“Wake up dad”
Your daughter calls out, as she keeps jumping up and down on the bed.
You open your eyes and the rays of the sunshine through the window, which colours the entire room in a golden like aura.
“[[Wake up]] dad, wake up. It’s time for me to get to school.” she says/
“I’m up, I’m up. Let’s get you ready for school”.
After getting her dressed, you take her to school. Still sleepy from working overnight the last day, you close your eyes for a second and suddenly you hear a loud crash. Opening your eyes, you see fire all around you.
“Sweet pea, are you okay?” you yell, but no one answers.
You look back to check up on her when you see her lifeless eyes, and the only thing you can remember is her laughter and how she brought you joy.
“No.... no, no ,no ,no.....” you begin yelling, trying to fathom what had just happened.
“It should’ve been me,” your mind whispers as you tremble and your eyes close. You force them open and try to pull her out of the fire.
“You’re gonna be okay sweet pea, daddy’s got you,” but she doesn’t respond. You lift her in your arms and her hand goes limp. You suddenly feel a pain in your head and you collapse.
You [[open]] your eyes again only to see darkness around you.
As you walk to the doors, your watch speeds up. But the doors don’t seem to move, no matter how much you walk.
Suddenly a shadowy figure appears “lookie who we have here”.
You keep walking past the figure
“Walk away, but you might lose your chance to save her”.
You turn around and notice the entity pointing towards one of the doors.
You decide to:
[[Run]]
[[Go Back]]You try to walk back to the place you started off, but it seems like you’re still at the same distance from the doors.
“Tch, tch, tch. You really thought you could go back this easy?”
“Remind me again why you’re here?” you reply
“You’ll find out soon enough, my friend,” says the entity before disappearing. You try to power through, but the entire world starts spinning and you tumble to the ground. Your body feels like it’s being crushed by the weight of a thousand suns. You decide to rest for a bit. You’re left with no choice but to rest for a bit before looking around.You open your eyes and find yourself in a mist covered room, seeming endless. Rays of light fall through what seems like a mist covered ceiling. You blink for a second and suddenly you find a glistening light coming from a distance. Looking down, you notice that the only things on you seem to be your clothes and a wristwatch that is seemingly moving backwards.
You get up and try to move when suddenly you get whisked away closer to the light. Coming to a sudden stop, you fall down to your knees, as your stomach begins feeling queasy. You manage to power through and stand up; you notice tiny doors where you first saw the bright lights.
You:
[[look around]]
[[Keep sitting]]
You decide to power through and get up to look around, but all you notice are the intricately designed doors, each with its own design. The doors seem to be emanating some sort of light that catches your eyes and something keeps pulling you towards them and you decide to [[Walk]] towards the doors.
“Does it really matter anymore” you think to yourself. But each day you try to wake up hoping that she’d come back. But no, the dream comes back to haunt you for some reason.
“To continue forward, you must go back to [[The beginning]] “a voice whispers in your ear. You look around to see how you made it this far, but there isn’t anyone around you. Before you lie two doors. Still tired from all the walking, you decide to crawl towards the doors.
The shadowy figure gathers again near the floor in a plume of smoke. With a big grin it whispers “what are you willing to give?”
“Everything”
‘Would you take lives?’
‘[[Yes]]’
‘[[No]]’
You keep running until your legs tire out. But the doors still seem far away. You keep pushing until you’re unable to move anymore. Tired from all the running, your legs give out. As you lie on the floor, unable to move, you feel as though something is watching you as you sit down for a bit again.
“You don’t need to do this on your own,” whispers another voice.
You ask for help and close your eyes as all the fatigue catches up. Suddenly you feel a warm fuzzy feeling that helps you rest.
When you open your eyes, the doors seemed to have moved closer. They aren’t as tiny as they seemed.
You:
[[Look around]]
“It is done. You may walk through the door in front of you”
But as you take the first step, another voice whispers in your ear, “Don’t do this. It is all an illusion. You must accept the truth. All that you will see beyond that door is a lie. The child you see will be something sinister.”
The shadowy entity speaks to the voice “I see you’re already here, shame he’s accepted my proposal”.
As you walk closer to the door, the other voice yells, “Don’t do this! It’s not too late to come back. But once you step through that door there is no turning back”
“I get to see my daughters, that is all I care about”.
You grab the handle and swing it open and you walk through the [[door]] .
The shadowy figure speaks to the voice, calling it ‘the good voice’ saying “he he, I win.”
Having said that, it disappears. A ball of light comes near the door and disappears.
The shadowy figure’s grin recedes as it whispers, “The way I see it, my friend, you must give something to receive something. It is the law that governs all”.
“How about you take my life?”
The figure grins again. “Now you’re talking”
“I ask you again, are you willing to give up your life to save them”?
“[[Yes]]”
“[[no]]
You enter a room and notice your daughter playing with their toys. Tears start flowing from your eyes as you sit down next to her and plant a gentle kiss on her forehead.
“Are you okay, daddy?” she asks as she comes running towards you.
“I wasn’t pumpkin, but now I am”
She jumps up to you and gives you a hug.
