Dreamweaver

Chapter 3

I walked home. I had missed the bus talking to a girl (but who could blame me?) and now I was stuck with a five mile trek. Sighing remorsefully, I shouldered my bag and started walking.

About half an hour and three miles later, my back was starting to strain under the weight of my books, and the 100+ degree weather had poured enough sweat down my back I was considering taking off my shirt to wring it out. Instead I turned down a deserted alleyway and sat heavily on the hard cement, enjoying the small escape the shade offered from the heat.

Suddenly I noticed a dog standing at the end of the alley. It was a golden retriever, well groomed and adorned with a bright red collar. Seeming satisfied that it had caught my attention, it barked jovially and retreated. I liked dogs (notice that that's past tense), so I left my pack by the brick wall and resignedly strode toward were the dog had been, thinking I’d get a look at its collar and call the owner.

I had expected the dog to be hidden in the shadows that enveloped the apparent dead end of the alley. However, when upon reaching these pools of darkness and bent to look for the animal, smiling back at me was, not the familiar face of man's best friend, but a jagged hole, about three feet across, just big enough to let a dog, or a trim person, squeeze through. “Here boy” I called through the opening, reluctant to continue the chase, I had to get home soon, and the passageway looked long, not to mention filthy. “Come here, come on, it’s okay” Getting only a faint mocking bark in response, I whistled loudly, then, after a final pause, bent to my hands and knees to squeeze through the small hole. I went more out of curiosity than concern for the dog, the tunnel was unusual, hell, any significantly sized hole running rather randomly through the back of a building is strange enough to merit investigation. Inside, the opening was slightly wider, though I still couldn't dream of standing up. I crawled slowly towards the continued barks, though as they grew increasingly more insistent, I almost unconsciously picked up my pace, and by the time I had traveled far enough to see the 'light at the end of the tunnel', so to speak, the friendly barks were replaced by yelps and snarls.

Still I crawled forward, but I could feel when I reached a hand above me that the tunnel ceiling was sloping downwards, compressing the cave. Soon I had to revert to an army-crawl, and would have turned back if the exit to the tunnel didn't look so close, the entrance so far away. I slithered along persistantly, until an unpleasant squelching sound reached my ears, and a sickening wetness encased my elbow. Feeling around in the blackness, I realized the cave walls and floor ahead were covered in a thick, sticky goo. The stuff was so disgusting I took little time in reversing my movements to draw myself out of the cave. That was, until I heard the scream.

It sounded like an old woman, and with the accompaniment of the dog's growls I could only assume it had attacked someone. I pushed myself quickly through the detering slime to the end of the tunnel, into a dimly lit and cramped passageway, empty but for a flash of golden tail skirting around a corner at the end. The scream came again louder, I stumbled to my feet and sprinted after it, calling out broken reassurances as I ran.

A moment later I ricochet around the corner, running towards the continued screams and yelps that blended in a hellish choir. Then, after reaching a crescendo, the sounds stopped. An eerie silence filled the street, complete but for the steady percussion of my feet against the pavement. I rounded another corner, and suddenly another alley appeared, complete with dead end, but this time, with no hidden escapes.

I slowed and looked around the glaring light for a sign of the woman or the dog. Nothing. Suddenly a female voice pierced through the newfound silence, not the old woman, but someone young and calm, but before I could turn around and see who was calling, the world tore itself apart.

At least that’s what it looked like. Reality frayed and twisted, creating a kaleidoscope from the glaring light that had been beaming into my eyes just a moment ago and a new, sinister blackness that swirled into the sky. The buildings around me cracked loudly and crumbled in the chaos, and as things grew increasingly weirder, the scene faded quickly as something large and heavy, probably fallen from one of the caving buildings, collided with an audible thud with the side of my head. As I tumbled into unconsciousness, I saw a final, gastly image of the last light from the sky being swallowed by the looming blackness, seeming to my disoriented mind an image of hope and life disappearing into a sinister force.