Chapter 25 Reaching Out

Meryl woke up with a gasp, breathing heavier than usual. It had been one of those recurring nightmares where she was afloat in endless darkness. She glanced around her room, feeling an eerie breeze slip in through the tiny slit between the window. Fumbling her way through the dark, she reached for the lights. Her hand came across the switch which she immediately flipped on. Only, nothing happened.

"The power must be out…" she murmured, groping around her bed till her fingers wrapped around her phone. She turned on the flashlight and held it up high to see better. The room was awfully dark, even with the light shining around. The dark walls reeked of an ominous smell. It felt like smoke, but thicker except there was no smoke to be found.

Meryl covered her mouth with one hand, light in the other, and crept out of the room. Her entire apartment was shrouded in darkness. She shuddered as her feet touched the cold bare floor. Chills ran up her spine, making the hair at the back of her neck stand up.

Her peripheral vision detected a sudden movement somewhere to the side. She gasped, quickly flashing the light towards the empty sitting area, with just enough time to catch sight of something dark retreating into the shadows.

"What's going on…?" she whispered, restlessly flashing the light around the room. Wherever she turned, the shadows retreated, shying away from the light. In the silence, she could hear whispers along with her own breath coming in short gasps.

She quickly began to dial a number on the phone, lowering it for just a second. Suddenly, something hit the back of her hand. The phone slipped from her fingers, falling to the ground with a loud crack. Meryl gasped as the light went out. She stood there frozen, shivering in the dark. Her heart sank as the whispers grew louder. She covered her ears while taking slow steady steps forward.

There was an emergency ax somewhere next to the kitchen counter. She remembered it had been Dixon's idea, having a weapon in the apartment when she'd first moved in here. She hadn't taken him seriously at that time, but now more than ever she needed it badly.

With one hand sliding against the wall and a breath of determination, she slowly made her way across the living room. Her heart would jump every time she heard something slither past.

The whispers grew louder with every step. She stretched out her hand in front of her, feeling for a box like object. Her hands gently grazed a glass casing which she blindly fumbled with. The lid swung open. Relief flooded through her as her fingers curled around the wooden handle.

All of a sudden, she felt it before it hit her. A faint pitter patter echoed around her feet, almost masked by the heavy whispers. With both hands gripped tightly around the ax, she swung it around wildly into the air. It drooped down with a jerk, feeling heavier than she expected. The second time she swung, something collided and ricocheted across the floor.

There were sounds of tiny feet scampering about, all distancing themselves from her.

"That's right! S-stay back or else!" She warned in a voice so loud it scared her.

All of a sudden, something buzzed a few feet away from her; its light reflected on the floor. She waited a few seconds for any other movement, then darted across the living room, sliding down to pick up her phone in one swift motion.

The silence continued overlapped by her own heavy breathing as she tried to calm herself. She looked down at the incoming call through the cracked screen.

"Ricky?" she gasped out the words, not believing for a second that it was him.

"Hey, you okay?" His soft words of concern brought some relief to her mind. "Where are you right now?"

"A-at my apartment… T-the power's out and t-t-there's something in here with me," she stuttered. It was a habit she would switch into when scared.

"Okay don't panic. Take deep breaths and do exactly as I tell you to."

Meryl inhaled deeply, feeling the dryness pinch her throat. With her ax raised ahead, she inched forward step by step. There was a slight thud as it hit a wall in front. More feet scampered towards the sound. She whirled around, swinging the heavy blade with a short yelp.

The footsteps ceased almost immediately. She breathed out, holding back tears. Her hands trembled in the dark. She could hear Ricky calling her name from inside the phone.

"Y-yeah?" she whispered.

"You need to find the nearest switchboard," he told her. "After that, I'll handle the re-"

All of a sudden, something swooped in at her foot, digging its sharp claws around her ankle. Meryl jumped back, screaming out her lungs as she furiously stomped her feet against the floor. The creature released its hold, but not before getting its arm recklessly trampled on.

The blade came down, bashing against the tiles. There was a low squeal from somewhere closeby. Meryl quickly backed away till her back hit the wall. She felt a rectangular shape sticking out behind her back.

"Found it…!" she whispered, spinning around to place the phone next to the switch board.

"Alright, give me a second," Ricky was saying.

It took less than a second for the lights to switch back on. Meryl glanced around the minute she could see again. Dark, disfigured creatures with yellow beads for eyes retreated into the walls, shying away from her all of a sudden.

"Ricky…" she spoke in between tears which she could no longer hold back.

"Did it work?" he was saying. "Are you okay now?"

"You're a lifesaver… They're gone. All of them," she cried out. The tears felt warm against her cold cheeks as they trickled down.

