Rowan
I was stuck in a loopless hole of darkness.
I couldn't touch anything, couldn't feel anything. My body was weightless, like I had been untethered from existence, floating in a vast abyss. I tried to move, tried to blink, tried to scream, but nothing happened.
Paralysis.
Was I dead?
No.
If I were dead, there wouldn't be this gnawing sensation of fear, this suffocating panic coiling around my ribs like iron bands.
I was stuck.
Trapped inside my own head.
And that was worse.
The darkness twisted around me, shifting and morphing until suddenly I wasn't floating anymore. I was standing in the middle of a dimly lit room, the air thick with the scent of sweat, leather, and something metallic, blood.
I knew this place.
I wished I didn't.
The realization hit like a fist to the gut, and my entire body locked up in dread.
I was home.
No, no, no. Not here. Anywhere but here.
But there was no stopping it. The nightmare had already begun.
