HOME | DD

Description
She opened her eyes and pulled herself up to her feet. She was dazed and confused, as though she had just woken after a long sleep, her eyes went wide however when she saw her surroundings. All around her stood tall and sinister looking trees, they grew close together, with their branches intertwined above her blocking out most of the sunlight that filtered through small gaps between the branches. Both to her left and right they grew so close together they formed two walls of them.
She tried to look into the distance, but although the "tunnel" of trees seemed pretty straight it was still difficult for her to see too far since on one side of her they led into a darkness that unnerved her, she just felt afraid as she gazed upon it, something about it was wrong and she didn't want to know what. The other way led into a light in the distance, it gave a completely different feeling to what the darkness gave, it was warm and inviting, it was this light at the end of the tunnel that also snapped her out of her daze.
She began to panic, she had no idea where she was, and all she could remember last was walking across a road with her daughter, then there was a bright light and she woke here. She then noticed that the Darkness seemed to be closer than it was before, she stared at it convinced she must be wrong, but then it suddenly began to surge towards her.
She began to run from it, trying to convince herself this was nothing but a bad dream, after all a tunnel like this could not have formed naturally. Suddenly she stopped, coming to a realisation, the light she saw before she woke here, they were headlights, and with this "tunnel" that ended in a light she instantly thought of what many people brought from the brink of death spoke of, a light at the end of the tunnel.
She turned and looked behind her, trying to convince herself it couldn't be real, praying it wasn't, The darkness was almost upon her, and even though she wanted to run, her legs would not move, she was terrified, she needed to run, she had to get away, but her body just would not respond. The darkness stopped,  close enough for her to reach out and touch it if she wanted.
It began to rise, reminding her of a snake rearing its head, she closed her eyes not wanting to see what would happen next, but she suddenly felt something grab her arm, her eyes shot open as she saw the darkness begin to descend, but she however was being yanked out of the way by something into a gap in the trees that she was certain was not there a moment ago.
However the hand that had pulled her away wasn't there to catch her when she fell into the ground after being yanked out of the way. She quickly jumped to her feet and looked behind her, expecting to see the darkness seep through the gap she had escaped through, but there was no gap anymore, it was just a wall of wood behind her, as though her escape route had simply never existed.
She looked for her saviour, but there was no one in sight. Fortunately the trees in this area where space much further apart though, forming a much wider corridor as well as a better lit one. Having no other options  she began to walk along the corridor when she noticed something by the wall, a small red ball. She approached and picked it up  not too interested in the ball as right next to where she had found the ball lay another path through the trees, something she would have completely missed otherwise since it was a quite small gap.
She began to make her way through it, the gap was very small so she had to enter sideways, walking through wasn't difficult but she couldn't see what lay on the other side due to her having to work around several trees. She kept going through before she tripped, falling out into a larger room, instead of dirt and grass she had expected to see beneath her there was instead beige carpet, she had to blink a few times before she was certain she wasn't just seeing things. She pulled herself to her feet and looked behind her, the path she had used had vanished again, just like before.
She started to survey the "room" she now stood in, her eyes wide with surprise. This was her room, not as it is now in her home, but her room as a child, there was a bed exactly the same as her old one, toys littered the floor, and then she saw the most surprising thing to her, she saw herself just as she was as a young girl.
Her younger self sat in the middle of the room, playing with her toys and speaking to someone. "Well Cloakie I'm not cleaning up after you silly." The girl said laughing gleefully. Meanwhile her fully grown self smiled remembering fondly her old imaginary friend, Cloakie, and how she was always getting in and out of trouble, quite often with Cloakie in tow, who she would always imagine encouraging her to keep up with her mischief. Looking back on it now she smiled thinking how silly she was back then.
Then she blinked, and to her surprise her younger self and the furnishings that had surrounded her had simply vanished into thin air, as though they had never been anything more than a simple memory. She stood alone, just trying to figure out what was going on, she became almost certain that this must be what it is to have your life flash before your eyes. It wasn't too long before she glimpsed something move in the corner of her eye, it was fast, but she was sure it was there, a shadow that had darted between the trees, she followed it seeing another gap, this one was large enough for her to simply walk through however.
