Chapter Two: Crestfallen Anne, and Nightmares 2

But Anne hold onto that. Even though it felt like holding an air in the palm of her hand. She expected the air would escape. Like even if you're gripping the air tightly for a long time, thinking it won't get out, you never knew it but it had escaped all along.

She learned she could not trust anything, nor words; words are very deceptive.

Anne already knew there was no way Anna would get better. She knew Anna would slipped away anytime soon. But she trusted everything, and is that everything would be alright. But apparently Anna did not get better. She died. She died at 3:25 am and the scene was still freshed on Anne's mind.

How did the concept of death became better as remnants — memory — doesn't heal souls.

She knew her mom would leave. But she didn't expected it to be TOO SOON.

Tears were flowing out from her eyes now as she just stared at the ceiling; pouring her heart out. Her vision got blurry as she was choking on her tears. She let out a shaky breath and tried to shrugged it all down.

Wiping the liquid off her face, she caught a glimpse of the painting she had painted together with her mom. Mostly Anna did the painting as Anne wasn't that gifted with arts.

The moonlight coming from the upper small circular window in her room embraced the painting and Anne got the urge within her to see the artwork clearly.

In spite of her drowsiness, she stood off her mattress and turned on the switch of the light which had been attached on the wall. The room lit up and Anne squinted her eyes to adjust her vision. She then looked up to the painting and got a hold of it.

While looking at the picture intently, her mind wandered to the time when her mother was blissfully painting the picture and Anne was patiently waiting for it to be finished. She was dazed by the sight of it, and was blown by the fact that it would never happen again. Ever.

She embraced the picture near to her chest, and silently hoped this was all just a stupid nightmare that she soon could get over, that her mother is still alive and they could paint another picture again.

Still stucked in a nightmarish reality, she tried to forget about everything that had happened today for her own good. And tomorrow is a mess she had to deal yet. She was losing sleep and she badly needed to rest, in which she did succeeded.

For a time then she had felt conscious and fully aware about what was happening around her. Unfortunately, she was paralyzed. She was having a sleep paralysis again.

With her weak state, she persisted to open her eyes and was greeted in haze. She felt her breathing hitched for a moment as her eyes slowly looked down and felt all the blood drained out from her body. She had a knife stabbed on her chest and blood was escaping in a rush. She then looked around and saw the door was left ajar.

'Someone had stabbed me,' she thought.

'And what if he comes back?' panicking, she closed her eyes again and prayed to the heavens.

It was weird that she could actually see her room, but in a different angle. She saw herself as well. She was sleeping on the side opposing to the view where she was at the moment.

'Something isn't right.'

She could see her room but she could see her body as well and it was fast asleep. The objects started to rolled on her sight; her vision playing at her. It was an eerie moment, and swear she could hear an eerie sound on her head.

And as if on cue, she felt back in her body again. She could feel her toes and tried moving them once. But it didn't work. So she eventually tried again. And finally with a breathed, she felt being freed from the horror.

Her consciousness woke up the next day with her eyes still closed. Spontaneously, she reached out for her alarm clock on her bedside table. But all her hands could touch were rough little things.

Realizing this, she abruptly shot up straight and gasped in terror. She was not in her room anymore. She was sitting on a pile of leaves in a place surrounded by black trees — she meant the leaves were black. She could have made a wild guess that the place was called black forest which was actually obvious.

The cold morning wind passed through her and her insides shivered. There was no way she was lucid dreaming, on the second thought, maybe she was. She was cut off from her trance, and was alarmed when there was a sound of leaves rustling.

She always wanted to try lucid dreaming for awhile now and she read facts about the matter. Trying one of the techniques for a reality check, she widely opened her hand. And with her other hand's index finger, she made it touch the opened hand. But it didn't passed through. She tried pressing her index finger deeper but her hand was solid. Not that she expected it to be liquid, she expected her finger to pass through.

Anne pinched her cheeks, for a reality check again. And it felt awful as she clutched the skin too tight. And the most awful part was realizing she was not dreaming at all. She was definitely sure of it. When was an information from a trusted source in the internet gone wrong?

A rustling of leaves made her come back from reality again. And the prospect of paranoia in her head filled her thoughts. And it didn't help that she heard a snapping of twigs from near either. And the conscious feeling of a pair of eyes looking intently at her; Instincts — probably delusional instincts.

Anne moved her body and caught a sight of her dress. She awed her costume as it made her feel like having a one great chivalrous adventure. In normal instances, she would be delighted by now. But the thing was the situation wasn't fitting for a celebration. Then panicked aroused in her chest as her eyes caught a pair of yellow ones.

Fear controlled her body as she ran. She didn't knew where to go but she felt endangered at the presence of the dog. No, it wasn't a dog. It was a wolf!

An enormous grey wolf. And who in actuality would never run if you've seen it staring and drooling at the sight of you.