Shatter

Chapter 7: Quicksand

"Don't you want to be normal like the others? Aren't you ever sick of being an orphan? Come into the mirror, Luna. You will be free. 

Aren't you sick of roaming around as a parentless child? Luna, dear, your pains will be gone; just come into the mirror. 

It's so glassy. Silver. Smooth. Don't you want to jump into that? Wouldn't you like to? Luna, come now, before it's too late."

"NO!" I screamed, tempted to block my ears; but my arms were tied together. I was in front of the mirror, and he was there, laughing cruelly. "I DON'T WANT TO GO WITH YOU," I shrieked, "YOU DISGUSTING MONSTER!" 

He laughed. "Do you want the same thing that happened to Alisa to happen to you?"

"No," I hissed. "I don't know what happened in the first place."

"No?" He smiled. "Well, you'll know soon." 

I woke up. Jerked out of the nightmare. 

I was trembling. 

I brushed my hair back, behind my ears, and sighed. The nightmares were coming at me like a bullet every single night. 

I closed my eyes, and took a proper breath. 

Carmen and I had lolled under a tree for a night, sleeping in a sitting position.  

She was already awake, and was looking at me with a confused look on her face. "You were talking in your sleep again," she remarked, "Another nightmare, I suppose?" She sighed, and looked up at the sky. 

"Yeah," I said. "It's just him, over and over again. I'm sick of it."

"Maybe leaving was a bad idea," Carmen murmured. "I feel like I'll get killed any second."

I made a sound of agreement. "We should get going." 

She stood up. I followed, and I swung my bag to my shoulders. It was still heavy. Melissa had gifted us with a lot of food for our journey. 

We walked for a while, until we were at a forest. 

We always approached forests, as if they were everywhere. 

It was a bit strange. 

I didn't even know what we were walking to anymore; we were just walking, futher away from the orphanage each day. 

Suddenly, I felt a jolting sensation, like I was midway in the process of tripping. When I looked down, I was in the middle of... quicksand, it seemed like. 

Carmen was gone. 

You're just hallucinating, yet again, I reassured myself. It'll be over soon. 

But I really wasn't, not this time. 

I tried walking, but only sank deeper. 

And deeper. 

And deeper. 

Until my head was beneath the quicksand. 

How had I gotten here?

Why were there forests everywhere? 

Why was there quicksand?

Where was Carmen?

Then, it went dark.