5

That voice. The way her body went still in shock, with her heart fighting to break clean out of her body, only one voice was able to do that to her. She listened intently with her eyes closed and allowed herself to sigh out in relief when she heard nothing at all. It was probably all in her head... Or a dream again. She subtly pinched herself. Pain. She felt pain. It wasn't a dream. Okay.... Okay then. Not a dream. She let her body unfurl and slowly took air in. She gripped the handle of her suitcase and, after giving her over active imagination a Stern talking-to, took a step.

"Humans. How amusing"

She gasped and a cold sweat broke out all over her naked skin. No

"Remember me, sweetheart?"

No

"How do you say it, has a cat got your tongue?"

She gripped her head and breathed hard "Stop" she whispered

"What are we stopping, dear?"

"No. Stop it, Eleanor. Stop it"

"A very pretty name"

She gripped her head harder. Her temples cried out in pain. Yes! Pain! Pain! It would take her mind off whatever this was. She pulled at her hair and winced but continued

"Are you having a mental breakdown?" She wouldn't have believed it was real.... She wouldn't... If not for the hot puffs of air that penetrated through her thick hair and hit the back of her neck in time with every word she heard. Her eyes flew open as she stared at the ground. She watched sweat fall off her nose and hit the ground

"What are you?" She held her breath

"'What?' Interesting? I'm a lot of things but I would never address myself as a thing. Try again"

She stopped breathing when she felt a rub in circular motion, on her back. She closed her eyes tight and pushed out "what do you want?"

"Much better. I want you" and the hand went lower

"W-why?" She stuttered, alarmingly aware of the movements on her back

"Why not?"

"Please" she whispered "Leave me alone"

"Is that a plea or are you making a demand?" she heard right in her ear and it took everything in her not to break out in a run. She slowly cocked her head to the side, trying to see something. Anything! This was too real to be anything else. Too cruel to be from her mind but alas, her eyes saw nothing

"To see me, you are going to have to turn around, darling" the hand stopped moving. Oh no. Heck no, that wasn't happening. Carl's warning and the dream she had swirled around in her head and she grit her teeth. Whatever this was.... Whomever he was...she swallowed... he was gonna have to catch her. She broke her fingers out of their curled state and reached behind her. The cold metal of her suitcase handle greeted her and she licked her dry lips

"Look at me"

She began to walk. She heard a laugh that was too loud for the silence. She increased her pace.

"Eleanor" the voice sang out her name.

"Leave me alone" she spoke through gritted teeth

"Fiesty. I like it. I like you"

She kept walking. That's it Eleanor. Keep walking. That's it. Just keep walking and ignore him. Yes. For a long time, she heard nothing but the rolling of her wheels and her footsteps. It was too quiet. She broke into a jog. Immediately, footsteps sounded behind her. She stopped. The footsteps stopped. She'd never been more happier to have thick long and frizzy hair as it blocked out her peripheral vision. She took two steps forward and heard nothing. She closed her eyes and after a few seconds, she heard the repetition of her steps. He was there

"Eleanor" She gasped. That was her voice. She almost fell when she saw numerous replicas of herself, standing right in front of her, the exact same way she was standing. She took a step at the same time the clones did. She rose her hand and it was all the same. She took a few more steps and it was like she was staring at numerous mirrors, except, she couldn't see her face. Confusion. He was trying to confuse her. She dug deep deep down for her will and courage and kept walking. They all kept walking and slowly, the clones began to fade.

"I don't enjoy being ignored"

Her steps faltered but she kept walking.

"Look.At.Me"

He was getting angry, even the air told her that. She kept on walking

Suddenly, the wind picked up and a shrill scream sounded in her ears. She gripped her head as tears escaped her eyes.

"Look at me!"

She felt a strange force grip her body and her legs felt like jelly. Her knees failed her and she fell. The pain in her ears, the bang in her head, It was too much. She lay flat on the ground, writhing in pain as black dots began to dance around. Loud cackling started. She tried to move but her body wasn't up for it. She felt like she was buried under a pile of stones. She lay there for however long, drifting in and out of consciousness, pain ever present, till suddenly, she felt the strange force leave her body. She was beat up. She crawled into a sitting position and that was when she noticed that everything was quiet. Normal. So normal, it taunted her. With how serene and untouched everywhere looked, she was startled. Call it insanity but she began to laugh. She couldn't help it. She laughed hard.

"Is that it?" She asked quietly. Shut up Eleanor. Something dripped on her jacket sleeve. She wiped it off.... Blood. It dripped again. She wiped it off. Blood. She rose a weak hand to her ear and it came back bloody. She erupted in a fit of laughter

"I'm not crazy" she whispered "I'm not crazy" she said a bit louder, then yelled

"I AM NOT CRAZY!", and pushed herself up. The earth spun and she stumbled but caught herself in time. She fought the urge to look back, then slowly reached behind her for her suitcase handle and chuckled

"Is that it? Huh? Where are you? Tired of me already?" Shut up Eleanor. No response. She shook her head and took a shaky step

"Eleanor"

She smiled tiredly "There you are", and kept walking

He chuckled "You are quite the character"

She laughed "Right back at you"

"Why can't we be friends?"

"Aw. How lovely. A faceless voice and a human"

"Disgusting human" he corrected

"My apologies" came her sarcastic response. For a while, nothing was heard but Eleanor wasn't fooled.

"Human?" There he is

"Faceless voice"

"Run".

Eleanor took off faster than she ever had, holding on tightly to her bag. The wind blew past her as she ran when suddenly, something gripped her right leg and she fell hard. She cried out as the grip tightened unforgivingly. She reared her other leg and hit hard, hoping to hit at whatever it was but her leg hit her ankle and sharp pain explore through her leg! She screamed as her leg throbbed. Tears escaped but the grip disappeared. She got up and saw something up ahead. She tried to ignore the pain but she could only hobble away. Just as she saw lights and heard the distant noise of people, her scalp screamed as her hair was held tight. She clawed and clawed at a hand. Suddenly, she was pushed to the floor and she scrambled up and kept partially running. She was so close. So so close! Her suitcase floated off the floor and pulled her back suddenly, hurting her arm in the process. Just as she thought of leaving it, it suddenly slammed into her injured leg and she screamed her throat dry as she heard her leg crack and she fell. A loud cackle was heard

"Brave brave Eleanor. I must say, you are putting up a lot of resistance. I am impressed, congratulations, but you must be tired now. Turn around. Let me tend to you"

She swallowed the pain, stood up as best as she could and spoke through gritted teeth "Screw you!" She heard a snarl and adrenaline kicked in. She ran/hobbled for her life. The sound of humanity grew louder. She increased her pace. She was so close! So clos- her face met the ground hard. She felt her forehead split open. That son of a b****! She grunted and got up. She began to shout, hoping someone would hear her but everyone Carried on without a worry

"STOP!"

She took a huge leap and- she scrambled up off the floor. Humans! She saw humans! She rushed to look behind her and saw a Mighty brick wall. She turned and saw the people staring at her like she was crazy. She WAS going crazy. With a lot of thoughts and images flashing through her mind, she couldn't comprehend- her hand rushed to her ears. The blood was still there right? Yes! It was. She placed her injured foot on the ground, applied weight and pain shot through her. Yes! She wasn't crazy! She wasn't crazy. A hand touched her shoulder and she screamed and turned around. She came face to face with a hard chest and her chest closed up. The last thing she saw was a flash of bright emerald green eyes before she blacked out.