Never-ending Nightmares

"We open todays broadcast with an update on the disappearance of a valley girl last week. Her father, Mark Condor, put out a statement yesterday at the Winged Pillar, urging anyone with information on her disappearance to contact valley police immediately. Police say that there is still hope that she may be alive, but every day, and every moment matters. Lily Condor was last spotted leaving Starling High School at 11:00 p.m. on Friday, August 12th. We hope one day the Condor family finds closure."

*Click*

The TV shut off, leaving only the reflection of Mark on the screen. He sets the remote down on the table and turned around to see his wife, Isabella, entering the kitchen.

"Do you think the police will find her?" She asked.
"They already think she's dead; they're in no hurry to find her anymore."

Mark walked over to their front room with 2 large windows facing their driveway. Reporters walking down the sidewalk while being filmed; they are most likely re-enacting the path Lily would have taken home that fateful day.

"They'll sit here and listen to our story-- but they don't care," Mark shouts, venting his frustration. "All they show is pity, I can't take it anymore!"

Mark slams his hand into the window.

*THUD* 

It was loud enough to make the reporters jump outside, but when they looked towards the house, there wasn't anyone in the windows.

Mark was already back in the kitchen, heading towards the bathroom.

"So what are you going to do, Mark?" Isabella, who hasn't moved since entering the kitchen, asked.
"I'm going to track her down, no matter where it takes me."
"Be careful," Isabella warns, with a worried look in her eyes as she walks back into their bedroom.

Mark enters the bathroom and takes a shower. He hears Isabella enter the bathroom and then quickly leave, so she must have forgotten something in here.

He finishes his shower, puts on a fresh polo and pants Isabella bought for him, and stares at himself in the mirror.

"I should really shave, but I really don't have time for that. I'll shave again when I find her."

***********************************************************************

Mark gets into his car and drives towards Starling High School, the place where Lily's final walk home began. He pulls into the school, parks, and starts walking the trail back to his house. It's currently 11 pm, so he presumed most officers had already gone home for the night. 

The sidewalk is lined with lamps, so it's pretty easy to see where you're going. This was an initiative by the high school to make it safer for students to walk home during the evening. 

The main reason for this is because Sterling High is surrounded by nothing but woods. Even the sidewalk itself had one section completely covered with trees just a few feet away.

 Trees are lined with fences stating, "DO NOT CROSS," on them. 

Ten years ago, a group of high schoolers got lost in the woods for 4 days. This experience led to them dropping out of high school and moving to a different town altogether, a very grim chain of events. 

After about ten minutes of walking, he couldn't feel or see anything off.

The occasional lights flickered due to a weak connection, or the sudden, strong breeze of summer air. He hadn't crossed anyone on the sidewalk at this time of night. He hadn't expected to, but it all felt-- too ominous. He had seen, maybe, one car drive past, and a loud, drunk couple on the other side of the road stumbling out of a hotel.

*Crunch*

He flung his head to his left when he heard what sounded like a twig breaking in the woods. It was too dark to see; the lamps didn't light up the woods. He glanced left and right before stepping off into the dirt towards the fence, just before the trees.

There were zip-ties on the fence. More specifically, they were binding the two sides of the fence together, which seemed to have already been cut. Possibly, the work of the city, or maybe some troublemaker students, but he figured he would at least check it out. 

"I think I'm getting too old for this," he says as he starts climbing over the fence.

As he reached the top, he snagged his brand new Polo on the tip of the fence, causing him to frown.

"Gahh, Isabella is not going to be happy when she sees what I did to this. Why did I even wear a polo to go exploring in the first place? Not my brightest moment."

Mark, with his newly torn polo still on his mind, started walking into the woods.

He pulled out his flashlight and turned it on. He made sure to bring one, because, well-- it was dark. As he expected, there were just trees. He walked farther and farther into the depths of the woods, and believe it or not, there were still just trees.

"Yeah, honestly, don't know what I expected. I could call out to her, or maybe not, I don't want any bears to eat me alive. I'm not that tasty, and Isabella would be mad."

Mark looked around his surroundings, still pondering about whether or not he could even beat a bear in a fight, and saw a phone lying on the ground.

"Oh shit," he blurted out of his mouth, as he fell to his knees to pick it up.

It was shattered into pieces, and the phone case had been removed, but it was the same model that Lily had.

There was not a single doubt in his mind; it had to be hers.

He stood up quickly and started running. Whether or not he would find his way back, or even if he was going to find anything at all, hadn't crossed his mind. Lily had to be out there, and he had to find her! 

Running and running, and stopping and breathing, and then running some more! His determination had not wavered a single sliver, as he plunged into the darkness.

*BAM*

All of Mark's momentum suddenly came to a halt as he slammed into a metal wall. It was a thin wall, so it didn't hurt as much as it when he hit his rear onto the hard ground.

"Auughhh, DAMN, that hurt," he said to himself. "Wait, why is there a metal shed in the woods?"

Crows in the distance fly away, spooked by the loud noise around them, and twigs can be heard hitting the ground and cracking. 

Mark stood back up, clenching his behind, praying it doesn't become swollen later, and walked to the front of the shed. There were no lights on, but even in the dark it looked rather clean. He pondered for a moment whether he should actually enter the shed or not, but when he thought for a second that Lily might be in there, he threw the doors open with full force. 

But there was no one in there.

He took three steps into the shed and turned around.

A figure entirely immersed in the shadows of the night was standing just outside the shed. They immediately reach for their belt.

"OH SHIT," Mark yelled, as he tried to jump out of the range of the gun.

But it was futile.

***********************************************************************

*GASP*

Mark struggled for air as if he hadn't had any for five whole minutes. His mind was numb, and he was struck with a headache that made him topple onto his knees. His eyes were pinched shut as he tried to regain his consciousness, but a feeling of shock hit him all at once.

"Am I-- dead?"

He slowly opened his eyes to see a white, freshly cleaned granite floor. He stood up and looked around.

"A train?" he asked, confused how he went from being in a shed to being on a perfectly clean train. "Wait, I was shot!" he yelled as he grabs at his bullet wounds. But, there weren't any there; he was perfectly healthy.

He sat down on the bright blue seat that looked like it had never even been used before, and began to think out loud.

"There was a white flash; everything was blurry?"
"Was that heaven?"
"There was a figure shrouded entirely in white it had to have been!"
"But this doesn't look like heaven," Mark stated as he reopens his eyes, looked around, and then closed them again.
"They gave me something; it was, like, blue and round?"

Who was the white figure?

What did they give him?

So many questions left unanswered, but the truth about Lily had to be hidden in there somewhere.

The nightmares don't seem to ever end.

Then an announcement rang out throughout the train.

"This is the first train to Serenity."