16 | Leora's Dream- Mental

Leora was now just scared and confused man. She just wandered around calling for the other three.

"Hey! Over here!" Chase's voice came from a room nearby. He poked his head out and waved at Leora from down the hall a little ways.

Leora sighed and ran over "you scared me! Did you find DJ and Ryker yet?"

Chase shook his head, looking around a little. "No I haven't yet." he said. "But I'm sure they are around here somewhere." He smiled, looking down the hall. He then started to walk down it.

Leora followed him. "Hey... we're gonna make it out of here safe and sound. I've got two great people to go back to and you have your wife!" Leora said excitedly.

He swallowed hard and glanced over his shoulder at Leora. "Right..." Chase looked back forward, not saying anything else. He seemed uncomfortable, and tensed at the word wife.

Chase turned down another hallway, this place seemed to never stop. A never ending maze. They walked and walked looking for DJ and Ryker, not finding anything.

Leora stopped, she was getting confused. Leora was smarter than most gave her credit for. "Hey Chase? What's going on?" She asked.

Chase looked around a little and frowned as he stopped walking. "I.. don't know. I feel like we have just been walking in circles." He sighed.

Leora crossed her arms and narrowed her eyes at him. "I think we are... I think now is a great time for a dream related fun fact!" She said and grinned.

Chase frowned a little more. "Leora... now is not the time for dream related fun facts." He said flatly. "We are on a quest to help save others who are not waking up. DJ and Ryker have gone missing, my wife is asleep now. And to top things off, we seem to be lost." He continued, turning back around to keep walking.

stressed boi is stressed.

Leora frowned, "hey fun facts help reset the brain. Plus I think something is really weird with you and this place. Why'd you react like that when I brought up Astrid?"

Chase bit the inside of his lip and stopped, turning to look at Leora again. "How else am I suppose to react when my wife is asleep and I'm here not able to take care of her?" He shrugged. "Am I just supposed to go around acting like nothing is wrong? Because I certainly can if that is how this all goes." He continued.

Leora frowned, "well no..." she said softly and rubbed her arm, "I was worried is all." She said unhappily. "But we can keep going, do you have a plan on how to figure out where we've been and where we're going? Wandering blindly hasn't helped much."

Chase raised an eyebrow, shifting his weight at the sudden change of conversation. He then shook his head and looked around. "No, I don't have a plan." He said. "But I agree, wandering isn't helping much."

Leora sat down and opened her back pack, "I think I have an idea." She said and started digging around for a sharpie or pen.

While Leora searched her bag, Chase watched for a moment before looking off down the hall. Suddenly, the room got eerily quiet. Chase took a few steps down the hall cautiously. "Leora.. we should-"

Before Chase could finish his sentence, he was pulled up into the air, roughly and fast. Leora wouldn't have seen who, or what, pulled him up but he disappeared into the vent above. His scream out of pain echoed through the vent and the hallway. The sound of him being continuously dragged through the vent, that Leora could not access, and his cries started to fade as he was dragged further away.

Leora stood up quickly, "Chase!" She screamed and ran after him. Leaving her bag where it was. She had a sharpie in one hand and her wrench in the other.

She continued to follow the noise through the halls. The sound that was coming from Chase and the vents were... horrific. Nightmare inducing. "NO-" Chase's scream echoed one last time before the building fell quiet again, leaving Leora lost and alone in the warehouse.

Leora shoved the sharpie into her pocket and gripped her wrench. She reminded herself she had to find Chase. He had Astrid to go back to and she had promised to get everyone home safe.

Leora would wander around a bit more, finding nothing at all. Whatever had taken Chase left no trail of where it may have dragged him off to. She would hear some music softly playing from down the hall.

Leora pulled out her sharpie and made a mark on the wall. She put it away and slowly walked towards the music, still gripping her wrench like her life depended on it.

Inside of the room there was a record player in the middle of the room. This was where the music was coming from.

"A record player? Weird..." she mumbled and walked towards it.

As Leora approached the record player, it seemed as though to be a normal one, nothing wrong with it. The door slammed behind her and the lights turned off, the soft music from the record player faded away. When the lights turned back on, she found herself in a room that had no doors, but it did have a window. There was nothing inside of the room and there was no sound.

Leora rushed to the window. She was scared.

The window revealed nothing, it seemed to be blacked out for the time being, almost like a mist was covering it. The air became heavy and a limp body fell from the ceiling onto the ground below. It looked... awful. The only reason she would be able to tell who this was was because of the light blonde hair, that was stained in places with red and a ring on his left hand. (I will spare the details of the rest but just imagine something very horrific..)

"You promised..." a woman's voice echoed through the room, her voice filled with hate and sadness.

Leora dropped her wrench and covered her mouth. "No..." she said softly, just frozen there.

The woman who the voice belonged to walked out from a dark corner of the little room. She dropped down next to the limp body, picking him up and holding him close to her body. Her face had tear stains on her cheeks, her expression... broken.

"You PROMISED!" she yelled, holding him closer. "Look at him Leora!" she continued, holding him out to her so she could see him more, pushing both of them closer to Leora. "LOOK AT HIM!" she cried out, forcing Leora to look at the body that laid limp in her arms.

Leora shut her eyes and covered her ears. "Please stop..." she begged softly, "I tried to catch up to him..."

Another scream was heard behind Leora. "PLEASE!" the girl pleaded.

If Leora were to turn around, she would now see a younger girl with shorter black hair, holding onto a younger looking boy. He wasn't as horrifying to look at, he looked more peaceful... but definitely not alive. The girl was crying, caressing the boy's cheek in her hand. She began rocking a little bit as she stared down at the boy. She began playing with his dark brown curly hair.

"You are going to be okay... she said so... she promised... you're going to be okay.." the girl kept repeating as she stared down at the boy, her Russian accent very prominent as she spoke.

Leora looked at them, she was so confused and scared.

The young girl looked up at Leora with sad eyes. "He meant so much to you... how could you let this happen?..." she asked, her tone soft and broken.

"I didn't do this... no... I haven't run out of time yet!" Leora exclaimed and covered her ears like a little kid.

The window now no longer was covered with a mist, it now looked more like a tv that was about to play something. What it played... well... it showed Leora the scene of DJ getting attacked and torn apart by hellhounds. It then shifted to Ryker who was laying on the ground not moving.

"You made too many promises Leora." a smooth voice said, almost like the voice was in her head. "Now... you must deal with the consequences of those empty promises."

Leora picked up her wrench. "I. Don't. Make. Empty. Promises!" She shouted, swinging her wrench at the window as hard as she could with each word.

The window shattered, and Leora was now no longer trapped inside of her dream. However, she had a choice to make. Leora could go through the window, and be free, awake.

-or-

There was now a doorway in the wall that had a golden glow coming from under the door, a woman's scream came from behind it. The room no longer had the women and their dead significant other. Leora was alone, and had a choice.

Leora looked at the window. where could she help? outside or inside? She gripped her wrench and headed to the door. Easiest way to destroy something was from the inside out.

Leora opened the door and was engulfed in the light of the sun, pulling her into the doorway.