Falling Darkness: The second book in the Falling Awake Series Read Online Free Page A

reply. I turned around to face him, but he was gone. “Matoskah!” I shouted his name loud his time. Oh my god, he had just left me. I stumbled backwards as my vision blurred around the edges, and the image of the trees in front of me distorted in and out of shape. I felt like I was going to be sick. I hadn’t even drank that much. I doubled over and gripped a nearby tree trunk, holding onto it for support, until my vision swam back into focus.
    I straightened up and called out again. “Matoskah!” Nothing. It was silent. How far out into this wood was I. Had Mellissa noticed I was gone? I turned around, facing the way I was sure I had come from, and broke out into a run. The debris on the floor cracked under my feet and paired with the heaviness of my breathing, the noise was deafening. I kept on running, but the darkness was never ending. Every turn was the same. More trees, more narrow trails, more blackness.
    I looked up.
    I couldn’t even see the sky, the naked, leafless trees reached so high. If it was even possible, the darkness was only getting darker and more suffocating. I was struggling to separate objects from the dense night air. Everything was blending into one solid black hole.
    SNAP!
    There it was again. Someone was here. “Matoskah,” I called out meekly, afraid to draw too much attention to my position in case it wasn’t him at all.
    SNAP!
    I cried out. “Whose there?” I turned around in every direction frantically, my eyes searching through the darkness to seek out whoever was approaching. I let out a whimper as my head became foggy and nausea crept back up on me. I clawed my way along the tree trunks, one after the other, keeping myself upright, and then I saw it. A shadow just in front of me, slipping through the trees.
    I blinked. It was gone.
    I didn’t dare move. I heaved, and the bitter taste of my last two drinks projected itself from my mouth. I heaved again and emptied the last of what was in my stomach. I wiped my mouth and the tears from my eyes. I was shaking from being sick so aggressively, and from fear. My eyes darted across the narrow dirt path in front of me as another shadow flitted across it and disappeared behind the trees. I took in a deep breath. The cold air was raw in my throat and I stood, until my eyes adjusted once again to my surroundings. My head felt like it was packed with cotton wool and I had drunk about ten times more than what I actually had. It was now or never. I had to see what was ahead of me before I passed out in this place.
    I carefully put one foot in front of the other until my steps became more steady, and I bolted forward to where I had seen the shadow. The smoky, charcoal mist materialized from behind a tree on my left, and I screamed. The mist expanded, until it took the shape of a human form. I clamped my hand over my mouth as the mist became so big, it towered over me, crowding me, making me feel impossibly tiny.
    It was going to swallow me.
    I closed my eyes and sunk down onto the ground, pulling my knees up to my chest and I covered my ears with my hands. A deep and low moan emanated from the shadow creature and it grew louder and louder until I couldn’t bear it anymore. The sound was crushing me from inside. It was excruciating.
    Just when I thought the sound would surely shatter me, it stopped, and the only noise I could hear was the pounding of my own heart.
    I sat there, hugging my knees for what felt like an eternity. Eventually, I opened my eyes. They were sore from having them shut so tightly and the beginnings of a headache hung just above my eyelids. I slowly peeled my hands off my ears and listened to the thumping of my chest.
    I was alone.
    I crawled up onto my heels and directly in front of me was a folded up piece of paper. I leaned forward and picked it up, shoving it clumsily into my pocket.
    “She’s here,” A voice called out through the wood from behind me. A pair of arms slid in around my waist and pulled me up off the