“You don’t know how much I’ve missed you, pumpkin. I’m so happy I walked through the door”.
“Let’s celebrate today,” you tell her
“What for?” she replies
“No reason”
She begins yelling “Ice cream, I scream”.
“Okay pumpkin, let’s [[go]] for an ice cream.”
Wiping your tears you life her up you lift her up in your arms. As she faces the wall, she gives a wide, creepy grin.
“Dad, come on let goo before the shop closes”You walk to the nearest ice cream stand.
“What would you like to have pumpkin” you ask.
“I want the red one.”
You look at the board and notice the words ‘ I scream’ and you blink and check it again and it reads “Ice cream”.
You look at the man stand in the shop and say “I’ll have two red ones”.
He smiles and replies," I’ll bring it out in a jiffy sir".
But that smile somehow looks familiar to you, it’s as if you seen it somewhere but you can’t recall where.
“Two red ones”. He hands you two ice creams that seem like blood for a second. But you brush the feeling off and walk over to your daughter.
As you both eat the popsicles, you look at the sun, which is red like blood, and you think to yourself, “something’s not right”.
“Are you okay, daddy?” asks your daughter.
“I’m fine, sweat pea.”
“Is the popsicle good?” you ask.
“Yum, it tastes like [[blood]]”
As soon as these five letters leave her mouth, a sudden chill rides down your spine.
“Blood?” you ask
“Yes” she grins.
“Oh, my god.”
You try to get up but the floor beneath your feet gives way and your daughter says “[[bye]] daddy” as she grins.You fall down and notice a pool of blood beneath, as you reach closer to the pool arms made of blood rise up and open themselves up and voices that say "you killed her" get louder. But something in your mind tells you to let go and [[ask]] ask for help.
“Well, well, well. You’re one of those,” says the shadowy being. Before it extends its arms to engulf you in its shadow.
Everything around you becomes black, and you start falling, and underneath you see a pool of blood.
You start panicking when suddenly the ‘good’ voice whispers, “You need only [[ask]]”
“I can’t do this alone!!!”
As soon as the words leave your mouth, a bright light shines before your eyes, and everything disappears.
“My child, whatever he promised you isn’t true. It is a trap. Don’t worry about your daughter, she is happy in a better place.”
“How do you know?”
“I just do”
“Now, my child,” the voice says, “I want you to accept it. I know it will be hard. I can’t promise to make it easier. But I can promise you that I will be by your side at every step of the way”.
“Why are you doing this?” you ask.
“I can’t let one of my children walk into the darkness.”
“Where were you when she left, when I needed you the most?”
“I was always here, my child. I’ve never left your side, even if everyone lets you go; I won’t.”
“Who are you” you ask.
“I am,” the voice replies.
Tears begin flowing uncontrollably as your legs feel weak and your [[close]] your eyes one more time.You open your eye again; you find yourself on the bed with the sun shining on your eyes. The birds are chirping and your house doesn’t seem that empty as you thought.
You look at your daughter’s picture on the bedside table and whisper “Okay” before leaving the bed.
“Today is a new day”, you being your day with a new sense of belonging, purpose.
The closer you run to the scream, the farther the voice gets. But you keep running until your legs give out. You begin crawling towards her, hoping to see her again, but her voice dies down and an eerie silence engulfs the entire room.
“Amber! daddy’s coming”
You use all your might to crawl forward hoping to see her again, but the ground beneath your feet disappears.
You begin clawing, hoping to [[find]] a ledge or something.
“Please, not now. I have to help her”, you hope.
You keep frantically clawing in a desperate attempt to find a ledge or something to grab on, but to no avail, and you fall down into a bottomless pit. As you move farther from the edge, you begin hearing voices in your ear. As you keep falling, the voices get louder and louder, until all you hear is:
“It’s all your fault”
“It’s all your fault”
“It’s all your fault”
“I know. It should’ve been me. I couldn’t save her”. Tears start running down your eyes, but suddenly you see a bright light and then a calming soft voice whispers “Don’t blame yourself, my child”.
[[Listen to your mind]]
[[Listen to the voice]] Your eyes begin tearing up as your mind keeps thinking, “You’re the reason she’s no longer here”. You clutch your head in an attempt to make the voice stop when suddenly you hear a shrill scream
“Dad heeelp”. You yell “I’m coming, pumpkin. Don’t you worry”.
Hearing her voice again brings a certain joy to you. You get up and begin to [[rush]] towards the voice, hoping to see her again, even if it’s for one last time. Hoping to tell her how much you loved her. “I know! I’ve been trying to forget, but I can’t. I need help.”
As you finish speaking, the voice gets softer and suddenly another brighter light shines before your eyes and you are dropped into an empty [[room]]. You close your eyes, thinking that the fall would kill you, but it doesn’t. You are somehow set gently down on the floor.
You don’t listen to the voice, but your mind keeps blaming you.
“I can’t, I just can’t. If it wasn’t for me, she would’ve still been alive. I couldn’t save her. It should’ve been me.” You say as you tumble down the endless rabbit hole.