Once she had passed through the gap she didn't even look behind her to see if it was sealed again or not since she knew it would be. This area was completely empty however, and then she blinked. The moment she had reopened her eyes the room had completely changed. This time she saw herself a little older than last time, sitting in a row of chairs, on the one side was her current husband, who was equally young, and to the other side of her was an empty chair.

She remembered this day well too, it was the day of her grandfather's funeral, he had passed away and she had been inconsolable, until she met him. This was a sad day to her for another reason too, though not as great as the loss of a loved one, since this was the last time she had seen her imaginary friend. She watched her younger self listen attentively, as she had done when hearing Cloakie's farewell, then she saw her younger self begin to sob. And then her heart skipped a beat as the moment she remembers receiving a final hug from her friend, her younger self received one, but there was something physically there, she could see her younger self's hair and clothes move as her "friend" hugged her, the clothes making the same creases and movements as though something had truly been there.
The whole scene dissipated as she blinked again, she felt as though the ground had shifted beneath her feet. After all, what she had just seen must have been impossible, she was certain. Then she saw the figure standing opposite her at the other end of the room, it didn't move or try to run as she had expected it too, and she was dumbfounded. It was Cloakie, exactly as she remembered him. His entire body covered by raggedy looking clothes, his face shrouded in darkness except for his red eyes and mouth, the same face that was looking upon her with a sorrowful expression as he began to back away from her.
She called out to him, or at least she though she did, her mouth opened but no sound came out. She then tried just to speak normally, but again she was mute. This was worrying, but she couldn't do anything but follow where Cloakie had gone, hoping maybe he would help her. She stood exactly where he had stood moments ago, and there she saw another gap within the trees. Without hesitation she stepped through.
She was greeted suddenly by a blinding whiteness, she covered her eyes with her hands expecting something to happen to her, but after standing like that for a while she moved her hands from her face. She was relieved to see the whiteness was just from another of her memories, one of her personal happiest ones too.
She lay in a hospital bed, her husband sitting by her bedside holding their newly born daughter, this memory however seemed different from the previous two as it was more of a freeze frame rather than the others that had been moving. Then she saw someone who she hadn't seen on that day.
Cloakie was sitting on the other side of her bed, smiling warmly at her and her child, he too was unmoving though. She looked at him, taking in every detail, he looked somewhat more raggedy than he did when she was a child. His clothes where coming apart at the seams, and one of his arms was completely gone, where it used to be was just a patched up sleeve that hung limply down his side.
She felt like sad seeing him like that, although his expression was warm and friendly, there was something sad about him too, but she could not quite see what it could be. She stepped back away from him, her foot hitting something on the ground.
She picked up the object, it was a rather large black binder, she recognised it instantly, it was an old photo album she had stashed away in her attic at home. She opened it, looking over all her old photographs, but to her surprise they had all changed, most of them had just changed showing Cloakie standing in the picture with her, and some pictures there she was sure she had never seen before.
One showed an incident only a few months ago where she had almost been hit by a car, but she had fell backwards and the car just missed her because of it, but the picture showed Cloakie pushing her aside from the car, there were many others like this, pictures of him aiding her like some kind of guardian angel, page after page new pictures where there, even some not so important ones. For example not a week ago she had lost her car keys and was getting flustered looking for them and a picture showed him holding the keys behind her and pulling a silly face.
She began to laugh, looking over all the pictures, overjoyed to see he had stayed with her so long, but then she reached the last page of the book, and it showed a picture she didn't want to see. She could see herself lying on a road, her daughter holding her hand as she smiled up at her daughter. An ambulance was nearby and her husband was running towards her, but Cloakie wasn't there, and written below the picture was a simple message. "Let me."
She closed the book, not wanting to see it anymore, but she was standing on the same road that she had been hit on. She could see herself lying on the ground with her eyes closed and her daughter crying by her side as the driver of the car called for an ambulance. She tried to shout out but still no sound came out. Then she saw Cloakie standing by the car that had hit her, he looked so old now. The picture from a week ago did him no justice as now his clothes where torn all over and grey, a black substance leaking out through the tears, that substance reducing itself to nothing before it even hit the floor.
He looked to her with a sad look in his eyes. "I'm…  Happy you can see me before it ends…" He said, his voice cracking a little as the words seemed to be hard for him.