"Meryl, listen up. The shadows, they've gone away for now but more might come."

The words weighed heavily on her chest as she sank down to the floor, wrapping her arms around her.

"You're going to need to be prepared. Meryl, are you listening? Hey, are you crying? Meryl?"

Meryl sniffed, wiping the tears off her face as she stared ahead at what stood a few feet across from her. She put the phone down beside her while her other hand carefully curled around the ax.

.

"Something's wrong…" Iris was saying, looking out through the window.

"Something wrong besides everything that's going on?" Jonathan replied, a bit sarcastically.

"He's here…"

"Who is? Is it Dixon?"

Almost as if she couldn't hear him anymore.

"The Shadow King… That wretched being of evil dares to show his face…" There was a sudden change of tone as she spoke this time.

"What're you going on about?" Jonathan asked, oblivious to the change.

"This miasma reeks of his evil intentions…" she replied, disregarding him completely. He watched as she raised her arms in the air. Her body glowed a luminous white in the dim lights. A black smoke began to seep in from between the edges of the window.

"Hey… I don't think you should stand so close to the window," Jonathan murmured, feeling anxiety ball up in his stomach. He pushed himself out of the blood stained couch, faltering as he started towards her. More black miasma entered into the room, swirling around Iris's tiny figure like a tornado of black wind.

The wind expanded into the entire room. Jonathan stumbled back, covering his face as he struggled to push through. The wind slapped furiously across his entire body.

"Iris!" He called out but there was no response. The girl stood with her back towards him, arms trembling as she raised them up even higher. He noticed something white crawling around her feet. Before he could step in closer to see, another wave of toxic miasma hit his face. He coughed, squinting his eyes, and quickly covered his mouth with his sleeve.

Iris's head tilted just a little to the side as he coughed louder, unable to breathe. His chest felt heavy while his airways choked, dropping him to his knees.

Iris closed her eyes, letting out a low sigh. The area around her feet began to shimmer as thin elastic threads of white sprouted out from beneath. They extended out towards Jonathan, curving upwards to form a cube. Jon gasped for breath, bending over on his hands and feet. He noticed white lines passing through and underneath him like a grid. Startled, he jumped back, only to hit his head onto the wall of the cube behind him. He realized he was trapped inside the box. He could see the miasma gathering up around the room, outside the premises of the cube, like a thick smoke.

Jonathan took in slow deep breaths. The air around him was surprisingly clean. He looked up at Iris who still had her arms raised in the air. She, too, was inside the grid-like cube.

"Iris… I didn't know you could do such a thing," he whispered.

All of a sudden, the room around him disappeared, fading into the darkness, along with the walls and windows. He almost jumped as he watched them peel off around him.

"What the… where did walls go?"

"I removed them. They were in the way…" Iris replied nonchalantly.

"Wait what?!"

Before Jonathan could even begin to object, the cube began to vibrate underneath his feet. He felt the floor move as the grid wall in front of Iris flew back, revealing a narrow passageway ahead. The walls branched out into a white maze surrounded by thick miasma, itching to seep in.

"Either stay here or follow. Your choice. But I'm not sure how long the walls will hold without me," she told him before starting towards the white corridor in front. Jonathan glanced around with uncertainty before slowly following behind.

.

"Merylin, is it?" a man spoke in a deep husky voice over the speaker phone. The call ended at that moment with a click.

Ricky stared at the phone for a few minutes without looking away.

"Who was that?" Cheryl was saying. He just shook his head slightly. She quickly snatched the phone from him and redialed the number, only to have it switched off. She dialed another number and put the phone to her ear, nervously pacing around, chewing on her lips.

"It's no use," Ricky told her, shifting uncomfortably on the couch, tilting his weight away from the wound. "He's unreachable… not even his phone can be tracked."

"But we can't just sit here and do nothing," she told him, desperation evident in her voice.

"There's nothing we can do," he said, resting his head in his hands. "We can't call anyone. Even if we do, there's no way to reach them since we can't even step outside."

Although reluctant, Cheryl put down her phone with an anxious sigh. She looked down at the blue eyed Catter staring attentively at her.

"He seems… oddly attached to you…" Ricky commented.

"Sit," she told him, almost immediately the Catter dropped to its knees while still staring at her.

"And he only listens to you…" Ricky trailed off, "Just like Dixon…"

Cheryl glanced at her brother.

"What're you getting at?"

He bent forward a bit. A stinging pain shot up from his waist. With one hand over his wound, he stretched out his other hand towards the Catter. It quickly hissed at him in response.

"He must be connected to him somehow," he said, slowly retrieving his hand. "If so, then I may be able to reach his phone."

"Let me try…" Cheryl said, taking a step towards the creature sitting in the middle of the living room.