Into the night by Ihotu Obande

Elana looked up at the sky and frowned as a raindrop splattered across her cheeks. Beside her, two of her teammates Alistair and Rumi watched impatiently as she tried to wake up. Davin their leader had gone to the nearest village to get some supplies and whatever was chasing them had certainly not stopped.

“Well? No luck at all?”

Elana blanched at Alistair’s comments and increased her death glare at the sky. “I’m trying my hardest.” She said through gritted teeth. “It used to work faster than this I swear. Something must have happened when we went through the grid.”

Alistair scoffed. “Now it’s just not working at all. Look, you do realize if we can’t go back, we’re screwed right? Like ‘we’re all going to die’ kind of screwed. Whatever’s up with your mind thing, fix it. I need to get back to Amy.”

“Oh, shut up Al. We all have people we need to get back to. Stop making this about you.” Rumi muttered while gently lowering herself to the ground. The ripped piece of shirt used to bandage her knife wound was soaked through with blood. Rumi didn’t even flinch when it happened. She pulled out the knife like it was a measly toothpick and kept walking the rest of the way. Now as she unwrapped it her face went deathly pale. Where the wound was, there was a sickly black puss oozing out ominously. Rumi caught Elana looking and wrapped it back.

“Rumi-“ she started but Rumi waved her hands in the air like it was nothing. “Rumi let me see.”

“It’s okay Elana. I’m fine, really.”

Alistair huffed out an exasperated sigh and ran his fingers through his thick black curls. “This is messed up guys. Really messed up. Shit, Rumi I hate you sure, but I don’t want you to die!”

“Guys, guys I’m not dying, seriously. Once Elana dreams and takes us back, I’ll get proper help and be fine. I swear it, okay? Now, Elana keep trying.”

Elana sighed and looked up again. It was getting darker. Wherever they were, the solar system didn’t work the same as her earth. The sun didn’t go down, rather it changed colours. From the fiery mass of it once was, to dreamy shade of purple- Alistair called it misty lavender. The stars hung too close. She felt she could reach up and stroke their glitters unto her face, or they could reach down and kiss sparkles all over her. She struggled to grasp the back of her mind. That’s where the dreaming started. Like and afterthought, a memory struggling to come out.

How could she have forgotten how to dream?

She didn’t need to close her eyes because this was a special kind of dreaming. One only her and mother could do. With this, she could travel to wherever she thought of. A different time, a different planet- even a different reality. Sometimes she could control where it sent her, but now she couldn’t. It was like her brain was no longer hers. When she dreamt with her friends it was a gamble. They had no idea where they would end up next. Alistair’s older sister Amy was still at home watching over their bodies. The bad part was that whatever happened in the dream to them physically, it also showed up in reality too. So, whatever was actually wrong with Rumi they needed to handle it before something really bad happened.

Elana felt a gentle nudge on her shoulder and looked into Davin’s dark brown ones. His eyebrows shot up questioningly.

Are you okay? He seemed to ask. She nodded and noticed he came back empty handed.

“What happened? I thought you said there would be a village nearby.”

He winced. “Well, there was and there wasn’t. Nobody was there. It had to be deserted for atleast some months. I checked around too and found some very unusual things. Everything else was left behind. Bags of food had left to rot. Animal corpses littering the area. It felt like a ghost town.”

“Seems like whatever people lived there were in a hurry to leave.” Quipped Alistair.

“But why? Why leave everything else behind? What were they running from?” Elana stopped talking as she felt the familiar tug at the back of her mind, signalling she was about to dream. “You guys I think it’s back. My dreaming! Quick hold my hands.”

Alistair whooped happily and did a little funny dance while Rumi smiled. “Well it’s about damn time!”

They all paused at the sound of chuckling and turned towards the clearing of the woods behind them and found a boy around their age holding a wicked looking knife. He looked over at all of them until his cloudy grey eyes landed on Elana. Then he smiled.

“Sadly, none of you are going anywhere anytime soon.”

Then the most horrible thing happened.

Alistair burst out laughing.

“I’m sorry, do I possibly amuse you?” asked the boy. He looked like a painting. Like someone put in a lot of thought and time to making sure he came out the way he did. His hair was an auburn brown that fell down his face in waves. His eyes were sharp and calculating, almost as if he was thinking about a thousand other things at once. His skin was the colour of burnt toffee. Everything about him, down to the jagged scar across his face seemed deliberate. He took a step closer and was directly in front of Alistair. “Well, do I?”

“Look man, we’re not trying to get into no trouble with your cosplaying ass.” Oh yes, the strange boy was dressed like he came straight out of Game of Thrones. “Me and my friends really gotta get home. Is that cool?”

The strange boy stuck his knife into Alistair’s guts in reply.

“No!” Rumi screamed and rushed towards him. “Who are you?” she glared angrily at the boy. The boy smiled and lifted his hands up. Behind him, large blots of shifting shadowns emerged from the woods. By the time they came to his side, they were shaped as wolves. Snarling, angry and huge.

“My name is Moses. I came for the girl.” He pointed at Elana. “You can either hand her over to me right now no questions asked. Or, you can see how savage my nightmares are because they haven’t eaten,” the shadow wolves growled stepping closer. “In a long time. So, what will it be mortals? Your time is running out.”

Davin stood fierce and strong by Elana’s side. He bent low and whispered into her ear. “Grab Alistair and Rumi and go. I’m right behind you.”

“What? No way Davin. We go, we go together.”

He smiled a determined smile and shoved her so hard she fell unto Rumi’s back. “Go!” he yelled and launched himself at Moses. Elana closed her eyes and latched unto Alistair and Rumi’s hands. She opened them as tears slipped freely from her eyes. Just before they transported, she saw a shadow wolf rip into Davin’s neck.

Goodnight Davin… don’t let the bedbugs bite.

When she opened her eyes, Amy was sobbing over Alistair and Rumi’s boyfriend Stan rushed out the room to get some equipment for her infected wound. “I’m coming back right now.” He said while sprinting off. She looked to her side and saw Roddy staring straight at her with angry questioning eyes.

“I’m only going to ask this once, and one time only. Where the hell is my brother?”

Quick question. How do you tell someone the only family they have is dead?