Trevor found himself alone in a field that was completely unfamiliar to him. The grass was unusually tall, reaching up to his mid-thigh as he made his way through. The field had no color at all to it. No flowers or buds of any kind could be seen through the entirety of the plain. The grass itself was a dark gray, devoid of any joyfulness or essence. There was no wildlife of any kind around, either. For a field of this size that was this close to a dense forest, there should be something living nearby, Trevor thought. Yet, there was nothing. No bird's songs coming from the trees. No crickets chirping or flys buzzing around. There was only silence. An overwhelming, unnerving silence. Not even the sound of the wind accompanied Trevor as he made his way through the field. He looked up to the pitch black sky and found nothing in it either. No moon or stars could be seen anywhere in the dark fabric that stretched across night ceiling. A fear slowly began filling Trevor. He knew this was a place he shouldn't be in. The frigid air, the unnatural silence, and the all-consuming dark canopy that covered the entire area. Trevor moved slowly through the field, constantly scanning from left to right. His heart began racing as he started thinking about what could be waiting for him out there. Suddenly, out of the corner of his eye, he saw a dark figure move quickly in the woods. He stopped in his tracks and stared into the woods, but found nothing but the trees staring back at him. A familiar cold chill ran his up spine.
He knew they were here. He knew they were out there, somewhere, watching him. He was certainly not alone.
He turned to run back through the grass but was stopped immediately by a figure standing in front of him.
"He-hello?" Trevor said.
The short figure had its back toward Trevor and remained silent. Long, white hair flowed down from its head. It wore a gray robe that extended all the way to the ground.
"Please, I need help. I have to get out of here. Hello?" Trevor asked again.
"Your kind never leaves here." The white-haired figure said. "This world does not belong to you, it belongs to us." It's voice crackled.
"Who-who are you?" Trevor asked.
"Just another nightmare." It said back. The figure turned around and faced Trevor. Its face was deformed horribly and looked as if it had been rotting in the ground for centuries. Its eyes were massive, like two oval plates that took up most of the space on its head. Its pupils were bright white, illuminating like the moon from its face.
"Run." It said to Trevor. "Run. Run. Run." It stepped closer and closer to Trevor. Trevor slowly began backing away, but the figure continued to advance towards him.
"Run. Run. Run. Run. Run." The figure jumped forward and latched onto to Trevor. His face was now inches away from the creatures, and the foul smell of rotting flesh filled Trevor's nostrils. The creature stared directly into Trevor's eyes, but Trevor felt as if the creature was staring directly into his soul. Trevor tried to fight it off and began struggling to get free.
"Run. Run. Run. Run." It shrieked in a high-pitched shrill, still staring right at him. Almost deafened by the sound, Trevor fell to the ground with the creature on top of him.
"Run. Run. Run." It continued yelling into his face. Trevor couldn't break free. Try as he could, the creature would not let him go.
"Someone help me!" Trevor screamed at the top of his lungs.
