Like Air.

Kirk's Pov

It's been two weeks since our encounter with Kirsten and her friends. Since then, all of my days mixed together, and all of my nights were filled with delusional dreams that satiated me with a foreboding sense of what is yet to come.

A vision.

Scenes are bleak and gray, and cold, very cold... I'm falling, falling... My gut drops painfully. I'm scared. Why? I don't know. But a provoking fear dominates my mind.

Dead vines cut me and cling to my person. I'm running now. Where? Where? Someone needs my help, I can feel it. But who?

Last sensation in my dream; I smell blood.

Then I wake up. Sweat spoils my sheets.

Then it's off to the shower and time for school.

Over and over. Day after day after day... And every night, it's the same dream.

---

The Thursday of the second week, sounds enter these nightmares.

Screaming.

This squelching sound, like flesh being torn open.

Then more screaming.

I awoke suddenly in the middle of the night, the ominous sounds still ringing in my ear. I was too hot; sweating as if I had a fever.

I stripped the sheets and made way for the washing machine downstairs. While I waited it to finish, I poured a bowl of Cherios and made cereal. Though I was tired as hell, there was no way I would be heading back to sleep. Not unless I slept soundlessly, with blank and numb dreams.

But I highly doubted that.

I turned on every light on the level, as if I couldn't trust my back turned to the darkness. The boarding house was in a stifling void of silence and the floors were hard and cold.

After putting the bowl in the sink, I decided I would go ahead and take a shower because, well, sweat doesn't smell very good. In the bathroom, I closed the linen closet. As I got into the stall, I pulled the curtain almost all of the way across, except leaving a gap so I could view the bathroom while I showered. I've seen too many scary movies where people got attacked while taking a shower. Too many. Don't ask me why I'm so paranoid; I don't really know. All I know is to always trust my visions; they've played an important role in the past for future events.

I rested my head against the wall behind the shower head with a sigh. Rivers of warm water traveled through my hair, ran down my forehead, and dropped off of my nose. I was blinded by the water, and half asleep, when I heard a distant tapping noise, as if someone was knocking on the plastic tiles. It had a consistent and steady beat, then it paused for a second and continued with a seemingly cautiousness. As if it sensed that I had heard it.

Quickly, I rubbed the water out of my eyes and peered around the bathroom through the gap. No one. The sound had ceased.

I was creeped. I hurried out and grabbed a towel, ran out of the bathroom, down the hall, through the main room, and up the stairs towards my room. I slammed the door and locked it speedily, as if the ticking-sound-creator had been pursuing me close behind.

I scrubbed my face dry with the towel, and waited a heartbeat. Two heartbeats. I counted down from ten to calm myself down. Inhale. Exhale. Inhale. Exhale. I sighed and continued drying myself down while still doing the breathing exercises. I put on a new pair of shorts and a plain tee shirt, then climbed into bed, curling up tightly into the sheets.

I breathed softly into the pillow, thankful to be back in the security of my room. And since my bed was in the far corner, I could see every single thing that dared to move.

Even with all of this in prospect, I didn't trust myself to fall asleep until my eyelids got heavier... And heavier... And heavier... But as I fell into the folds of sleep, I grimaced at the thought of returning to that too well-known nightmare.

Though it never came.

Instead, a much more serene dream replaced the expected hellish confusion and carnage.

I saw Kirsten.

It was night; the moon was a bright sliver in the sky. There she was sitting in the middle of a meadow... beautiful as ever... Her black glossy hair cascaded down and fell about her face with every slight movement. Her dark blue eyes danced around flirtingly, and she looked up to me and smiled. My heart fluttered.

Yes, I know, I got it bad.

Kirsten straightened up from her sitting position and walked towards me, her hair swishing back and forth gently with each step. She wore a silky red summer dress that was non too modest -but hey, I'm not complaining- and she had no shoes on.

Kirsten got closer and closer... Until we were face-to-face. She put a hand on my arm and the hairs on it tingled. She got even closer, and leaned forward.

Then, on the tips of her toes, she kissed me. I hadn't expected it to get that far... I thought the alarm clock would buzz the second she got close enough, you know, like in the movies.

But, trust me, I was more interested in the fact that my tongue was in her mouth.

