2 Weeks Before
"Run. Don't look back."
The voice was soft, but it sliced through the chaos like a blade to silk. Echoing. Distant. Ancient.
I was standing in the middle of a scorched forest, the sky split in two above me half night, half blood-red storm clouds. Trees bent backwards, screaming like living things being torn apart. Fire crackled around me, but the flames were black, not orange. They hissed with whispers, not heat.
Everything… everyone… was melting. Not literally, but blurry like smeared paint, like reality itself had been corrupted. I couldn't see faces. Just silhouettes running, crawling, some of them burning. But I couldn't move. My legs were lead. My chest tightened.
Then I saw her.
A woman, walking toward me like she owned time itself. She wasn't blurry. She was crystal clear white hair, long and flowing like moonlight, eyes darker than any night. Bottomless. Hungry. Beautiful in a terrifying, wrong kind of way. She didn't walk through the fire she commanded it. It danced around her like loyal pets.
She knelt in front of me, lips not moving but her voice vibrating in my skull.
"You must run. And never look back. Not until the mirror breaks."
My hands trembled. My vision doubled. I wanted to ask who she was, what this was, but all I could do was reach for the pendant she pressed into my palm. It was warm. Alive. The chain curled around my fingers like it had chosen me.
Then I heard them.
Screams. Shrieks. Howls of things that weren't human. I looked up.
The sky tore open.
From it fell creatures with wings made of bones and skin, eyes glowing, mouths split with jagged teeth and black mist curling from them. One of them looked straight at me and screeched.
My eardrums exploded.
And then
BOOM.
A burst of power, like a bomb detonating in slow motion. The world cracked. I felt myself falling, burning, dissolving into nothing.
I shot up from bed like I'd been struck by lightning.
Panting. Gasping for air. My lungs screamed. My sheets were soaked. My heart thudded against my ribs like it was trying to escape my chest.
The alarm clock buzzed annoyingly next to me, like nothing had just happened.
Right. Great. Just a normal start to a totally normal day. You know, casual apocalyptic dream with monster-birds and creepy women with ancient energy.
My name's Iris. Iris Hartley. Seventeen years old. Eighteen in a couple of days Sleep deprived. Probably losing my mind.
And I had school today.
Yay.
Dragging myself off the bed like a half-dead zombie, I pulled on my favorite hoodie and sweatpants. Comfort first, always. I shuffled to the bathroom, turned on the tap for my bath, and stared at my reflection.
Yeah… I looked like crap. Big surprise.
My eyes had dark circles under them like bruises. My skin was pale, my hair frizzy. But then my breath caught.
Behind me.
A figure.
Tall. Shadowy. Its eyes… glowing red in the mirror. I whipped around.
Nothing.
I turned back to the mirror. Still nothing. My hands gripped the sink.
What the hell? That felt real. Just like in the dream. Same red eyes. Same shadow.
Maybe I was still dreaming?
Maybe I was going crazy?
Pushing the thought to the back of my mind like the emotionally repressed teen I was, I slid into the bath, hoping warm water would ground me back to reality.
It didn't.
By the time I got out, tied my hair into a messy bun, and got dressed, the dread still clung to me like static.
Downstairs, my parents were at the dining table with my little siblings. Mia, age nine, and Noah, age six. Mia had cereal all over her cheeks. Noah had socks on his hands for no reason. Just a normal chaotic morning.
"Good morning, Iris!" they chorused in their different tones.
"Were you guys waiting for me?" I asked, sliding into my seat. "Sorry, I took a while."
They smiled at me. My parents' smiles looked a little… tight. Forced? Or maybe I was just imagining it. Everything felt off this morning.
And for some stupid reason, I felt like it might be the last time I saw their faces like this.
"How was school yesterday?" Dad asked, drinking his coffee like we weren't all pretending everything was fine.
"Good," I lied.
It wasn't. That place was prison. And don't even get me started on Ariana, the school's Queen Bee of Cruelty. If hatred was a hairstyle, hers would be permanently straightened and full of venom.
Thank God I had friends. Real ones. Otherwise, I'd probably have thrown myself into the school dumpster by now.
Lost in thought, I didn't notice the kitchen tap still running from earlier. The water had begun to swell in the sink… but not overflow. No. It was rising. Like a bubble. Expanding.
Then I heard Noah laugh.
"Whoa! Look at that!"
I turned.
The water was floating. Hanging in mid-air like a freaking magic trick. Mia clapped.
"We have a water park now!" she said.
And then
BOOM.
The sink exploded. Water shot across the kitchen like a wave, knocking over cups and soaking everything in sight.
Everyone froze.
My parents exchanged a look. A long, serious one.
"I'll help clean it" I started, but my mom waved me off quickly.
"No, no, Iris. Just go. You'll be late for school."
They were weirdly calm. Like this wasn't the first time water had exploded from the kitchen tap.
As I picked up my bag, I caught them looking at me. Not in a normal "I love you" way.
In a "We're not telling you something" way.
Was something on my face?
The bus pulled up outside, and both Mia and Noah got in.
As they drove off, I could've sworn I saw Mom mouth something to Dad.
"It's finally time."
Time for what?
The hell?
And what the hell did that nightmare mean?