She wanted to say something but her voice was not present for her to say anything so instead she took his hand in hers.
He smiled, a genuinely happy one this time, but tears rolled down his face too as he did so. "This is the last time I'll see you… and the last you will see me."
She was confused, but she hugged onto him now, both terrified and comforted by the presence of her childhood friend.
He hugged her back with his still working arm. "Before I do what I need to do… I need to ask… when your time comes, do you wish to become like me?"
She let go of him and stepped back, she was certain her time was now, but then she remembered the picture of her alive. She nodded however, he had been the best thing she had happen to her that she knew of so to be anything like him would be a blessing in her eyes.
He smiled down at her warmly. "You will get a chance to change your mind if you want to on your final day." He took her hand and led her to her body that lay upon the ground.
She looked at him confused, wondering what he would do to fix her.
He stopped before her body and sat by it on his knees, still holding her hand. "This is my final gift for you…" He muttered sadly as he leaned down and covered her unconscious body's face with his hood.
She was confused, but suddenly felt herself being dragged towards her body by some force,  as this happened her sight began to fade, she tried to keep hold of her old friend's hand, but now all she held was an empty sleeve of cloth.  She looked to see that all of his clothes had done the same, the being within them had vanished, she tried to call out again.
"The last of what I am is yours… I hope you cause some real mischief with it." She heard his voice but she could not see him, she kept trying to shout his name, over and over until her sight faded to black.
"CLOAKIE!" She yelled as her eyes snapped opened, she quickly began to cough, her body hurt all over. Everything was hazed as though she where hearing and seeing things through thick, fogged up glass. She could hear her daughter, and the driver asking her if she was ok, but she couldn't bring herself to answer them as she tried to move.

Her vision became clearer as time passed, she could hear an ambulance approaching in the distance, she saw her daughter who seemed to be overjoyed to see her awake, as did the driver of the car. But something didn't feel right. Everything felt just too… real… for her to think that what had happened with Cloakie really had happened. It was as she thought this that she realised she was holding something in her hand, she raised it to her face so she could see it since she could hardly move her neck.
Her eyes widened as she saw what lay in her hand, a small red ball with a two words written upon it. "Never alone."

Description
She opened her eyes and pulled herself up to her feet. She was dazed and confused, as though she had just woken after a long sleep, her eyes went wide however when she saw her surroundings. All around her stood tall and sinister looking trees, they grew close together, with their branches intertwined above her blocking out most of the sunlight that filtered through small gaps between the branches. Both to her left and right they grew so close together they formed two walls of them.
She tried to look into the distance, but although the "tunnel" of trees seemed pretty straight it was still difficult for her to see too far since on one side of her they led into a darkness that unnerved her, she just felt afraid as she gazed upon it, something about it was wrong and she didn't want to know what. The other way led into a light in the distance, it gave a completely different feeling to what the darkness gave, it was warm and inviting, it was this light at the end of the tunnel that also snapped her out of her daze.
She began to panic, she had no idea where she was, and all she could remember last was walking across a road with her daughter, then there was a bright light and she woke here. She then noticed that the Darkness seemed to be closer than it was before, she stared at it convinced she must be wrong, but then it suddenly began to surge towards her.
She began to run from it, trying to convince herself this was nothing but a bad dream, after all a tunnel like this could not have formed naturally. Suddenly she stopped, coming to a realisation, the light she saw before she woke here, they were headlights, and with this "tunnel" that ended in a light she instantly thought of what many people brought from the brink of death spoke of, a light at the end of the tunnel.
She turned and looked behind her, trying to convince herself it couldn't be real, praying it wasn't, The darkness was almost upon her, and even though she wanted to run, her legs would not move, she was terrified, she needed to run, she had to get away, but her body just would not respond. The darkness stopped,  close enough for her to reach out and touch it if she wanted.
It began to rise, reminding her of a snake rearing its head, she closed her eyes not wanting to see what would happen next, but she suddenly felt something grab her arm, her eyes shot open as she saw the darkness begin to descend, but she however was being yanked out of the way by something into a gap in the trees that she was certain was not there a moment ago.
However the hand that had pulled her away wasn't there to catch her when she fell into the ground after being yanked out of the way. She quickly jumped to her feet and looked behind her, expecting to see the darkness seep through the gap she had escaped through, but there was no gap anymore, it was just a wall of wood behind her, as though her escape route had simply never existed.
