When Once There Had Been Light

West of nowhere and straight off the edge of the world lay a kingdom buried deep in a thick forest.

The palace truly is a work of art.

Old paintings adorned the hallways in a ghostly fashion and a large dome of painted glass cast a beautiful kaleidoscope of colors on the ballroom floor. Tapestries of family, war, and life lay crumpled in tattered shreds, coating each room like a carpet.

With each room I venture into something in my gut tells me to run, to hide, to take up arms. Every passing shiver up my spine brings me closer to madness, all the alarm bells creating a deafening roar that only I can hear.

“All the rooms have been destroyed?” Trevor murmurs quizzically. I shrug, unable to make sounds leave my body. All of the rooms have a thick layer of dust blanketing everything, we make footsteps in the dust as if it were snow. Much like a child would, I use my foot to draw in the dust down the entire length of the hallway.

I almost get lost in my childhood fantasy, but am interrupted by terrifying claw marks on the ground and shredding a lavish door in front of me. Against my better judgement I gently shove open the door to reveal a room much more destroyed than the rest.

Smashed mirrors and torn apart furniture lay haphazardly thrown around. Or so I thought. My feet had a mind of their own and I moved closer to the giant pile in the center of the room. What I saw made me feel sick.

A body. Well actually a skeleton, deep claw marks almost like ravines tore through his/her bones and the tattered elegant fabrics draping the shoulders, arms, and legs. I stood there staring and frozen, feeling extremely uneasy at the sight I stumbled upon. It wasn't until Trevor came exploding through the door frantically calling my name that I even realized I had let out a shrill scream.

“Viny! Viny! What’s wrong? Are you OK?” He hadn’t seen the body yet. I let him bring me closer, into a small hug. Once his eyes drifted over to the decades old crime scene I struggled to breathe, I had to focus all my energy into Trevor’s embrace. Fighting a panic attack wasn’t easy for me to do. I didn’t have them often, but they always ran me over with what felt like a semi- truck.

I remained completely out of it the rest of the night, Trevor made supper using a fireplace in one of the less tossed rooms. I couldn’t bring myself to eat anything, I still saw the royal room, how the jaw hung open as if he/she had been screaming when they died. The claw marks.

Despite being the one to check all the rooms down this wing, I felt as if someone was staring at the back of my head, no matter how I moved, which way I faced, I even felt the back of my head incase I grew eyes in the back of my head.

I asked Trevor if he would hold me as I slept, afraid that I’d be taken away by the creature who left behind those claw marks I found; however, sleeping was the last thing that I could do. I heard skittering and sliding down the hallway just as clearly as I could hear Trevor’s otherwise barely audible breathing.

I see a face next to me, my vision unfocused at first. I don’t recognize it at all, until it morphs into a half decayed king’s face. “Leave here at once!” It says, half attached tongue flopping all around. Is this what sleep paralysis nightmares are like, night terrors? I can’t move, I can’t run, I’m trapped. Long, slender, boney fingers wrap themselves around my neck and close into a fist. I can’t breathe, I try to flail out towards Trevor next to me. I can’t feel him.

Is this how I die?

When I wake up Trevor is shaking me violently, “Viny! GOD VINY WAKE UP!”

I bolt upright and tackle him to the floor, he doesn’t know what I went through but I tell him, “you saved me.”

I have no idea what had come over me, the things I saw in my dream or the things I swear I could hear in reality. I’ve never been one for nightmares and I rarely became afraid of something so childish such as the dark. But at this moment I wanted nothing more than day time . The unease I felt during the day quickly turned into terror at night.

What was this castle doing standing all alone in the middle of nowhere?What happened here?How many people died here? How many souls are trapped in these mountains? Why was I the only one who felt the dangers here?

It’s only been a day since we got lost and found this place but I already feel like I’ve spent an eternity in hell. I could feel things, emotions, and pain; and not all of it came from reality. It’s suffocating. How could I explain this to the others? Would I be called paranoid? Would Trevor understand? He saw how shaken I was after my night terror. Would he worry about me or would he tell me I’m just crazy?

“Viny, you’re okay now. You can stop shaking.” I could hear his voice, but it sounded so far away. I’m still so far away in my mind. I feel as though I’m becoming this amalgamation of insanity and fear wrapped into a trembling human form.