Under the floating moon, a forest at the foot of the mountain glows with the reflection of the moonlight from every drop of dew on the faces of the leaves. It was calm, peaceful, and soothing sight at first. But out of the sudden, trees began to fall as if they were being pushed aside roughly by something big and powerful as a deafening roar echoed through the air.
A small figure of a young man running away from the roar in fear as the very thing that just roared, an elephant sized being, was chasing after him with a great speed. Sweats were all over him from head to toe as if he was just done taking a shower. Breathing was fast and unsteady as he run. Panting, struggling to get air after a long distance of non-stopping run. His legs were sore, his calves muscles were screaming to stop. But he couldn't. He could not stop as he knew that the creature behind him would not stop chasing him until it got to him no matter what.
What does it wants with him anyway? He completely have no idea of what does it want with him... All he knows, is that he is in a deep life-threatening situation. And if he just being casual about it and do nothing about it, he would surely be dead if not dismembered alive.
But, no matter how long he runs, no matter how far he trying to get... The creature just seems to be closer and closer with every step he took. It as if, the creature was just toying with him. Like some predators, toying with their prey before devours them.
Then, after a very long run, the creatures was getting really close to him. It's breath can already be felt behind his neck. No matter what he do now, nothing can save him. Therefore, he was taking the initiative to turn around and look at the face of the monster that chasing him but surprisingly... Nothing was there. The creature was gone, leaving only the trails of fallen trees and exposed jungle to the moonlight.
Alarm clock was beeping loud in the early morning, waking Beck Allen up from his sleep. His hand rose from his side to his clock and shut it off. 'Ah, that dream...' He groans as he slowly rose from his bed and heads to the bathroom to clean himself up.
Cars and motorcycles were fast on the road as the traffic light was green. Pedestrians were waiting on one side of the street for the light to turns red for the vehicles, and green for the pedestrian. Among them is a tall young man standing with his eyes to his phone. He's Henry Bank, a close friend of Beck, scrolling through social media on his phone as he waiting. Not for the light, but for Beck to be there.
"Yo, Henry." Beck suddenly appeared right behind Henry and startled him.
"Please... Stop that already... We're just on the side of the road." Henry sighed.
Beck put his palms together, "Sorry." He apologize with a cheerful smile.
Again, Henry released a sigh. But he notices something from his friend. "Beck... Though morning, you seems tired. Another nightmare?"
Right at the moment he asked, the pedestrian light turned green and they can cross the road now.
As they walk, "Yeah... But this time, it's kinda different..." They reached the other side of the street. "Usually, the nightmare I saw, which is incredibly lucid, ended up with me returning home or at least I saw my room. But this time, I didn't even get a glimpse of my room... And it's kinda less lucid than before." He explained briefly.
His explanation left Henry in wonder. "What do you mean by that? Less lucid? You mean... Less real?"
"Yeah... I mean... Usually, the monsters didn't just disappear just like that unless I reached my room, and I feel suuuper tired when I woke up. But last night, the monster from last night just gone when I turned around to look at it..." He tries to explain so that Henry could get the feeling of it. "Then, I woke up because of my alarm."
"Woah... That sure sounds different from other stories you told me."
They arrived at the school right after Beck finished his story. Both of them went into the school and got to their class. For the rest of the school time, it gone normal as usual. With classes and breaks.
And as usual too, Beck spend most of his time sleeping on his seat as the teachers were teaching in the front of the class. Sometimes, teachers visit his seat and wake him up with a smack to his head while he was sleeping soundly.
. . .
The last bell rang for the day. The school time had ended for the day.
Henry headed home alone first as Beck had to stay at the school for his punishment for constantly sleeping in class. Punishment was to help the janitors clean after the school. Beck got no other choice other than to concur to not be expelled from the school.
A heavy sigh was released. 'What a luck...' Beck was mopping the floor near a T-junction, close to the library. 'I really should fix my habit of dozing off in class... Too lazy to do this anymore.' Another sigh was released.
Out of the sudden, a faint rattles of a metal trash bin can be heard from the right of the T-junction. Caught Beck off guard, and startled him.
