-Confusion-
I couldn't eat. I couldn't sleep. I couldn't even bare the taste of my usual morning tea. This was bothering me. I couldn't even begin to fathom what had happened. Forest was gone, or at least gone from my world. He isn't dead, yet he isn't alive. He just doesn't exist. I slam my fist on the table where the photo album lie. Cold tears run down my face from the utter shock and confusion. Something is wrong, this just can't simply happen, it's impossible. Someone is playing a trick on me. Someone is trying to crack me open. I closed the wretched photo album and threw it into my briefcase. If there was one person who would know what had happened to Forest, it was Rose. She was closest to Forest, had to be, they were engaged for Christ's sake. I walked downstairs and out of my apartment. The Unconscious was dreary today, foggy, with a slight chance of a storm. Clouds shifted above me in a circular pattern. Peculiar. I tied my briefcase to my moped and hopped on. I took a deep breath. I'm going to find out what's going on.
-Brink-
This may be the only time I've ever felt unsettled during a ride through the Unconscious. It usually calmed me, it usually opened my mind, opened my heart to inspiration. The wind on my face, the sights passing me by on each side. It was a spectacle to be moving at such speeds. But now, now it just felt like my focus was streamlined. I didn't think, I didn't wonder, I just knew where I had to go. The fog was getting thick. I could see no further than ten feet in front of me. Suddenly, everything was unbearably quiet. It wasn't normal like the quiet you hear in an empty room or the silence of a city in the morning. It was an eerie silence. It felt almost humanoid, like a presence. I came up to a large bridge. I am not a stranger to this bridge, in fact I come here almost once a week to watch the sunset over the water. Freedom Bridge. The fog made it seem like it was suspended in some sort of void. My inspired thoughts were clouded by fear, this was almost too much. As I drove over the bridge, the pavement became cracked and rigid. I lost control, felt my hands slip over the handlebars. I skidded to an immediate stop, trying to gain my composure. I wheeled my moped over to the side and walked down the road. It was never like this before. A lone rock lied on the ground next to me. Curious, I kicked it down the street. Smack. Smack. Smack smack. Silence. Strange. I walked down a little further. Before I could proceed, I felt light. I felt uneasy. I looked down. The bridge was cut off, as if the other half had cracked down and fell into the abyss. I stood at the edge, dumbfounded. Something caught my eye. I looked at the pavement. Someone had scratched into the pavement. As I read it to myself, an unknown voice had read it for me.
"Prison."
I stood up. I shot around quickly. A black figure stood twenty feet away from me. I yelled out to him, asked him who he was. I blinked. He was standing two inches from my face. His body and face encased in shadow. And before I could even scream, he lunged his arms out. The bridge shrank as I fell. Further and further. The wind rushed through like a million spears. It didn't end. Faster. Faster. Further. Further. Faster. Further. Faster. Further. Ground.
Sweat. Panic. Shock. My bed. Again. No. That was too real. My hand. Pain. Searing pain. I looked at it. Blood. Words.
"Prison."
