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Maybe it was the way the darkness slipped its cover over me. Or maybe it was the way I could still feel the warmth lingering on my cheek even though the teardrops have already stopped. A sensation similar to my mother leaving a gentle kiss upon my childhood self who couldn't fall asleep without one.

Maybe there was more to why I felt sleep start to invade my mind as soon as my exhausted body rested on top of the final piece of furniture left in my bedroom. My full-sized mattress.

But whatever the list of possible reasons is, it is hard to resist the lure of sleep. Before I slip away completely, my mind wanders to memories over the past couple of days. Images flash through my mind, like at the start of the week when my mother sat me down to inform me that she had received a job transfer in exchange for a higher paying salary.

I was happy for her, how could I not be? After I saw her smile light up her tired face, the uneasiness that had settled in the pit of my stomach left as quickly as it came. She didn't smile too often after my father left us behind. I would catch her reminiscing from time to time about him. I could tell by the way her eyes glazed over as she stared out the window or at her laptop, clearly thinking about the time when we were stronger than ever as a trio.

Now he's only a ghost, a figure seen next to us in family pictures that were stored away long ago.

She doesn't like talking about him. I don't know the real reason why he left. I remember it was around a month before my fifteenth birthday. It's already been three years of picking up the pieces of my mother and I. Something similar to fixing a broken bowl, I've been trying to glue us back together into a recognizable shape. There's some still some rough and sharp edges I have to tread carefully around.

Better move on from thinking about those days if I have any hope of falling asleep now. I peek an eyelid open only to regret it instantly. My nearly barren bedroom is illuminated from the moon coming in through my window. Without my handy dandy blackout curtains, I just know I'll be waking up as soon as the sun starts her day.

All of this thinking just reminds me that I'm leaving this home for good.

It's not that I don't think it's a good thing for my mother and I to leave behind the home where my father used to reside with us, it's this unsettling feeling about the future.

It's gnawing at me from the inside, inching its way through my nervous system. It's like something is trying to warn me against going to a new town, a new school, and trying to start a new life.

I push aside these never ending thoughts by physically switching my laying position. My arm and shoulder muscles aching in protest. After all, I did have to do a lot of heavy lifting earlier. The soreness subsides, along with my consciousness. I'm too tired to care anymore.

Saige. . .

A slight breeze whiffs at my shoulder. Almost like something, or someone is trying to reach me. Perhaps my mind is so restless it's just making things up now.

Saige, you have to listen to me.

Okay, now that sounds realistic. And almost familiar to my ears, but it's not a voice I've heard in a long while. But that's not possible, it's just my mother and I at home.

"Saige, wake up!"

The breeze has now become a full blown storm. Immediately after the wind takes a pause, the cold begins to tickle my face harshly. The air burns my throat and lungs, causing a gasp to emit from me. It's almost too difficult for me to open my eyes, but I force my lids to blink open.

But where I find myself causes panic to erupt throughout my body. I'm no longer laying on my bed, but I'm standing on a blanket of snow in my pajamas. I try to move forward, but find that my ankles are buried underneath ice.

I'm trapped in this unknown hell. There's nothing but pine trees lining the distance in front of me. It's almost too dark and too far for me to make out anything else noticeable.

"Saige, I don't have much time. You have to listen to me very carefully," a man clearly speaks behind me.

How can this be happening?

My heart drops all the way to the pit of my stomach. I do know this voice, I think to myself. My head turns so quickly that my neck felt like it might snap in two. And low and behold, it's a tall figure who appears to be the ghost of my father.

He wears a pale expression, as stated by the bags underneath his lifeless dark eyes. I could've sworn we shared the same blue eyes. Perhaps my memory escapes me in this intense moment.

I feel the anger bubble inside me, racing it's way through my body. I imagine my cheeks are so red with warmth that whatever snow lands on them will dissipate instantly. After years, I find the man I used to call my father standing before me. Except he's almost unrecognizable to me.

"What— but how? Why am I here? Why— why are you here?" I can barely speak through my chattering teeth.

My father brushes away the snowflakes that I didn't notice had begun piling on the top of his black hair. The same black hair that I have, all thanks to genealogy.

He exhales a cloud of cold air, "Listen kid—"

"I'm not a kid," I cross my arms in defiance, and to maintain the little warmth that is left in my chest.

It took a while, but it occurred to me that it's early fall season. Or at least, it was when I was in my bed. There shouldn't be anywhere in the East with this much snow piled up. Much less snow falling this heavy from the clouds above. It is so realistic that I can almost feel my blood circulation slowing down due to the freezing temperature.

Just where the hell am I actually?

My father narrows his eyes down at me. I am incredibly small compared to him. "There's no time for this. I wasn't even sure I'd be able to connect your consciousness to mine."

"I don't understand," I give him the most quizzical look I've probably ever given. Connect consciousness? What is he taking about?

"I know— I mean—" He rubs a hand across his five o'clock shadow. "Look, I called you here because I heard your mother and you were moving to Wintercrest. I'm here to give you a warning. You won't remember it when you wake up, but you'll remember it when you need it most."

It's becoming difficult to process every word that is spilling from his treacherous mouth. I must be insane to dream up such a realistic scene. Although every time I come back to the conclusion that this should all be a dream, the snowflakes landing on my arms remind me I can feel their icy kisses.

That's not something that happens in a dream right?

"Why do you suddenly care? You left us, remember?" The words come as harsh as I intend them to be. I want him to feel my anger for how he broke our family. My heart aches from his betrayal.

Something flickers in his eyes, but it was gone in a flash. It was hard to tell what it was but it looked like...pain? No that couldn't be right. How could he be the one suffering when he was the one who walked out the door. I never get the chance to ask him about it.

"I didn't leave you and your mother behind, but there's something more important than the past now," and before I get the chance to argue with him anymore, the power of his glare stops my mouth from making any more noise. "You're coming to a very dangerous place. Wintercrest has lots of dark secrets and you'll need to make allies if you wish to make it out with your heart still beating."

Make allies? Keep my heart still beating?

The man standing before me looks like my father, but this is not the gentle soul who raised me. Instead it's this twisted, dark version of that kind man. Something is off about him, like he has no warmth or life left in his body. Souless.

"You'll be receiving a gift from someone helping my cause. Keep it on you at all times, it will help you stay hidden...for now," the figure of my father begins to take a step toward me and I could have swore I felt my heart stop, "Your mother is doing something very dangerous and you're going to have to help her."

"Wait, what do you mean—"

"I'm sorry there's not much time left. I can't hold onto the connection for very long. I promise all your questions will answered in the future when the timing is right."

Suddenly, my father stands before me. But this wasn't the man that raised me, the one that I knew. That man is gone and this is only his body. He raises his hand above my head, making my blood run cold with fear. What was he going to do?

To my surprise, he strokes my hair. His hand was as cold as the snow, there was no warmth to be found in his touch. "You can save her, you can do it. You have to. I'll come find you when it's time for you to learn the full truth."

I blink, feeling a tear escape my eye. The snowy forest turns to ashes and my father's figure disappears before me. His touch on my head evaporating with him. Everything is peacefully dark again but the cold still remains. I feel it creep it's way into my body, my heart, and my mind. Like an itch you can't seem to be rid of.

It was all a dream and I forgot it all when I opened my eyes that morning. Blissfully unaware of what all happened to me.

For now, the chilling voice reminds me.

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★ @within_days

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★ : @within_days