'W-what was that...' Beck began to slowly getting scared. His heart was beating fast already. 'Don't tell me... It's the ghost that everyone been talking about... The rumours of the missing janitors...!' He got more terrified by his own thought. 'Wait, that's impossible. There's no way ghosts comes out when the sun is still up...' He tried to calm himself down. 'Right...?'
His eyes stares at the hallway for a moment before deciding to do anything. After a short consideration, he decided to see what was the thing that caused the sound. In his head, he knows that this is the exact mistake they always did in the horror movies that led them to their end but curiosity got over him. Even though curiosity kills a cat...
Slowly, he was approaching the T-junction. But he slightly closing in to the left wall to distance himself from the right hallway where the sound came from. As he was getting closer, his heart is beating louder.
A rat suddenly jumped out from the hallway before he even got to reach the T-junction. With a bug in it's grip as it was eating it.
Beck quickly released a sigh of relief. 'Fortunately, just a mouse...' At the exact moment, at the corner of his eyes, he noticed something different as realization struck him. 'Red eyes..?' He quickly look at the rat again. Bright red eyes, sharp tails. Eating bug as it was watching him from afar. Clearly not a characteristic of a normal rat.
"W-what the hell is that...?" Terrified smirk carved on his face. Without thinking much, he slowly taking steps back while still facing the rat.
But another stranger and scarier thing appeared. A huge, scaly black hand came out from the right hallway, landed just besides the rat.
'SHIIIIIT!!!' He quickly turns around and run away. 'Who cares about what is that thing. I'm just gonna run away and save my only live here!'
He took a left turn at another T-junction near the cafe. While at it, his eyes wander to the back, at the T-junction and surprisingly, the shadow of the thing could already be seen closing in.
'How the fu...!' His beating heart was almost jumped out from his chest out of surprise. 'Shit... At this rate, there's no point in running if it just gonna catch up no matter what...!'
At the nick of time, an idea crossed his head. The lockers. Although pretty small, but he was sure that he could squeeze his small frame into one and close it just before the thing manage to catch up.
Another faint sound of rattling could be heard. It sure sent chills up Beck's spine. As the shadow becoming much clearer through the tiny gaps on the locker door, he starts to hold his breath. At that moment also, a thought struck him 'If it is a monster, can't it just picks up my scent? Human scent?! Now I really am dead no matter what...' He shut his eyes tight due to the scary thought. Sound of footsteps was getting closer as his heart was beating faster.
Out of sudden, all the scary sounds were gone. The rattling sounds, and the footsteps. All disappeared into nothing.
Beck was confused as to nothing was still happening to him at the moment. His eyes were still shut tight. But after a short moment of silent, he dared himself to open his eyes slowly to see what happens in front of him. Eyes were slowly opening, greens were caught in his sight. Surprised by the greens, he quickly open his eyes wide to see more. And to his absolute surprised, he was in some kind of a jungle.
Tall trees surrounding him. Thick tree canopies blocking the evening sunlight from the sky, making the jungle looks eerie dark. But the surprise did not just stops there.
Shade of blue beneath the green layer and all around the edgew of the leaves, visible crimson veins all around the trees, little bugs that emits blue lights were flying around in groups, freely. He also noticed a bird on a tree branch that is about the size of a swallow, that makes sound of a wolf howling in the air. Everything in the jungle that surround him, all were not looking like a normal environment in a jungle supposed to be. Even the dirts under his feet are blueish.
"Wha... Where the hell... Is this...?" He was completely dumbfounded by his surroundings. In his life, not even once have he seen a place like it. A completely strange place is one thing, but, "How the hell did I got here..." His voice whispered to himself. Out of instinct, he slapped himself hard. And it hurts. "It's real... Almost the same as my dreams... Am I dreaming here?" Quick scan to his surroundings. "Ah... I don't think so..."
After a long moment of being culture shock to his surroundings, he had concluded that he is really on a totally different place than earth. Maybe another planet, or even another dimensions. And rather than doing nothing, it's better for him to start moving and explore the area. That might give him a clue as to how did he ended up there from a locker in a his school.