Unending darkness. Jessie checks to make sure all her body parts are there. No light seems to reach where she is. She crawls along the ground trying to find her way out. Or a light. This must be where she ended up when the red hands pulled her down. Soft tremors erupt over her body. Even though she knows this is another nightmare, it feels real. After a few moments of shuffling along she realizes that she is the only thing here. In the cold darkness. She can’t sense anything else here. Wherever here is. Not even sound penetrates the darkness. It isn’t safe to be here. She needs to find a way out of here. Up is not an option. If that is even how she ended up here. Time has lapsed between her two nightmares.

Another tremor. Time is not what she should be thinking about. Jessie stands up and stretches her hands out. If she walks in a straight line there is a chance she could find something. Hopefully the woods she had come from. She had been in the woods last time. Her instincts tell her that there has to be trees somewhere. At this point she is going to hold onto any signs of logic. Afraid of the consequences of a world where logic doesn’t exist. She tries to go west. She is pretty sure that when finding the meadow she had gone east. Picking directions without light is hard. All she has to do was retrace her steps if the first direction doesn’t work out. Just like if she were awake.

Somehow the silence and emptiness is worse than being in the woods. Her hands haven’t run into anything yet. Like the darkness is some kind of void, never ending. Suddenly a light mist becomes visible. A squeak of joy escapes her lips - the right direction. Jessie has managed to go west after all. Or maybe she has really floated up. It is hard to tell. The dreams seem to form their own sort of twisted logic in the dark. Feeding off her fear. The thought stops her in her tracks. Unable to move. Deep breaths and relax. Ghosts can’t hurt you. That’s what she has always believed. She isn’t going to stop now.

Other objects start to come into focus as she glances around. Bright lights take the form of people. But something is wrong. Off. They are all distorted. Like looking through a fun house mirror. There is some kind of interference between their world and hers. Or maybe this is what they have always looked like. Taking the form of the dead to trick her into a false sense of security. The reason why she couldn’t find anyone with powers quite like hers. They just never had a reason to harm her before. But now something has changed. Reality. In the back of her mind she knows what had changed. The red fog with human emotions. It wants her. Needs her.

These ghosts, no creatures, let out a loud wail. Their form so twisted it now resembles more of a demon from a horror movie than human. Jessie’s legs give out. She hits the ground with a hard thump. The whole ground seems to tremble from their cry. This world mourning the coming storm. It is a cry of death. Blind panic sets in. No more. She jumps up and sprints the direction opposite from the screams. From the creatures. At this point she doesn’t care if she goes back into the darkness. Somewhere where these new powers of hers couldn’t reach her. Or her twisted nightmares.

The mist starts to get thicker. Beginning to blanket her in darkness. At this point Jessie is unsure if the creatures or the dark terrify her more. Both leave her feeling helpless. Confused. She spots a second dimmer light in the distance. She stumbles into the meadow. Back from wherever she had been. It’s empty. Once again she’s alone. She spots the woods from yesterday. Jessie forces herself back on her feet. Safety isn’t far away. Back through the darkness she’d find the sandy path, and her house. She had walked part of this yesterday. Maybe she could even find the boy again, have him help her escape.

She makes a dash for it. Halfway across the meadow she freezes. Unable to move. Fear consumes her as she glances down. Dozens of red hands, unnaturally long, have wrapped themselves around her legs. Coming from the darkness and beginning past the fog. The place the creatures dwell. Waiting to harm her. For their chance to rule. She shakes her head trying to get the voices out. Now isn’t the time to panic.

Jessie’s feet get ripped out from under her. She claws and digs into the dirt trying to get traction. To stop herself from getting pulled back. Not into the darkness. If she gets pulled back there, she’ll be trapped. Evil is winning the battle. More hands spring out of the darkness. Pulling her in inch by inch. Something silver shimmers to her left. She peers over trying to make it out. The shackles and chain the boy had yesterday. She latches on. The screams from the creatures begin to echo out into the meadow. They begin to drown out her own scream as she gets sucked back into the darkness.