The other side


He never knew how terrifying night could be, before he was dragged into this strange world. Decay was all around him, dead trees and dead leaves and rot-covered houses. His fort wasn't much better, really. The sticks didn't hold any sort of heat, and what felt like a comforting hideaway when he was with friends now felt… uncomfortably exposed.

Will shivered, not sure if his muscles were trembling from fear or the temperature at this point.

It was so cold.

He breathed over his fingertips, stilling when he heard the faint rustle-snap of footsteps approaching. He stayed perfectly still, skinny limbs still trembling despite his best efforts.

A shadow passed the spaces of his fort, and Will held his breath, heart pounding in his throat. The wheezing click-click of that creature shuffled forward.

He should have stayed at his house, but the monster had already torn it apart looking for him, he couldn't… A sob bubbled up in his throat and he fought to keep it back. There was nowhere to run, but he could smell it, almost taste the thick stench in the air.

Will could taste blood from biting his lip so hard, as he heard another quick shuffle of leaves coming toward them. Another one?

He was going to die!

The creature growled a chirruping sort of gasp, and Will could see the shadow of it rise up to stand on two legs as the second approached. He whimpered around the knot in his throat and hurried to cover his ears when it let out a rattling scream.

The horrible noise cut off into an abrupt yelp, and a bright flash washed the smell of rot into something like burning citrus, or the acrid snap of a broken light bulb. He flinched at the sickening crack and a fleshy squelch, his own lungs catching as he tried to breathe quietly.

Were they fighting over who would get to eat him? Maybe they'd just kill each other...

Leaves crunched into the distance as one of them fled, and Will found his heart sinking. The brief hope fluttered and died.

Wide eyes tracked the smaller shadow as it circled his fort, and he couldn't help closing them tightly and curling into a tighter ball when something black started pulling back the canvas door.

He waited a long moment, heart pounding tightly in his throat, fingers numb as his breath whistled between blue lips.

"Hey."

A….

A voice?

Will cracked his eyes open again, looking hesitantly toward the door.

A teenager was crouched in the entrance way, one hand braced on the frame of his hideout while the other dripped black sludge to the dirt floor below.

"You okay?"

He stared blankly, mind unable to wrap around what he was seeing, after being in this dark place for so long. The teenager pulled a grimace, looking over his shoulder and scooting a bit more inside. Will wished he recognized the other boy, but the black hair and piercing blue eyes were utterly unfamiliar.

"Sorry, standard question. You look cold, though. Wanna get out of here?"

Will nodded slowly, bewildered as the teen offered a hand to help him up off the little bunk he had once made out of sticks and old pieces of fence. He painfully uncurled, only hesitating a moment before reaching out and taking the teen's hand.

He wished he could say he felt safe, comforted, relieved for it all to be over. That he could lunge into the older boy's arms and trust him.

But the fear of death never really left, even as the other teen smiled gently and helped gather supplies and carefully guided him between shadows, through the forest.

Will didn't miss the way those blue eyes seemed to glow in the gloom of this world.

How his movements were just a little too quick, too smooth.

And the long-fingered hand holding his own…

Was cold.