Fern
I wake up gasping. The dream still rings too loudly in my head. It surrounds me like smoke. It is so thick that it makes me choke and my heart race. My chest burns with the memory of it. I can still see it when I squeeze my eyes shut. The thousands of shadows closing in, hands reaching for my neck, and the sound of my name whispered too close to my ear.
It felt real. Too real. Like a warning of something that will come to pass, or maybe something that already has. It is difficult to say.
My skin prickles, every nerve screaming that something is wrong. I throw the covers aside and swing my legs over the edge of the bed before I can talk myself out of it.
I don't stop to think. I don't stop to dress properly.
My bare feet touch cool stone as I slip out of my room and in
