She was running. So fast, so hard, so furiously that her lungs felt as though they were filled with molten lava, that every ounce of her being cried out for rest. But rest was not an option. The Nothingness was coming.
Or rather, the Nothingness surrounded her. All she could see for an endless stretch in all directions was a black nothingness. It was blank. When she happened to cast a glance over her shoulder, all she saw was a white mass. It moved in an enormous cloud, swallowing up all the shadow behind her. She wasn’t sure why, but some part of her told her that if she were to stop running, it would consume her entirely. So she kept running, pushing her legs to their absolute limit, and for absolutely no reason at all. All she knew was she couldn’t let it catch her.
She could hear a slight buzzing sound coming from the mass behind her, and slowly, the Nothingness began to speed up. With a start, she realized that it was gaining on her. Her breath was coming out in ragged gasps and she was beginning to lose feeling in her legs, but she willed her lagging body to run faster. There has to be a way out somewhere. There has to, she thought to herself. She ran for what seemed like an eternity until she saw something in the distance that ignited the hope inside her she had forgotten was there. It was a door.
Tall and strong, the door stood solidly in her path. Behind her however, she could hear the cloud of light speeding up even more. If I can just sprint fast enough, she thought, I can get through it before it’s eaten by the shadow. She prayed that her numbed legs could carry her just a little farther. She was almost there.
As she got closer and closer to the door, she realized that the air seemed to be getting thicker, and it was becoming harder and harder for her to breathe. Frustrated, she pushed on, but her legs became heavier and heavier, and her lungs felt as though they had been inserted into an air compressor. Almost there! she thought furiously, Almost there.
Suddenly, she was at the door. Her legs almost gave out as she stood for a split second, lavishing in a moment of pure rest. She lifted her hand to the doorknob in a hurry, hearing the white behind her getting louder, not even noticing the strawberry printed pictures dotting its brass surface. It’s almost here, she thought as she turned the metal knob. The door opened easily and she swung it open, ready to dash inside and slam it shut behind her. She was going to finally be safe. Or so she thought.
The mahogany surface opened to reveal a wall of white advancing from inside the door. Frightened out of her wits, she slammed the door shut and collapsed against its cold, hard surface. The white was coming at her from both sides. She frantically pushed at the door as she felt its surface begin to shake, and it became harder to keep shut. The door frame and hinges made a rattling noise, and the girl shut her eyes tightly. Suddenly, a sound like a hive of bees overpowered her ears, and she covered them with shaking hands. Her entire being felt as if it were being tossed back and forth in a hurricane, her head spinning like a top. White light blinded her through her closed eyelids. Shaking, she felt herself falling from consciousness; down, down, down into a vortex that would never end.
“It’s time to get up!”
A voice called her from the chaos she had fallen into, and she opened her eyes slowly, cautiously. Pale pink walls with slightly peeling wallpaper greeted her eyes from where she was laying in bed. At a set of blue-curtained windows, a woman stood, throwing the fabric back. Sunlight flooded into the room filling it with a morning glow, reflecting off her wooden bedroom door and blinding her. She squinted sleepily as the woman walked to her bedside and smoothed down her hair, bestowing a kiss on her forehead. “Good morning, sweetie. Breakfast in ten, okay?”
She nodded and sat up as her mother exited the room. Quickly she dressed, confused about something that frightened her, whose origin she couldn’t quite place. It must have been dream, she thought to herself. Nothing to be afraid of. She raced to her bedroom door, schoolbag in hand. Slowly, she reached out to touch her doorknob, which was decorated with Strawberry Shortcake stickers she had collected since she was a little girl. A surge of an unidentifiable emotion welled up within her. She shrugged it off nonchalantly. After all, what sorts of horrors could possibly lie beyond her bedroom door?