She had stepped on a dead crow, and had she taken more steps backwards, more crunching sounds from stepping on more crows would have ensued. The ground was littered with the black, shimmery feathered creatures, and the stretch of dead aves only extended along the path she had walked.
“This is bad”, she heard the voice speak, but with certainty that she wasn’t the one.
Nora looked to her left, feeling her hair fall over her eyes and threatening to prevent her from seeing as she gently swept it aside. Just some feet from her, and on a large stone with strange engravings was a hunched figure with her head in her hand, and her hair running down her face and keeping it well hidden.
“Excuse me?” the scared to death, hyperventilating and absolutely confused college girl whispered.
Heading forward towards where her college room ought to be still terrified her as hell, and even more terrifying was the prospect of returning from whence she had come.
Threading carefully as her nerves seemed to soften and permit her movement, Nora reached her hand out as she headed towards the hunched girl. “Excuse me! Please, I need… “.
The figure slowly raised its head but without bringing its face into view. It cackled aloud, and a dreadful and disturbing rain of black crows began to fall around Nora.
“It is almost time! It is almost time!” the figure spoke, in feminine voice and in somewhat growling tone as well.
Nora froze, slowly retreated in steps as the figure raised its head and hid its face well enough behind the veil of long, ebony hair sweeping all the way down to her knees. She spun around, tossed her books into the air, and began to make a run north. She swung her arms as best as she could, hoping every morning jog, and time spent in the gym would come too pay off as she sought answers to what awkward night she was having.
Nora took a brief look back, hoping she wasn’t being followed and gladly so, the figure remained hunched on the large piece of rock without moving Yet, something else had begun to brew, almost like the list of strange effects was stretched out for the night and there would be no escaping it. The heavens began to growl aloud, and with it came the ominous sight of the darkened clouds moving to shadow the moon completely.
The one fully blue-rimmed moon slowly disappeared from sight, and darkness of the most blinding nature slowly engulfed everything around Nora. Her hands trembled and began to lose the zeal to swing by her side. Her leg felt weaker by the second and they soon stopped running too. Her lungs collapsed and the last breath of air in it escaped as she clutched her chest tightly, felt her knees cave in, and her chest burning like it was lit on fire.
She parted her lips and struggled to speak, but the right words continued to remain elusive. Strange noises in incoherent wordings soon hurried through the darkness, and with it came sudden loud thuds like something huge and dangerous was approaching. Nora wished to find out from where the incoming danger would come for her, but in absence of breath in her lungs to speak or light in her surroundings to speak, she felt alone…
The night grew colder, the air felt more treacherous, and her consciousness slowly disappeared as she felt her eyes close but without making much difference; all she saw before and after was absolute darkness. Yet, even while her body dropped to the floor in loud thud and her senses slowly began to fail her, she could still hear the loud thud coming closer.
“Please… “, she heard the intended word in her head ring aloud.
Hoping her thought would reach through on her behalf was all she could do…
“Nora! Nora! Nora!” the piercing sound tore through her unconsciousness.
Nora felt her eyelids slowly part, and the burst of white light permeating them immediately. Slowly, she cast her gaze ahead, in fright of seeing what horror was approaching her, but felt her slips slowly begin to tear into a smile as her best friend stared down on her.
“Are you okay? You kept on screaming from your sleep and you got us fucking worried”, the feminine voice grumbled. Nora looked around and whispered, “Us?”
She looked to her left, just beyond her bed and towards the chair where a boy with a wild grin across his face smirked and waved back at her.
He took a puff from the rolled up joint in between his fingers and spoke. “You scared the living shit out of her, not me”.
Nora sighed in relief and slowly sat up from her bed. Her backline drenched dearly, and her bed was no different from having a bucket of water poured on the loci where she had fallen asleep. Nonetheless, she couldn’t be gladder as she had awakened to the reliving sight of her friends.
“It was just a dream… it was just a darn scary dream”, she whispered to herself over and over and again.
Everything had felt too real, yet, she would take and rejoice in the fact that it was nothing but a nightmare.
CHAPTER ONE
Saturday night as usual, and nothing about it felt different from the others she had spent with her best friends. Asides the disturbing nightmare, everything felt the same and almost as though they were having a repetition of the previous ones in almost similar manner. For the duo in her room, engaged in their usual habits, everything felt fine, asides for Nora.
Still visibly shaken by her ordeal within the fifteen minutes she had fallen asleep earlier, she remained silent in her chair and held unto its arms tightly with her hands. The air rang aloud with rock music, blaring wordings that were as dark in nature as Naomi’s thick afro, if not even darker than the lady’s hair. It was Daren’s doing without a doubt,