Three seconds passed.

Five.

Ten.

We broke apart, but didn't stop there. I moved my mouth to her raspberry-tinted cheeks and kissed it softly, feeling each individual freckle. She giggled.

I grasped her hair and she retaliated by gripping my arms tighter. Our mouths re-connected, and the kiss got deeper and intensified. I got butterflies.

I swear, somewhere in another world, I was gonna have to change my sheets again.

I moved on to her neck and nipped it all vampire-style. She gasped. We tumbled to the tall, wheat-like grass and continued wildly.

Then everything changed.

Kirsten screamed.

An invisible force ripped her away from me. The peaceful meadow flickered immediately to a cold and dreary scene. Lightning flashed, and rain poured down in sheets within the blink of an eye. I was drenched. Out of nowhere, the wind howled and I shivered in the new-come coldness.

Again that fear.

Kirsten screamed again.

The tempest quieted as if it were muted, but it still shook violently. Kirsten cried out in torture.

Again that feel that someone- she- needed my help.

Then everything went still. The storm disappeared and wind calmed. She was on her knees. Blood withdrew from multiple areas, her arms, her torso... There was a giant gash that cut across her jaw and down her neck, the neck that I had been kissing only moments before. It all mixed together and dripped mercilessly on the now blood-stained ground.

Kirsten looked upward at an unseen figure behind me, a pleading and almost ghostly expression on her face.

"KIRA," she cried out, "KIRA!"

She fell forward and moved no more.

Everything went black.

---

I awoke once more, my heart jumping dangerously.

That dream... that kiss... It was all another vision.

It wasn't a good sign.

I was covered in sweat yet again. It was all deja-vu.

Bright sunlight streamed through the blinds and lines of it covered my bed.

I was late for school.

I began to quickly get out of bed, then I thought better of it.

Screw this mundane shit. I would skip.

I needed answers.

Climbing out, I made my way down the stairs, remembering everything that went down last night. I shivered. The house was still pretty quiet, I guess everyone else was in class. Back in the bathroom, I splashed my face with cold water and brushed my teeth.

I went back to my room and changed my clothes. I put on a pair of black holey jeans and a black tee, getting my necklace with the cross, for good luck.

I was going on a walk.

I left the boarding house with a leftover muffin in my hand-Buckner probably made it- and I walked down the road towards the campus. Once there, I trekked down the hill it rested on and veered to the left were the belt of tall oak trees were. Something told me I'd find my answers here. I finished the breakfast and stepped in the shelter of the belt.

The belt of oaks was actually a forest that wrapped around the left section of the school, leaving the right section open with fields that stretched on for a while. The forest was half a mile deep and several miles wide. The trees blocked the warmth of the sun; I could literally see my own breath as soon as I entered. The woods smelled like decayed leaves and moss. It had rained a few days before, and you could still smell the moldy effects it left.

A hesitation filled me as I got deeper and deeper inside. To my left something scurried into the underbrush. But other than that, it was dead quiet.

Suddenly, a flock of birds scattered somewhere still far off. Something- or someone- had disturbed them. It felt like the whole forest held it's breath. I got deeper inside. Death and decay of the oaks were all I could smell.

I was scared. I was scared but I didn't know why. Something ahead- something dreadful was waiting for me. My sixth sense told me so. Should I pursue?

"Yes," it told me, Go deeper, and deeper still. But be careful.

A sound of movement interrupted my thoughts. It sounded like an animal padding on the red and yellow leaved that covered the soil. A white ball of fur came before my eyes.

A rabbit.

A rabbit, of all things. It paused when it saw me and stood on it's hind legs. It was a good-sized one, with apparently strong legs and a slim build. Its ears were short and tipped with black. A fringe of fur covered each cheek, also tipped with black. And so was the tail. It had big brown eyes that looked more than animalistic.

Let me choose my words right... It looked.. Wise?

Nah, that doesn't sound right. But it did have a queer air to it. Like it knew my life story or something. But I knew that wasn't true.

No one does.

But that look it gave me as it cleaned its whiskers- it gave me the chills. Then I caught myself thinking, "Why didn't it run off?" But no, it stood there calmly, as if it was in no hurry. Which is weird, because wild rabbits were usually jumpy at the sight of people. Was this not a wild one?

