1 Chapter 1

Where am I? I thought as I woke up in a room filled with clocks. There were all different kinds of clocks in the room. There was only one grandfather clock I could see though, and it was straight in front of me. I looked for the time on the grandfather clock, it said it was 3:33. Did this mean anything? If so, what did it mean?

I started to get up, and I saw a dark figure walk towards me. I asked, "Where am I?" I got no response, just silence and the ticking of the clocks. I felt a cold hand on my shoulder from behind, and the ticking got louder and louder. I jolted around and saw nothing. Then I felt a cold hand shiver up my feet to my ankles. They were so cold, they felt like ice. They started pulling me down into the ground as the room went dark. I reached out to the figure, but it just stood there hovering over me. As I looked closer at the figure, I noticed it had no face, it was just blank. Then I saw nothing, the ticking stopped.

I woke up in a pitch-black room. But I could see a door. It was a white door with a gold knob. Where is this place, I thought to myself as I walked towards the door cautiously. As I reached for the door, I saw the knob jiggle. I jumped back. The jiggling stopped. As I cautiously made my way back to the door, I tried to reach my hand out for the knob. It jiggled again, but this time I grabbed the knob. I tried to open the door, but I felt a sharp pain in my hand and I instantly let go. My hand was burning, it hurt so much. I looked around the room to see if there was anything that could help me to either open the door or to cool my hand down.

There was a man sitting on a chair in the corner of the room. He was looking down at his feet. I felt like something was off. I felt tense. So I backed up into what I thought was the door. But to my surprise, the door was gone. I fell into the next room. Half my body was in this room. It was pink and had a crib in it. As I got up I walked into the room towards the crib. The crib had some sort of presence that drew me to it. I looked inside the crib, there was a baby. The baby was wrapped in a pink blanket with a yellow and blue butterfly embroidered on it. She had brown hair and brown eyes. The room went dark. There was only a little bit of light, and that light was coming from the night light that was on the dresser next to the crib. The baby started to cry. I looked at the baby, and to my surprise she was looking behind me. I picked up the baby without hesitation, without looking behind me I ran out the doorway into the other room. I looked up, the old man was no longer there. The chair was empty.

I turned around to see a woman standing there. She had a smirk on her face as she asked, "Why are you holding my baby?" I could not make out her face nor figure out whose voice it belonged to.

I forgot I was holding the baby. I looked down, the baby was no longer what she used to look like. She was like some sort of demon. Her eyes turned red and she grew some sort of horn at the top of her head. I looked up at her mother in fear. But she was nowhere to be seen. It's like she vanished out of thin air. And when I looked down, the baby was back to normal. I looked back up to check one more time if the mother was there, but there was no sign of her. I was so confused. Maybe I just was imagining things.

I looked to my left and saw a yellow door. I instantly felt like I had the need to go through this door. I walked over to the door with the baby cradled in my left arm. I opened the door with my right hand. The room was bright. As I stepped into the room I felt cold and wet. I looked down and I was in water. The room was now a swamp. I saw a trap door under the water. I was drawn to it. But it was too deep into the water, and I was not sure if me or the baby in my arms could hold our breath to get down there. And for all I know, if I did get down there and it was locked, me or the baby could drown or it could have been a waste of my time.

I saw something swimming towards me. It was dark and it looked like it had shark fins. I turned and ran out of the water onto the grass that appeared out of nowhere. I thought to myself, what's going on? Is this a dream? But it felt too real to be a dream.

As I sat down on the grass, it was damp and cold. I felt something slimy on my leg. As I looked down, I saw some sort of bug, maybe a snail. I almost gagged, I hated bugs. As I brushed off the snail-like creature, I stood up. I looked at the baby and said, "Don't worry, I'll find a way out of this place, and bring you back to your mommy."

I looked at the swamp. There was now fog covering the top of the water. I felt like something was looking at me. The baby started to cry. As I heard, "Annabella, come to mommy," from every corner of the room. Was this the baby's mom? But where was she?

I looked down to see the baby. She looked like she was scared. She started to cry and cling on to my shirt. I used as much courage as I could and said, "W-who are you, and what do you want?"

"I just want my baby," the voice said echoing through the room.

As I looked down at the baby, she again had red eyes and a horn. Although I did not feel as afraid as before, I was still scared and felt like I had to do something. I felt like something changed. As I looked down at the baby she said something under her breath. It sounded like, "Keep mommy away, she wants to hurt you."

The baby then looked different. She looked like she got older. She looked like she was about ten years old now. I felt her weight in my arms, and I put her down confused.

"Keep her away, she will hurt you if you're too close to her. I will stay with you." She said as she reached for my hand. She held my hand as I held hers. The voice of the woman was getting closer. I started to clench the child's hand tighter. I asked, "Why does she want to hurt me?"

She answered, "She wants to hurt you because you don't belong here. And she is right, you should not be here. These are all your memories, the good and the bad ones. You are deep into your thoughts, feelings, and memories now. And if you don't wake up soon, there will be no way out."

I was so confused. How was I in my memories? Was this actually just a dream or something? How could I wake up?

As I looked at the child I saw her eyes turn red. She said, "Don't be afraid, I'll protect you."

I did not know why, but I felt safe near her. The sense of comfort in her words made me believe her. I wanted to trust her, so I did. I smiled and she smiled back. She held out her other hand and there was some sort of light illuminating from it. What was it?

I looked closely and I saw something I recognised. It was one of my memories.

"Look," she said.

I already had my eyes drawn to the light, it was shaped like an orb. It was a yellowish color but I could see the memory playing. It was me when I was 12. It was the day I lost my dad.

I was confused. Why was she showing me this? What was the purpose?

"Mommy did it." she said in a calm voice. "Mommy did it!" she repeated but louder.

"She did what?" I asked. "Did she hurt you?"

"No, she hurt him." she said.

My eyes started to tear up. I did not know why. I felt a cold hand touch my shoulder. Then I felt a sharp pain in my stomach. I looked down and I was bleeding. When I looked back up, the child was gone. And I was in another room. The room had a black door with a gold knob. I felt scared. I started to tremble. I did not like the feeling coming from the door. It had a strong presence. I suddenly felt cold. It was freezing. I felt pain in my feet. And the pain in my stomach was gone. I looked down at my stomach then my feet. The blood from my stomach was gone, and no stain on my shirt all. But on my feet, it had ice. It was making its way up to my ankles now. I tried to move, but it was no use.

I remembered what the child told me. I needed to get out of here before I could never get out. I needed something to break the ice. I looked to my left, then my right. There was somehow an axe to my right. It was far, I did not know if I could reach it. As I reached out for the axe, I started to feel dizzy. I could no longer feel my feet, and the ice was up to my knees now. I was cold, very cold. I could not even struggle at this point. There was no use. I accepted death. I would never get out of this mess, so why try? I started to feel the ice make its way to my thighs, it was cold, really cold. I slowly lost my awareness and conscience, I smirked and started to laugh. At least I would go in a less painful way. It's not like I had anyone to live for at this point. I started to cry and laughed harder than before. I mean, my dad was dead, and my mom blamed me for it. What was there to live for anyways? I could feel the tears dripping from my eyes freezing. They were turning into ice. I felt numb from my thighs and up. I took one last breath as I slipped into a deep slumber that I knew I would never awaken from. I accepted this. I was ready.