Adrenaline made his heart flutter as he recalled the waking nightmare. How he looked into his own azure stare and choked on shadows before falling from consciousness.
“Sleep?” he answered. “Is that something people do?” His voice was ragged and his body restless from the night before.
Her only response was a chuckle.
His breath was visible in the frigid air, the puffs leaving his lips and dispersing as quickly as they’d come. Cold seeped into his skin where it met the bed and his toes had gone numb.
A subtle ticking pulled him from the cold and danced around his thoughts as he spiraled. He ignored it at first, brushing it off as an auditory hallucination, but when the beat of his heart started to sync to the rhythm it became impossible to avoid.
A familiar instinct dug its claws into his psyche and urged his hand toward the tear in the mattress.
“You’re fucking kidding me,” he groaned.
Moving on autopilot, he removed the broken wristwatch and turned the face upward, swiping the pad of his thumb across it like he did every other day.
But today was different.
Brooks’ breath caught in his throat as he watched the thin arm meant to count seconds make its revolution one mechanictickat a time.
“Whaaaaat the fuck,” he whispered, voice shaky.
Alarm urged him to drop the timepiece, but curiosity made his grip tighten around the ticking face.
“Brooks?“ She sounded concerned. “Brooks, what’s happening?”
“I’m not sure,” he answered aloud. “I have a watch. I don’t know where it came from or why I have it, but it’s broken. Or, at least, it was. It’s ticking now. It’s working.”
“Why is that so alarming?”
“I don’t know what made it work, and the air is heavy and cold like there’s something here with me.”
His nose itched from the dry air as blood dribbled from it.
“What does that mean? Are you hurt?”
“I think he’s coming.”
“Who, Brooks? Who’s coming for you?”
“My passenger,” he gulped and searched the room frantically. “He’s going to take me.”
A pounding started in his head, the sound reverberating like a drum.
“Get up,“ a deep male voice urged. Ice crept along the floor and coated everything in beautifully unique patterns as it spread like a virus.
Him.
It was coming from him.
Air petrified in his lungs, every breath harder to manage than the last.
“Getup!”
He pressed clammy hands to his ears and curled into himself, desperate to stop the voice from weaving its way through his mind. A hand of smoke and ancient power gripped his fluttering heart and squeezed.
Please…Brooks begged silently.
The door to his room burst open as pounding footsteps barged. Firm hands grasped his shaking shoulders and his panic became primal. He lurched forward in a blind fury, slashing and clawing at whatever came too close. A raw scream echoed through the room.
