River blinked blearily at her computer screen, the only light in her otherwise pitch dark room. Her schoolwork had been temporarily put on hold, the ever present appeal of cat gifs and stupid jokes on social media too much of a temptation to resist. Stifling a yawn, she reached for her alarm clock, turning it towards her to check the time.

  2:34 AM.

  She had an essay due tomorrow which she had barely started on. Well, technically it was due today, since River had stayed up so late that it was now early morning. That meant that either she could go to sleep and get, what, five hours of sleep? Or she could call it an all-nighter and actually finish her homework assignment. Why did she always do this to herself? Sleep deprivation and procrastination were a poison that River found herself drinking quite often.

  A part of her - a really big part of her - wanted to just go to bed regardless of the consequences, but she knew she couldn’t afford to fail this class. She rubbed at her eyes tiredly.

  Well, time to get to work.

  Her desk chair squeaked as River leaned back, closed her eyes and yawned, stretching out her arms.

  Suddenly, her chair was gone. River fell and smacked her tailbone against something hard, yelping at first in surprise, then again in pain when her head also smacked against a hard wall. Her eyes shot open as her hands rubbed at her throbbing head.

  There was no desk in front of her. No computer monitor lighting up a gloomy room. No ceiling fan tracing lazy circles overhead.

  No, she was in some kind of weird cave, dirt and carved gray stone underfoot. The stale, dusty air blew in a cold breeze against her skin.

  River jumped to her feet, wobbling unsteadily as her eyes widened, suddenly forgetting the trivial pain from falling on her butt and smacking her head. It was dark, but not too dark to see. Up above, in a tunnel of sheer stone leading straight down like that of a well, a couple stray rays of sunlight shone down on her. Green grass and even a couple of flowers grew out of the cracks in the stone at her feet.

  Even her clothing was different. Rather than sweatpants and a tank top, River wore a set of rugged brown boots, loose pants with a corded rope belt at her waist and a brown linen tunic.

  River pinched at her clothes, blinking in confusion. She turned around. Then around again. She was dreaming, right? This was some kind of strangely vivid dream?

  She pinched herself. It hurt.

  Okay, not a dream. Then, a joke? Someone was playing a prank on her? Well, if they were, it wasn’t a very funny joke. And no, that didn’t make sense anyway. It was far too instantaneous. One moment she was safe in her home, the next she was in this weird, creepy cave.

  Drugs. It had to be. River wouldn’t have consciously taken anything, but… but, maybe someone had slipped her something? And then dumped her in a well, after… after…

  River pressed her back against the wall. A thin ray of sunlight nestled its way into her blonde hair.

  She really didn’t like that idea.

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  A sound drew her away from the panic that was her thoughts. A quiet, hollow clacking of something against stone. It came from the only passage open to her other than the sheer stone walls above. The sunlight only went so far into the tunnel before her and the rest was darkness.

  Clack... clack… clack…

  Something else was down here with her - she couldn’t see it through the shadows, but it was there, drawing closer with each hollow clack. River peered into the pitch black of the tunnel, eyes wide with fear. It came closer and closer and her heart slammed in her chest.

  From the shadows emerged a single skeleton, walking through the tunnel on feet of yellowed bone. The thing, carrying nothing in the withered bones of its hands, walked with a strange, clattering gait like a puppet held aloft by unseen strings. It drew closer with every step.

  River let out a nervous laugh and spoke, her voice quavering with fear. “Wow, you guys really got me! I’m good and proper scared!” She paused, staring as the skeleton kept taking shuddering steps towards her. “You guys can come out now!” She gave another anxious laugh that tapered off into an uneasy whimper.

  Clack… clack… clack…

  The skeleton’s empty eye sockets fixed on her as it approached. It raised its hands, and River saw that no strings kept the thing’s ancient bones together. Her breath caught in her throat as a shiver ran over her skin.

  Suddenly, just as it came within some arbitrary distance of her, the skeleton lurched forward into a charge and River screamed, throwing up her hands in a desperate attempt to ward the monster away. 

  It grabbed one of her wrists in its skeletal hand, drew back its skull and bit deep into the meat of River’s shoulder. She screamed and shoved the skeleton against its ribcage. It came away with something red in its mouth, dripping and dribbling down the bones of its chest. The skeleton clattered hollowly against the wall, its bones clacking as it struck stone.

  Her right arm went numb and there was a warm wetness in her shirt. River tripped over her own feet and fell backwards. She smacked against her already painful tailbone and cracked her wrist against something hard on the ground, but she paid no mind to the pain. All of her attention was riveted on the skeleton, which was already stepping towards her again with shuddering footfalls.

  Its empty eye sockets glowered down at her as it took small steps forward. It loomed, and then fell on her, seizing her wrists. She tried to fight, smacking her fists ineffectually against the thing from her awkward position pinned down against the stone floor. River screamed and tears streamed from her eyes as the thing opened its mouth wide and bit, and bit, and bit. It bit, and bit, and bit, and bit, and bit and bit.

  There was blood, screaming, and finally, mercifully, there was death.

  River fell, striking her tailbone against the hard ground and a moment later, her head smacked against a stone wall.

  She didn’t cry out from the pain.

  She made no noise, just sat where she had fallen, half propped against the sheer stone wall that carved its way up into the daylight. Silently, she stared up from the bottom of the well and the blue skies and golden sunlight stared back at her. 

  All was silent and all was dark at the bottom of the well. Silent, save for the quiet sobs that occasionally leaked out.

  It had taken so long to die, and the pain had been so intense. She could still feel its teeth on her skin, still saw the blood that stained her vision red. She had screamed her throat bloody, until she couldn’t scream any more.

  In her mind, that thing was still biting, and biting and biting. Pieces of her came away and fell from its empty skull, nowhere for them to go.

  All of it vanished in an instant when something clicked in her mind, some part of her, surfacing through a sea of agony, realized that she was still alive. Even though she shouldn’t be. That monster had killed her. It had killed her.

  And yet, she was still alive. The pain was gone, save for the comparatively minor ache from striking her head against the wall and a sore tailbone. It was impossible, but she was alive.

  Then she heard it, a small sound from the darkness. A hollow sound of something striking stone, a sound that made River’s skin crawl. A portent of suffering and death.

  Clack… clack… clack...