The white rabbit stopped grooming and paused again. It looked that it was about to say something- I know it sounds stupid, but it really did- but then it seemed like it decided against it. Then it raised its ears. It heard something.

I read somewhere once that rabbits hear about 4 times faster than humans do. This one seemed to hear a lot faster. It took me about almost half a minute to hear whatever was nerving him. Why didn't it dash off already? The rabbit glanced at me, ears still up, as if it was considering telling me what it was listening to.

When I heard it... God, when I heard it, I couldn't tell which was worse, when Kirsten screamed in my dream the past night, or this.

Giggling.

It set the hairs of the back of my head on ends, and it seemed that the rabbit felt the same way. Without warning, he sprinted for cover in the surrounding underbrush, almost soundlessly, and he completely disappeared.

Fine. Leave me now!

The giggling raised in volume. I can't begin to explain to you how it made me feel.

Like I should run for my life.

Like there was something... Almost demonic ahead.

It didn't sound natural. The giggling was obviously made from a group of females, but It sounded like the burble of water as it trickled through the pebbles in a stream. Eerie. Dangerous, in its own way. And it was getting closer.

The rabbit came in my view again, and with one final glance in my direction, he bolted off towards campus.

I was left alone.

I could hear the rustle of leaves as the group neared.

I was scared for my fucking life.

"Kirk," a voice rang out among them as the others continued with the strange sound they were making.

"Kirk! There's no escape. You will fall in the end."

I can't tell you what they meant, but I had a pretty good idea.

That's it. I'm out.

I turned around and ran for it.

Don't laugh. You would too.

I ran as quickly as my body would allow, the voices calling out to me gradually getting dimmer.

Soon the trees started thinning, but I didn't slow down. Why did it feel that strange things were following me? First that ticking-sound thing from last night, now this.

I was about a couple of yards away from the opening of the belt, when someone swiftly grabbed me on the shoulder.

I almost screamed.

I whirled around. Instead of looking face-to-face with some kind of Voldemort-looking thing, I saw Buckner instead.

"Dude! You look so freaking pale. Calm down."

I blew up. "DUDE!" I retaliated, "You scared the fucking shit out of me!"

"Chillax, man. You look like you've seen a ghost. What's going on?" I think my nervousness was starting to get to him; he looked a little tense too. But he sounded pretty relaxed.

"What're you doing out of school?" I asked suspiciously.

Buckner looked around a couple of times aloofly, like he was waiting for someone. "Skipping. You?"

"I decided I'd go for a walk."

Buckner laughed, though I saw nothing funny in what just happened to me. "Nice."

He clapped a hand on my shoulder. "Look," he said, carefully, "I don't know what's going on with you, but let's get back to the house and grab something to eat. You look so fucking skinny, you anorexic boy." But I knew him long enough know to know that was his way of saying that he was concerned about me.

Nice guy, that Buckner.

We started to go, until I stopped, even though I was still itching to get away from those freaks that were calling out to me.

"Hey, Buckner?" I asked.

He raised an eyebrow, as if he were asking, "Yeah?"

"A little while ago, I saw this white, freaky rabbit walking around. You see it?"

He looked up as if contemplating what to say.

"Uh... No. Why do you ask?"

"No reason." Or at least, I couldn't figure out the reason quite yet, but I had a feeling it was important to ask.

" 'Kay."

We finally got out of the belt, then made our way back to the boarding house.

Buckner and I sat down to a re-heated breakfast. I had some bacon and eggs and pancakes all smushed together, while Buckner had some pancakes and muffins and grapefruit. Dude's a serious vegan.

You gotta give him his props; I wouldn't last that long without eating meat. He told me he's been doing it for all of his life. That's the way his family raised him.

I finished breakfast and went back to my room to lay down. I'd try not to go to sleep; God knows what will happen if I do.

Lying in bed, I couldn't but daydream of Kirsten and the kiss that we shared. I know it was just a dream and all, but it was fucking amazing. You had to be there.

I remembered with a wince how she had looked before I woke up. Bloodied. Torn apart. Ghostly.

Then, as I watched the day grow, I couldn't help but wonder...

Was she okay?