Snippet #1738287

Dominic Dice

"Woah," Dominic whistled as he came through the door. It was left only slight ajar behind him as he took a few steps forward into the place that was too impossibly big to fit inside a building or a single room. Had he found the exit? Was he outside now? Something didn't feel totally right about this, though... There was no breeze, no chill in the air, no smells, no people. He looked back and fourth. It was dark out and, looking up, he could clearly see stars etched across the sky. There were suspiciously too many for the city he was in. Although he grew up in the suburbs--supposedly--he'd visited the city before. At night time, with all the buildings lit up like they were, it was always impossible to see the stars, nonetheless the moon, so clearly as he could now.

So, to paint the picture a little more clearly: Domino found himself walking out of a simple room into a city at night. The stars were clearly gleaming in the dark blue sky and the buildings stretched tall towards them. Lights flashed in the distance from advertising billboards and clubs that never slept. There was no wind and the silence was eery, uncomfortable. He found himself too confused to move at first, merely shifting from one foot to another in a bout of uncomfortable silence. In fact, he was so focused on how strange--and yet totally normal--everything seemed, he hardly heard the footsteps of someone following through the door behind him. The faint click of the door closing shut was all that caught his attention, forcing his gaze away from the lights and shadows to whoever it was who dared break his awe.

Oh. It was just that dumb-looking redheaded kid. Domino resisted the urge to roll his eyes, but instead turned away from the boy, deciding to ignore him altogether. Letting out a breath, he finally opened his mouth to speak, stepping out into the middle of the oddly empty road. The second he reached the dashed yellow line, however, his voice was over-taken by the sudden sound of a siren buzzing by him. It came from nowhere almost, it seemed. Domino shut his eyes and yelped, falling onto his back and breathing heavily from the shock of almost being hit by such a large object. He followed it with wide eyes, but it didn't take long for him to laugh it off and calm down. Just a firetruck, he thought, wincing as he got himself to his feet. If he'd been paying attention, he would of realized the road didn't feel gravely as it should have, that it felt smooth like tile, but he hadn't been paying attention and instead he brushed his hands off and looked nervously after the truck.

"Wonder where the fire is," he said, hiding the nerves in his voice. He shook his head and replaced his wavering frown with a confident smirk, raising his shoulders and putting a bounce in his step. "I can't believe that idiot lied to us. Took me two seconds to find the way out, huh?" He brushed his shoulders off like the cool guy he felt he was and lifted a foot to go back to the sidewalk. Again, however, he was knocked onto his bum by an oversized, suddenly appearing firetruck, buzzing by with its sirens wailing. He winced this time, feeling more agitated than afraid. This time when he looked to see where the firetruck was going, he could see a fire in the distance, glowing a bright orangey-red color. He decided he'd head the opposite direction.

Huffing in annoyance, Domino once again pushed himself to his feet. This time he looked in all directions before stepping onto the sidewalk. He made it with all his bearings in place and chuckled in relief to himself for being so silly. He cast a glance to the guy who'd followed him. "What're you still standing around for? Are you dim? Got any lights upstairs? Get a move on, you dumb bum. You're free." He scoffed and stomped off down the road, not caring what happened to the guy after that. Something still felt off to him, however, and when he looked up not thirty seconds later, he was shocked to find that he'd somehow managed to get himself in front of the burning building. Strangely enough, the building had looked like it was across the city before... Blinking, he nervously stepped back. The firetrucks were outside the building, but there were no firemen to be seen. There wasn't anyone.

Forcing himself to not hyperventilate, Domino spun on heel and turned away from the burning building, running across the street to get away, but being stopped before he could reach the sidewalk on the other side by another firetruck. As the truck passed, his breath caught in his throat; the burning building was suddenly there. "What is this..?" he murmured, voice shaky, hands shaky, mind whirling. "S-someone, get me out of here." He shook his head. "This isn't real! Th-this isn't..." Was the fire getting bigger or was that his imagination? Getting closer, almost reaching out to him. He could practically feel the flames snapping at his skin. In the next moment, a scream reached his ears. He didn't realize it was his own.