Suddenly, a massive roar erupted from the forest. It was unimaginably deep and louder than any animal he had ever heard before. The white-haired creature looked up and began shaking in fear. Swiftly, it leaped from atop of Trevor and sprinted away in the opposite direction. Trevor sat up and looked into the woods where the sound came from. He searched around, but could only see trees. Whatever had made that sound had to be impossibly large, Trevor thought. It was as if only a mountain could have made such a roar. Trevor got up and began quickly running away through the field. There was no sign of the white-haired creature anywhere, but Trevor remained alert. "Whatever that noise was, it scared the hell out of that thing." Trevor thought to himself. "I don't want to think about what could possibly be that terrifying." In the distance, Trevor could see a fire burning up to the sky. As he approached the site he began to slow down. He could barely make out two tall figures standing by the flames. He ducked quickly and hid in the tall grass. With a slow crawl, he inched closer and closer to the site. The two dark figures circled around the fire, whispering something to one another in a different language. The words were strange, yet oddly familiar. Trevor felt as if he had heard this language somewhere before. One of the black figures knelt down in front of the fire and outstretched their hands toward the sky. The other figure bent down and lifted up someone in their arms. Trevor inched in to get a closer look, trying to stay as quiet as he could. Trevor recognized the boy the one was holding. His name was Josh. He was the last one that was taken this year. The standing black figure raised Josh's body up toward the sky. It uttered a few cryptic phrases then placed Josh in the hands of kneeling one. In one motion, the kneeling black figure rose up and again raised Josh's body toward the sky. It shouted out in it's harsh, crackled voice. Suddenly, a small beam of light shot from Josh's body toward the heavens. It lit up the entire field, illuminating the woods as well. Trevor was taken back by the beauty of the light. It was a pure white, brighter and cleaner than anything he had ever seen before. Then, Trevor looked up to the sky and noticed something strange coming down from it. A darkness began slowly spiraling down the beam of light towards the ground. The light was being slowly consumed as the creeping darkness made its way down to Josh. The field grew darker again as the light was being taken away. The darkness finally reached Josh and slowly engulfed his entire body. To Trevor's horror, the darkness shot back up toward the sky instantly, taking Josh with it. It was over in a matter of seconds. Trevor sat as still as he could, trying to process everything he just witnessed. Suddenly, another swift, black figure darted up to fire next to the other two.
"We are not alone here, my sisters." It said to them. "One of our children are watching us." It lifted it's rotting finger and pointed it right at where Trevor was sitting. Before he had a chance to move, the same black figure flew back behind him and grabbed him by his shirt collar. She dragged him back to the fire site and dropped him in front of the other two. Trevor looked up into the three Maiden's decrepit faces. An icy fear unlike any other encapsulated his entire being. Trevor could feel his soul begin to freeze up and shiver in terror.
"It's not your time yet, my child." The middle one said. "There's no need to be so anxious, we will come for you soon."
Trevor looked into each of their pitch black eyes, absolutely petrified of their piercing glow.
"We will, however, give you a small parting gift as a promise to come back for you." The middle one said, walking away with the one that caught him in the field. They left the third maiden alone with him.
"I hope your friend Alex learned his lesson. I'd hate to have to go back and finish the job." She said as she reached into her long, black robe.
"I do hate to see you go, Trevor, but like we said, it's not your time." She pulled out a large metal rod and placed the end of it into the fire.
"This will stay with you until the end as a constant reminder of who's really in control. You're ours, Trevor. You will do well to never forget that."
She pulled the rod out of the fire and pointed it at Trevor's chest. It was a massive cattle brand, glistening red hot. She pulled back, then lunged the brand forward into Trevor's chest. He let out a blood-curdling scream that echoed through the entire field.
He jumped up and found himself in Alex's hospital room, sitting next to his bed. Alex and his mother were fast asleep. Trevor frantically looked around the room trying to gather himself. His breathing began to slow as he realized where he was.
Alex opened his eyes and let out a long yawn.
"Hey, Trev, you alright man?"
Trevor looked up at Alex from his chair.
"Yeah, yeah. It was, uh, just another nightmare I guess." Trevor said, still breathing heavily.
"You sure? You look a lot worse than normal."
"I don't know, man. This one was really vivid."
"Well, what happened?"
Trevor collected himself.
"I was there. I was in their world. There was this little white-haired demon and some massive monster lurking around. My nightmares have only ever included the maidens, I've never dreamed about any other creature like those."
"Well, it was just a dream. Were the maidens there?"
"Yeah, they were there. They did something to that josh kid, too. You know, the one that went missing this month? I don't know exactly what they did, but it wasn't good. Then they caught me."
"What happened when they caught you?"
"Well, they talked to me and tried to..." Trevor put his hand on his chest. An unnatural burning sensation flooded his entire torso. Hastily, he unbuttoned and opened his shirt. Alex and Trevor's eyes both widened as they looked at Trevor's chest. On it, they found a large, red circular brand still simmering into Trevor's flesh.