Wrong Turn

My eyes opened, and my body felt stiff. I took a deep breath; I was relaxed. Once I sat up, something felt off—something wasn't right. I skimmed around the small room. From the position on my bed, I couldn't see anything out of the ordinary. It was my room, the walls were still sage green with a hint of blue, and my anime posters and paintings still lined every corner of the room. So what was wrong?

I studied the whole room again—still nothing. I looked from the floor to the roof, then to the right and the left. The poster perpendicular to my door was different, almost as if the longer I gazed, the more different it looked.

This wasn't my room. I had to get out of here.

I flew out of bed and to the door. I twisted the handle. Nothing. I turned the handle the opposite way—still nothing. I slammed my fist into the door. Something. The door slowly creaked open as I shook my left hand in pain.

I quickly but quietly creeped out the door. I saw a long hallway with many doors, what the hell was going on? I looked to my left and saw the shadow of a tall figure heading the opposite way. I decided to follow it.

I turned the corner as quickly as I could. I suddenly felt a cold breeze fall down my spine, I brushed it off as I was only wearing my pale blue nightgown. The more I ran, the further the figure would get. It feels like the faster I go, the faster it goes. I had to stop.

I stopped not because I was losing steam, but because my muscles started to cramp up. It felt like my legs were freezing. I sat down, with my back against the wall. What was happening to me? I rubbed my hands up and down my caves as fast as I could. No matter what I did, my body wouldn't warm up, I was getting colder and colder by the second.

The freezing feeling slowly crept up to my chest. I feel my heartbeat slow down as my vision slowly started to fade. Before my vision fades ultimately I see a figure with bright green eyes staring down at me. I try to call out to it. Nothing. It smiles at me, only to show me its millions of sharp nail-like teeth. I try to scream. Nothing. I start to feel dizzy. Darkness.

~

I felt someone watching me. I jolted up to a sitting position, to see someone standing over me. I tried to scream, but he covered my mouth.

“Shhh, they are going to hear you, Emma.” He said in a hushed tone.

“How do you know my name?”

“I sat behind you in Chemistry in 11th grade.”

“Josh? No no, Jake? Wait are you, Richard–”

“Elijah. Elijah Bircham.” He said, with a shy smile.

“Oh Elijah, I'm so sorry. It's nice to meet you, again. I am Emma–”

“Rias. Emma Rias. I know.” He said, interrupting me again.

Elijah Bircham. I don't remember him having bright green eyes. I don't remember him having jet-black hair. I know I didn't remember his name, but I know for a fact he didn't have black hair and green eyes. He had brown eyes and brown hair. This wasn't Elijah.

What is going on?

“What is happening? Where am I?” I said, backing away from him.

“We’re on a train. To be exact, we are on a Shinkansen. Better known as a Japanese bullet train. The train is going well over the usual 320 kilometers per hour (199 mp/h).”

“Where are we going?”

“I don't know. The train isn't slowing down, matter of fact we’ve been in a tunnel for what feels like years.”

“Do you have a watch? What time is it?” I said, nervously.

“9:45 am. Why?”

“Nothing. Its nothing. Don't worry about it.” I said, avoiding eye contact.

He didn't say anything else.

The room we were in was small. It looked like a prison. Three sets of bunkbeds lines three out of the four walls. It reeked of what I could only describe as a grotesque amount of Axe body spray. I felt like I was in a middle school boy's locker room. There were six beds, but it was only the two of us in this room. Where was the rest of the ‘prisoners?’

Elijah has now moved to the bottom bunk on the left side of the room. I must have been not paying attention because I didn't see him get up and walk over there. I stayed on the ground. Though it was cold and slightly uncomfortable, it wasn't unbearable.

I glanced over at him. I looked for his watch because I needed to know the time. He flicked his wrist out to check the time.

“12 pm.” He said, staring at the wall.

I didn't respond. How was time moving so quickly? How did he know I wanted to see the time? Who was Elijah Bircham really? Something tells me he wasn't the shy nerdy kid who didn't talk much in Chemistry.

“Why do you want to know the time so bad? What are you waiting for?” He said, interrupting my thoughts.

“I said it's nothing, Elijah. I am just thinking.”

It wasn't anything though. It was a dream I was thinking about.

When I lost consciousness I quickly woke back up in a pitch-black room. I don't remember much, but the last thing I saw was a digital clock. The clock flashed 7:23 pm over and over and over again. Until suddenly I saw the monster with bright green eyes and nail-like teeth smiling at me.

“We meet again, my dear. You’re finally home.” He said, running his boney fingers along my face.

Before I could react I woke up to Elijah staring at me. What is going to happen at 7:23 pm?

“Come on, Emma, we gotta go. It's 3:30,” Elijah said, holding his hand out to me.

I took his hand and said, “thank you.”

His hands felt like the monster’s, they were boney and rough.

We both ran out the door and turned left.

“How do you know where to go?”

“I have been stuck here for years.”

“What do you mean, ‘stuck here?’”

“I woke up first. You, me, and ten others were chosen by the government to repopulate the earth once society collapses. We were frozen in capsules. The only issue is they didn't know when we would wake up.” He said as we ran through the halls.

“Where is everyone else?”

“Dead.”

“What? How?” I said, panicked.

“They turned right.” He said as we made a right turn.

“Why did we just turn right?”

We stopped dead in our tracks. He turned his head toward me, then his body, and smiled. I looked down at his watch.

7:32 pm.

I turned around and ran as fast as I could the way we came.

“Someone, anyone. Please help me!” I screamed at the top of my lungs.

“No one can hear you, my dear.”

Everything went dark.

I saw the clock flash 7:33 pm. I was too late.

I saw the monster and his bright green eyes.

“We meet again, my dear. You’re finally home.” He said, running his boney fingers along my face.