enter

Just a door, that's all I see, everything dark, but an idea pops into my head, "Out?" I guess without barely thinking. I want to apologize for something, but I just can't seem to open my mouth any wider. This room, this person. What's happening? my mind reminds me of something that may have happened. A man, speaking with a dark tone, my mother, holding my hand. I had wished that my dreams were to come true.

The room on the other side of the door, dark, but filled with the essence of an angry child. I refuse to leave, but I imagine much worse if I had let the girl go alone. Don't get me wrong, I can't exactly leave someone alone to something that horrid.

I walk towards the crevice, as if it were a cave. I lean forward towards the lady and smile. One arm pointing into the darkness.

"Shall we?"

guarded.

I click my tongue impatiently at his reply. What sort of an answer is that--'just a dreamer'. I purse my lips and meet his eyes, thinking of what approach I should take with such a person, if I could even call him that. Somehow, I sense a wildness within his soul that almost frightens me.

"I'm Kate." I say, a little more calmly. I wonder if I should hold out my hand out of politeness, but decide against it. Something tells me decorum isn't exactly what I need at this particular moment.

I bring a hand up to my neck, tiredly massaging it as I take another helpless glance around the room. There is a depression in the wall, and I walk towards it, desperately praying that it be a door.

It is.

I push, but it does not move. I try sliding it, but that does nothing either. On the right side of it, I see a panel made of silver, with buttons engraved with the numbers one through nine. A peculiar red light blinks above a small piece of glass that fits a finger. Out of sheer intuition, I press my index finger against it.

I jump back as a beeping sound fills the room.

The door slides open, and instead of the light I expected, I see only an endless darkness.

I look back at The Dreamer questioningly. "Do you know where this leads out to?"

a short moment

I hear a voice, looking at the creature that had once been there. "Hold your tongue" the sound comes from the beast. A short silence, like a hunter waiting for their prey. "Who are you?" this creature speaks. I think of a name, nothing from my mind had come up. Two words of memory, "The Dreamer". I think of those words, reminding me of the soft touch that had once grazed upon my skin.

"I am nothing, just a dreamer" I say with a deep sigh escaping from my mouth. Uncomfortable, a lack of belonging, a sense of familiarity, a creature of humanity. I stand up straight, pulling myself up slowly from the fetal position.

"Who are you? Why are you in this room?" Still a stranger in the room, a new face, unsure if she is worthy of my trust.

One more glace at the creature, standing proud. But on her face seemed to be a small, lost frown.

fumbling.

I don't know what the fuck is going on around me. My eyes adjust to the brightness and I turn my gaze to the man before me, my lips curling in an almost disapproving frown.

"Hold your tongue." I snap, as I tear my eyes from him to glance around the room.

There is nothing around that I recognise. No sound from the exterior that my mind deems determinable to establish the location that I am currently situated. Fuck.

I sit straighter and pull myself up to stand. The ceiling is low, surprisingly, and if I didn't know any better, I would have thought that the room was closing in on me.

In a flash of a moment, I falter. My knees tremble as I suddenly realise where I am exactly.

Nowhere.

The arrangement was for her freedom. My sweet sister's life in exchange for mine. I bite my tongue, holding back tears as I realise that the world I once belonged to can no longer exist. I am in a different life entirely.

I steal a glance upon what cloth covers my skin and find the feeling utterly unfamiliar. Pantaloons of the coarsest fabric cover my legs, and on my torso... I almost gasp. I am near naked, clad only in a shirt that does not even cover my arms.

In my desperation, it did not occur to me that I would be left with nothing of myself in this world. In this life--whatever a life this was.

All I can now think of is to escape this room. To see the world beyond and find my place. To find if I have anyone left, though as the thought enters my mind, I already know the answer: there is none. And I am alone.

I breathe deeply in an unsuccessful attempt to calm myself down.

I hear the quavering of my voice as the words directed at the man I am trapped with escape my lips, "Who are you?"

creature

Another second goes by, her lips start to tremble, her face starts to blur. "What's happening?" my head starts to think over and over. Her face starting to distort, her body contorting into many different shapes. What's wrong with this girl? Why am I stuck in this place?

A crooked smile, all I could put together on my face, like a puzzle missing pieces. A smile returned is all I could see, shiny white teeth, but still as sinister as a maniac's. I slowly back towards the wall of the room, but as I take each step every single one of them gets heavier. I keep backing up, but there's no barrier to stop me.

She goes down to crouch, like a tiger, I hear her growl. She strides towards me, slowly, every step just as elegant as the last. And yet her eyes tell of malicious thoughts.

I fall to the ground, keeping my eyes set on hers, lost in hypnosis, I feel a part of me breaking free. I close my eyes and scream.

"GET AWAY FROM ME!"

what?

"What was that?" I said instantly, loudly, as I heard the silhouette swallow her words. The light still blinding, the sound still deafening in my ears. "Your name's Brighton? I can't hear you!" I screamed at the top of my lungs. Everything so blurred I get dizzy and fall, my face glued to the ground, my head, numb, but in extreme pain.

"What the fuck is happening?!" the lights, the sound, the feeling of the ground, mush. I can't even hear my own voice, much less my thoughts.

I look up to see her silhouette once more, and again I can feel her eyes, not see, FEEL, as if they are drilling holes into my own. What is with this woman? I don't understand why she's here with me, nor do I understand where I am. I take one more glace upwards to see her dark brown hair covering her face once again. "A girl from a cheap horror movie" the thought, FINALLY A THOUGHT!, enters my head.

That thought, crawling through the roof of my skull. The ringing becoming softer and softer. I gather my strength to rise once again, keeping my eyes set on the figure before me. My eyes rest upon her lips, for a second they looked familiar.

"Brighton? Wasn't that what your name is?"

identity.

Who am I?

The question repeats in my head in an endless loop of dazed confusion.

Who am I?

"Katherine." The man from the dream floated back into my thoughts, and for a fraction of a moment, I wished I could return to sleep. I saw myself as I looked in the dream: frail. I had never been frail. There was a time I used to feel beautiful.

I bring a hand to my face, scratching the sleep off my eyes, and brushing a soft lock of dark hair off my cheeks. My eyes, heavy with confusion, must have appeared darker than how it already seemed under what people might call normal circumstances.

But appearance is the last thing on my mind.

A constant, piercing pain throbs at my temples. I frown slightly as I try to focus better upon the person before me. But the light is still blinding. Barely a silhouette do I see before I am forced to cover my gaze and look to the floor.

"It's bloody bright in here." I murmur, instead of answering his question.

Who was in front of me? Why am I here--more importantly, just where am I?

And why won't this pain in my head just stop?