Quoted By:
When you open your eyes again it's still dark. Sort of. It's night but everything looks… You sit up in bed. Everything is grainy, stark, a blood black negative. Your first instinct is to exclaim, say something like "What the fuck" or "Huh?" but a second, older, far stronger instinct overcomes you, an instinct that tells you to stay silent and very very still. You're in danger. It's a sensation you haven't felt since you were a child here, but its unmistakable.
You look around, head turning slowly. Candi's room is as it should be, aside from looking like you're staring at it through a fucked up red filter. Her computer is powered down, accent lights off. Candi herself sleeps curled in a ball beside you, knees to her chest, eyes closed. Her chest rises and falls softly.
"Candi." You speak softly, calmly. Not quite a whisper.
She doesn't stir.
"Candi," you repeat. You touch her shoulder.
"Mmmm," her brow furrows and she holds herself tighter, like she's having a bad dream. She's cold to the touch. Or maybe you're cold. Either way, something is wrong and she's not waking up. She's not a heavy sleeper. You're considering trying again anyway when you realize that the scars on your arms, some of them anyway, the important ones, are glowing.
The light is cold, white, dim, but its there. You hold up your forearm and marvel at the strange, angular paths. The cigarette burns and random slashes are there like normal, dull red like the rest of your flesh in this strange redness, but the special ones are all lit up.
Again, you resist the urge to say something about this out loud. That feeling of danger is only growing stronger.
You slide silently from bed, bare feet on cold wood. Dull light comes from the window. You go to it, staying in the shadows and peer out. You see the car and truck parked out front, the yard is as it was when you got here, the woods pressing in from all sides, all bathed in grainy crimson. There's no moon and no stars but somehow you can tell it's night.
You cross the room, moving past Candi's streaming set up to a second window looking toward the side of the house. You see more woods of course, blanketing the hills of what could laughably be called the Mercer Farm. You stop and squint slightly, surprised to see another pale white glow, this one tinting the horizon. Something deep in the woods, beyond the hills, is glowing very brightly. You don't have the faintest idea what that could be or what's even out there. Exploring the woods was always more Candi's thing.
