A regular day… or rather a soon-to-be irregular day.
“This is great weather for soccer! ” Noah shouts.
They had been playing in an open field and nearby, there was a forest. It was known as ‘phantom thicket.’ It was a thick and dark forest. Many rumors flew around about missing people who went inside the forest and never came back. Inside the forest was only shadow; only a glimmer of light could reach the mass of leaves covering the floor. Even the toughest of people were afraid to even step foot in this shadow garden.
They had made one mistake…
Christian kicks the ball to the forest…
“That was a limited Cristiano Ronaldo-signed ball! ” Noah pointed out.
Noah was frustrated, but neither Christian nor Noah was willing to take this risk to get the ball so they decided to go together. A mistake they didn’t know would cost their lives. They sauntered through the tenebrous undergrowth. It was hard to see through the small patch of light. They see the ball, though only a pinch of luminescence reached it. They picked it up…
“WE HAVE TO GO QUICK! ” Christian shouts.
Just before they could reach the illumination of the outside, a group of slender humanoid creatures covered in all types of clothing grabbed them. They felt a slimy appendage grab them and force them into separate sacks. Panic ensued them as they tried desperately to escape. Screaming and shrieking as their struggles are ignored.
They hear a warp…
They can see the bright and ethereal light coming from the portal but seconds later…
Complete darkness…
The aliens spoke in Latin, something Christian knew. They seemed to be saying some weird alien dialect of Latin, but two words came that Christian knew.
“Visio nocturna,” one of them said.
The two calmed down as Christian translated.
“They appear to be saying ‘nightmare.’ If this is our destination, we might be done for,” Christian says.
They walk around this distorted land. They see deformed and disfigured cottages with dark hands reaching for them. They walk along the grassy land, black goo with eyes and hands trying to get a grasp on them and pull them to the abyss. Something speaks to them, they don’t know where it is coming from.
“Quis es? (Who are you?),” Christian asks.
“Visio nocturna persona (a nightmare person)” ??? responds.
“A nightmare person,” Christian whispers to Noah.
“That can’t be good,” Noah whispers to Christian
The people that kidnapped them reveal them as twisted and warped; eyes and the black goo cover their whole body. They reveal many varieties of mandibles and tentacles.
One thing went through both of their minds…
RUN!
They get chased for hours and days while Noah and Christian forget about energy and keep running.
“No effigies! (You will not escape!)” the creatures chant while chasing the two kids.
They finally see a gate, a portal, a way back home.
“Hoc est domain! (This is my domain!),” Visio Nocturna Persona shouts.
“in dominio meo, nemo leaces (in my domain, no one leaves),”
visio nocturna persona appears to be a deranged and twisted human figure, in the form of …
Noah.
Noah sees his friend die before his eyes as the kidnappers devour Christian. Some voice in his head…
“It’s just a nightmare… or is it?”
He wakes up and figures out it was just a nightmare. Or was it? the “visio nocturna persona” appears before him and the black goo from before devours Noah slowly and painfully.
About the Author
Joshua is 12 years old and currently in Year 6. He lives in Australia. English is his favourite subject at school, and he loves eating carbonara pasta, mangoes and bananas. He likes playing computer games and soccer. Joshua has not decided what he wants to be in the future.