She looked for her saviour, but there was no one in sight. Fortunately the trees in this area where space much further apart though, forming a much wider corridor as well as a better lit one. Having no other options  she began to walk along the corridor when she noticed something by the wall, a small red ball. She approached and picked it up  not too interested in the ball as right next to where she had found the ball lay another path through the trees, something she would have completely missed otherwise since it was a quite small gap.
She began to make her way through it, the gap was very small so she had to enter sideways, walking through wasn't difficult but she couldn't see what lay on the other side due to her having to work around several trees. She kept going through before she tripped, falling out into a larger room, instead of dirt and grass she had expected to see beneath her there was instead beige carpet, she had to blink a few times before she was certain she wasn't just seeing things. She pulled herself to her feet and looked behind her, the path she had used had vanished again, just like before.
She started to survey the "room" she now stood in, her eyes wide with surprise. This was her room, not as it is now in her home, but her room as a child, there was a bed exactly the same as her old one, toys littered the floor, and then she saw the most surprising thing to her, she saw herself just as she was as a young girl.
Her younger self sat in the middle of the room, playing with her toys and speaking to someone. "Well Cloakie I'm not cleaning up after you silly." The girl said laughing gleefully. Meanwhile her fully grown self smiled remembering fondly her old imaginary friend, Cloakie, and how she was always getting in and out of trouble, quite often with Cloakie in tow, who she would always imagine encouraging her to keep up with her mischief. Looking back on it now she smiled thinking how silly she was back then.
Then she blinked, and to her surprise her younger self and the furnishings that had surrounded her had simply vanished into thin air, as though they had never been anything more than a simple memory. She stood alone, just trying to figure out what was going on, she became almost certain that this must be what it is to have your life flash before your eyes. It wasn't too long before she glimpsed something move in the corner of her eye, it was fast, but she was sure it was there, a shadow that had darted between the trees, she followed it seeing another gap, this one was large enough for her to simply walk through however.
Once she had passed through the gap she didn't even look behind her to see if it was sealed again or not since she knew it would be. This area was completely empty however, and then she blinked. The moment she had reopened her eyes the room had completely changed. This time she saw herself a little older than last time, sitting in a row of chairs, on the one side was her current husband, who was equally young, and to the other side of her was an empty chair.

She remembered this day well too, it was the day of her grandfather's funeral, he had passed away and she had been inconsolable, until she met him. This was a sad day to her for another reason too, though not as great as the loss of a loved one, since this was the last time she had seen her imaginary friend. She watched her younger self listen attentively, as she had done when hearing Cloakie's farewell, then she saw her younger self begin to sob. And then her heart skipped a beat as the moment she remembers receiving a final hug from her friend, her younger self received one, but there was something physically there, she could see her younger self's hair and clothes move as her "friend" hugged her, the clothes making the same creases and movements as though something had truly been there.
The whole scene dissipated as she blinked again, she felt as though the ground had shifted beneath her feet. After all, what she had just seen must have been impossible, she was certain. Then she saw the figure standing opposite her at the other end of the room, it didn't move or try to run as she had expected it too, and she was dumbfounded. It was Cloakie, exactly as she remembered him. His entire body covered by raggedy looking clothes, his face shrouded in darkness except for his red eyes and mouth, the same face that was looking upon her with a sorrowful expression as he began to back away from her.
She called out to him, or at least she though she did, her mouth opened but no sound came out. She then tried just to speak normally, but again she was mute. This was worrying, but she couldn't do anything but follow where Cloakie had gone, hoping maybe he would help her. She stood exactly where he had stood moments ago, and there she saw another gap within the trees. Without hesitation she stepped through.
She was greeted suddenly by a blinding whiteness, she covered her eyes with her hands expecting something to happen to her, but after standing like that for a while she moved her hands from her face. She was relieved to see the whiteness was just from another of her memories, one of her personal happiest ones too.
She lay in a hospital bed, her husband sitting by her bedside holding their newly born daughter, this memory however seemed different from the previous two as it was more of a freeze frame rather than the others that had been moving. Then she saw someone who she hadn't seen on that day.
