felt no pain.
"Dammit," the female said. "Just keep striking him until we-"
*BANG!*
A gunshot rang through my ears and before I could even blink, the woman who was just speaking was laying on the floor dead. A bullet sized whole was carved through her skull as blood gushed out from her head.
She didn't move.
Suddenly, she started to fade into the familiar black ashes. They blew into the wind, and she disappeared forever.
"N-No...NO!!! ALICE!!!" The other man screamed.
He fell to his knees and started screaming to the skies.
"GOD!! PLEASE, GIVE HER BAAAACK!!!"
He pleaded with all his might to no one. He never got his answer. Instead...
*BANG!*
Another gunshot rang throughout the forest and the man who was screaming frantically up into the skies was dead on the ground. A few moments later, he vanished into black ashes that scatter into the wind and disappeared.
Dad finished cutting me down from the tree. I fell down with a hard *THUD!*, but I felt no pain.
How the hell are they dead? I thought you couldn't die in here. Those black ashes. They were the same as Lily's when she died. But they died by a bullet from a gun.
Dad tucked the rifle that he had back into his cloak and started walking back towards the road.
"I'll explain everything to you tomorrow," dad said. "Look, the sun's going down in your world, so we should take the chance to get some sleep."
"Even though we weren't tired, we all look about ready to pass out. They say that sleep helps you process your thoughts.
"Come on. Be sure to lead me to those sheds you've been talking about Emily. And please don't look back. Those nooses are nothing but trouble in a place like this."