When Sydney removed her hands from her face, the tall dark figure was gone. She couldn't believe that it swallowed her. Well it didn't technically swallow the real her, cause she was still here, but it more was like a copy of her. Sydney had no idea what was going on. Why did it eat someone who looked like her? She didn't get it, no matter how hard she tried to think. This is madness.

 

All of a sudden the door slammed. Sydney immediately turned back and was a bit jumpy. No one could blame her for being jumpy. After everything that had happened to her recently, no wonder she was like that. 

Someone rang the doorbell again. She went to the door and opened it. She could feel the coldness, consuming her. Guess again, it wasn't the weather. No. 


Sydney looked at it. From toe to head. She stopped at the eyes of this monster. She knew she had to show that she was fearless. Besides, she couldn't help it. The eyes worked like a magnet, a cold magnet. The tall dark figure looked straight into her soul, freezing her from the inside. She knew she should have looked away, but she kept staring into nothingness, also known as the monster's eyes. That's how she felt. The more she kept looking at its red, blood like eyes, the more froze. Her skin became paler, her lips blue and her tears turned into ice. So much for her bravery...


She was so cold and she couldn't take it anymore, it was draining her energy and warmth. Her vision became foggy and unclear. She lost her balance and fell. 


The next thing she knew, she woke up on her couch. 


"W-What just happened?" She said out loud. 


She was still freezing, but less. Was it all a horrible nightmare? She still couldn't figure out why all of this is happening. She felt helpless. 


The sun was shining through the windows. Apparently it was day time now, the sunlight stabbed at her eyes, too bright after the endless dark she'd endured. She felt like the night was so damn long and she was extremely tired, but she knew she couldn't rest until she figures out what is going on. 

Her heart was still racing, her hands shaking. For a few seconds, she didn't move. She just listened. Silence. No scratching, no whispering. The world was still. 


She forced herself to sit up. 

She ran her fingers through her tangled hair and froze. There was dirt under her nails. Not dust, not crumbs. Soil, it was soil, dark and damp. Her stomach dropped.


The nightmare was real. 


Sydney stumbled to the bathroom and turned on the sink, scrubbing her hands until her skin went red. She avoided the mirror. She didn't want to see herself. Not yet.


When she finally did, she wished she hadn't. Her reflection looked wrong. Not wrong in any clear way, but the more she stared, the more her stomach twisted. Her eyes seemed duller, her skin slightly greyer, her lips paler. And just behind her shoulder, in the mirror, not the room, a faint red shimmer pulsed like a heartbeat. She spun around, nothing there. The shimmer faded. Sydney gripped the edge of the sink until her knuckles went white. 


"I'm losing my mind, that's all this is." She whispered. 


But deep down, something, in her chest whispered back:

"No. It's begun."