**MATT'S P.O.V.**

Run… run.… run……

Faster, faster, hurry up, they’re right behind you, they’re gaining, run, faster, faster, faster…. Jump over that branch, the one against the tree yes, cut through, don’t trip. Shit, these branches feel like whips against my face, it’s too much. I can’t keep running, I might as well just let them catch me. Death is inevitable anyways….

Wait, a break in the trees, there, they won’t find you if you hide there. Keep your head low. Wait, what’s that noise? It’s ok, it’s nothing, stop being paranoid and just keep going. You’re almost there. Lungs, keep your shit together, we’re almost safe.

SLAP SLAP SLAP SLAP. IT’S TOO LATE! Don’t worry about treading light, they already know where you are.

DRAGGED YA DOWN BELOW…. There’s the light!

DOWN TO THE DEVIL’S SHOW…. I feel their breath on my neck, their claws reaching out to grab hold of me. NO! I WON’T LET YOU STEAL AWAY MY LIFE!

SLAM, CRASH! I made it…

TO BE HIS GUEST FOREVER.… wait, what the hell is this? A prison? What….?! This was supposed to be heaven! I’m supposed to survive! THIS CAN’T BE!

PEACE OF MIND IS LESS THAN NEVER… Heaven was my escape. If I’m fated die, I must dissipate to a form of well-being, an eternal swear of safety, where these demons claws can’t shred me to pieces and run away with them. Their claws reach me, wrapping and pulling and screaming and ripping apart everything I once was, everything I could’ve been. They burn holes in my soul.

HATE TO TWIST YOUR MIND, BUT GOD AIN’T ON YOUR SIDE…. This can’t be hell….. I don’t WANT to break and burn in hell…… I want to survive….. I don’t want fire…… I don’t want damnation…… I’m not in hell!!
I’m in hell.
~~~~~~~~~~
I awoke to an empty, rather chilled tent, basted in sweat from my nightmare. I lay there for a while, awash in the flood of emotions from my dreams. Fear, palpable, bile rising in my throat. I resisted the urge to puke, dressed quickly, then introduced myself to the welcoming warmth of the afternoon sun with a quizzical frown on my face. The camp was totally deserted, abandoned, lonely, isolated, and deafeningly silent.

Where the fuck did everyone go?

I called out, hoping that perhaps a head would shove itself out from one of the tents, but to no avail. Very strange… Just as I was about to search the trail, a squeal pierced my ears, and I spun around to find Jimmy, Leana, Johhny, and Lacey racing in from a side-path near the clearing, idiotic grins plastered to their faces.

“Where the hell have you guys been??” I just about screamed it. The loneliness of the camp combined with the nightmare still fresh on my mind had done all but unnerved me, and irritation at them for not having been here pricked my thoughts.

“We went hiking… Val said not to wake you up.” Relief; at least they were here now.

“Ugh…. Just, never take orders from a woman. Especially not Val. God knows how fucked we’d be if we did that all the time…” Leana gaped at me, trying to hide a humored smile.

“Oooooh, I’m telling on you.” Wut o-o?

“Val’s gonna beat your ass SO HARD.” Oh dear lord ;-; Women, right?

The rest of the group returned a half hour later, as energetic as squirrels on cocaine (which is actually quite an entertaining spectacle). We ate, they rested. I freaked on the inside, lost in overwhelming thoughts. Seems normal enough.

“Babe, you okay?” Everyone was looking at me.

“I um…. I’m fine. Just had a nightmare is all.”

“About…?” Dare I tell them? Was it wise to indulge them in the details of demonic chasings, of hellfire burning in my shoulders and legs and heart, of a fear so deep it tore my sanity to shreds? Dare I mention the extreme, the funeral I held for all memories of the insane in order to maintain a healthy demeanor? I dared.

I described the previous night’s encounter with Off. Stanley, then enlightened them of my dreams and my curiosity about what might be hidden just off the trail, what horrid discoveries were waiting to be made.

“It’s just… I dunno. I’m a bit paranoid I guess. But it’d be cool to know, right? What he meant….” I trailed off, uncomfortable under everyone’s thoughtful gazes.

“Maybe there’s a crazy cannibalistic hermit that lives in the trees and-“

“OH SHUT IT JIMMY!” Gena interrupted, “Say Matt, why don’t we go explore and see? Might put your fears to rest… That and it’s kinda boring as fuck here right now.”

“Naw. If there just so HAPPENS to be a crazed cannibal, I don’t wanna find him.”

“NO, WE MUST!” “Come on, there’s nothing else to do.” “We came here for adventure didn’t we?” “Dude, don’t be a little bitch.” “PLEEEAAASSSSSE???” They were staring again, expectant, hoping, the prospect of adventure perking them up as little children would at the mention of toys.

I couldn’t argue with it, although I can’t say I actually wanted to. If we didn’t find anything of interest, then at least I could rest easy. If we did….

“Fine. I’m game.”
~~~~~~~~~~
We were staring in either direction off to the side of the trail, approximately near where I talked to Stanley last night. Discussions arose about which way we should take, how far to go, etc. Basically, I stood still and listened, alert for any signs of which way was right, which way led to the answer I now craved.

Then, I noticed it. It wasn’t even abnormal, just a broken branch laying precariously against a tree. But there was something achingly familiar about it, something that sparked something in me, and I racked my brain while the others stood, obliviously planning. Then I realized; it was familiar because I had dreamed of it, of leaping over it to escape my wretched demise.

De ja vu never hurt so terribly.

Then, I simply ran. I ran, knowing the others would follow dubiously. I ran down that path, knowing that every branch that hit my face would scar in the same way it did in my nightmare. I ran, knowing that my answers were ahead.

And so was hell.

I don’t know how long I charged through those woods, breath waging war in my throat and lungs, legs made of lead weighing me down. With every hammering beat of my heart, the reality of my situation hit me with a new, relenting force; I was headed to hell again. The calls of friends faded behind me. Was I alone? Were they on me, aware of my desperation, keenly hungering for my soul as they did in my dreams? I saw the light, the clearing, my fate waiting patiently for me.

When I arrived, the shock of what my dreams didn’t reveal slammed into me. My group caught up, pissed off and concerned and curious, then they became even more shocked than I was.
Acres of land spread out before us, completely cleared, except for that damned building sitting hauntingly, expectant, governing the land from the center out. It looked like a prison, only it wasn't.

*Robert Jones Mental Illness Facility*

This couldn’t be…. But it was. I was back in hell.

Notes

Sorry, I feel like its UBËR boring right now. But the fun begins soon... I promise.
(Oh Matt bby, don't be scurred ;-; <3 )