Cloakie was sitting on the other side of her bed, smiling warmly at her and her child, he too was unmoving though. She looked at him, taking in every detail, he looked somewhat more raggedy than he did when she was a child. His clothes where coming apart at the seams, and one of his arms was completely gone, where it used to be was just a patched up sleeve that hung limply down his side.
She felt like sad seeing him like that, although his expression was warm and friendly, there was something sad about him too, but she could not quite see what it could be. She stepped back away from him, her foot hitting something on the ground.
She picked up the object, it was a rather large black binder, she recognised it instantly, it was an old photo album she had stashed away in her attic at home. She opened it, looking over all her old photographs, but to her surprise they had all changed, most of them had just changed showing Cloakie standing in the picture with her, and some pictures there she was sure she had never seen before.
One showed an incident only a few months ago where she had almost been hit by a car, but she had fell backwards and the car just missed her because of it, but the picture showed Cloakie pushing her aside from the car, there were many others like this, pictures of him aiding her like some kind of guardian angel, page after page new pictures where there, even some not so important ones. For example not a week ago she had lost her car keys and was getting flustered looking for them and a picture showed him holding the keys behind her and pulling a silly face.
She began to laugh, looking over all the pictures, overjoyed to see he had stayed with her so long, but then she reached the last page of the book, and it showed a picture she didn't want to see. She could see herself lying on a road, her daughter holding her hand as she smiled up at her daughter. An ambulance was nearby and her husband was running towards her, but Cloakie wasn't there, and written below the picture was a simple message. "Let me."
She closed the book, not wanting to see it anymore, but she was standing on the same road that she had been hit on. She could see herself lying on the ground with her eyes closed and her daughter crying by her side as the driver of the car called for an ambulance. She tried to shout out but still no sound came out. Then she saw Cloakie standing by the car that had hit her, he looked so old now. The picture from a week ago did him no justice as now his clothes where torn all over and grey, a black substance leaking out through the tears, that substance reducing itself to nothing before it even hit the floor.
He looked to her with a sad look in his eyes. "I'm…  Happy you can see me before it ends…" He said, his voice cracking a little as the words seemed to be hard for him.
She wanted to say something but her voice was not present for her to say anything so instead she took his hand in hers.
He smiled, a genuinely happy one this time, but tears rolled down his face too as he did so. "This is the last time I'll see you… and the last you will see me."
She was confused, but she hugged onto him now, both terrified and comforted by the presence of her childhood friend.
He hugged her back with his still working arm. "Before I do what I need to do… I need to ask… when your time comes, do you wish to become like me?"
She let go of him and stepped back, she was certain her time was now, but then she remembered the picture of her alive. She nodded however, he had been the best thing she had happen to her that she knew of so to be anything like him would be a blessing in her eyes.
He smiled down at her warmly. "You will get a chance to change your mind if you want to on your final day." He took her hand and led her to her body that lay upon the ground.
She looked at him confused, wondering what he would do to fix her.
He stopped before her body and sat by it on his knees, still holding her hand. "This is my final gift for you…" He muttered sadly as he leaned down and covered her unconscious body's face with his hood.
She was confused, but suddenly felt herself being dragged towards her body by some force,  as this happened her sight began to fade, she tried to keep hold of her old friend's hand, but now all she held was an empty sleeve of cloth.  She looked to see that all of his clothes had done the same, the being within them had vanished, she tried to call out again.
"The last of what I am is yours… I hope you cause some real mischief with it." She heard his voice but she could not see him, she kept trying to shout his name, over and over until her sight faded to black.
"CLOAKIE!" She yelled as her eyes snapped opened, she quickly began to cough, her body hurt all over. Everything was hazed as though she where hearing and seeing things through thick, fogged up glass. She could hear her daughter, and the driver asking her if she was ok, but she couldn't bring herself to answer them as she tried to move.

Her vision became clearer as time passed, she could hear an ambulance approaching in the distance, she saw her daughter who seemed to be overjoyed to see her awake, as did the driver of the car. But something didn't feel right. Everything felt just too… real… for her to think that what had happened with Cloakie really had happened. It was as she thought this that she realised she was holding something in her hand, she raised it to her face so she could see it since she could hardly move her neck.
Her eyes widened as she saw what lay in her hand, a small red ball with a two words written upon it. "Never alone."