Post by Eis on May 1, 2021 14:00:30 GMT -8
"Nooo!" the girl cried out, flailing in protest even as her mother's arms swept her up from the floor and deposited her on her bed. Cold, seething fury wrapped in a pink 'onesie'.
"It's bed time. Past bed time, young lady." came the firm but loving response. The mother sighed, smoothing her freshly mussed hair - which she'd just spent the last ten minutes brushing - and grabbed the girl gently under her little chin. "A story, then. One. Story. And only if you promise to go to sleep."
The girl's eyes brightened and her indignant frown was replaced with a delighted smile. It didn't take her long to concede. "I promith!" came the not-so-toothy reply.
The mother kneels down on one knee and leans in close. "Alright. Now be nice and quiet, and listen closely... there's going to be a quiz when we're done." She smiled mischievously, and her daughter giggled.
"Once upon a time..."
Not so long ago...
"...there was a princess..."
School teacher. Don't kid yourself.
"who lost her way in the woods."
She was taken. Abducted. Enslaved.
The little girl in her pink pajamas fades away. Then the bed. The nightstand. The pink unicorn nightlight. Piece by piece, brick by brick, her daughter's bedroom is bleached of its color and fades away into darkness. Last to go is 'Katie', the little rag doll. 'Katie' seems to linger the longest, her features morphing into a concerned frown. She even... reaches out? Opens her mouth to speak?
But whatever words of caution of comfort Katie might have spoken fade into inky black vapor, until she, too, fades away. Eis is alone, in a formless void. She could feel hard, cold stone under her knee. She jerks to her feet, frantically panning her head this way and that for any solid object or source of light.
Nothing.
The silence around her is oppressive. The air itself seems a roiling black smog that swallows light and sound. She opens her mouth to call out --
Nothing.
She shouts louder.
Nothing.
She wants to scream, just to hear her own voice, but she can't. She can't even see her own hands in front of her face! Panic is setting in. She can feel her neck heating up, her head buzzing and thoughts muddling as her 'old friend' and calling reaches out to her...
Fear.
It grips her, all at once icy and tender. It loves her, and she would do anything to escape from it. She can feel tears streaking down her cheeks as she curls against herself to shake the cold, empty embrace. Finally, eternity or seconds pass, and a single, almost blinding light opens like an eye in the distance.
No... a keyhole.
Then the edges of a large, domed door.
She scrambles for it!
Slipping over and over on the cold stone. Gripping the ground with her nails as flecks of stone and dust jam into her nailbeds and a sudden, tearing, white hot pain as she leaves one of her nails behind. She doesn't care! She fights and sprints and stumbles until she slams bodily into the door. It won't open... it's locked! She throws herself against the door again and again, refusing to let her slim hopes die! Anywhere is better than this! Over and over, till try as she might, she can barely stand.
Then a shadow passes over the keyhole. Someone is on the other side! She pulls her battered body up, slowly and painfully, to peer out the keyhole. Her own eyes stare back at her. In pity and indifference.
Eis jolts awake in her bed. In Vegas. 'Katie' sits on the night stand. Eis brushes away the freezing droplets of tears on her face and pulls 'Katie' into her arms. She lays there, sobbing... shamelessly. Until sleep claims her again.
"It's bed time. Past bed time, young lady." came the firm but loving response. The mother sighed, smoothing her freshly mussed hair - which she'd just spent the last ten minutes brushing - and grabbed the girl gently under her little chin. "A story, then. One. Story. And only if you promise to go to sleep."
The girl's eyes brightened and her indignant frown was replaced with a delighted smile. It didn't take her long to concede. "I promith!" came the not-so-toothy reply.
The mother kneels down on one knee and leans in close. "Alright. Now be nice and quiet, and listen closely... there's going to be a quiz when we're done." She smiled mischievously, and her daughter giggled.
"Once upon a time..."
Not so long ago...
"...there was a princess..."
School teacher. Don't kid yourself.
"who lost her way in the woods."
She was taken. Abducted. Enslaved.
The little girl in her pink pajamas fades away. Then the bed. The nightstand. The pink unicorn nightlight. Piece by piece, brick by brick, her daughter's bedroom is bleached of its color and fades away into darkness. Last to go is 'Katie', the little rag doll. 'Katie' seems to linger the longest, her features morphing into a concerned frown. She even... reaches out? Opens her mouth to speak?
But whatever words of caution of comfort Katie might have spoken fade into inky black vapor, until she, too, fades away. Eis is alone, in a formless void. She could feel hard, cold stone under her knee. She jerks to her feet, frantically panning her head this way and that for any solid object or source of light.
Nothing.
The silence around her is oppressive. The air itself seems a roiling black smog that swallows light and sound. She opens her mouth to call out --
Nothing.
She shouts louder.
Nothing.
She wants to scream, just to hear her own voice, but she can't. She can't even see her own hands in front of her face! Panic is setting in. She can feel her neck heating up, her head buzzing and thoughts muddling as her 'old friend' and calling reaches out to her...
Fear.
It grips her, all at once icy and tender. It loves her, and she would do anything to escape from it. She can feel tears streaking down her cheeks as she curls against herself to shake the cold, empty embrace. Finally, eternity or seconds pass, and a single, almost blinding light opens like an eye in the distance.
No... a keyhole.
Then the edges of a large, domed door.
She scrambles for it!
Slipping over and over on the cold stone. Gripping the ground with her nails as flecks of stone and dust jam into her nailbeds and a sudden, tearing, white hot pain as she leaves one of her nails behind. She doesn't care! She fights and sprints and stumbles until she slams bodily into the door. It won't open... it's locked! She throws herself against the door again and again, refusing to let her slim hopes die! Anywhere is better than this! Over and over, till try as she might, she can barely stand.
Then a shadow passes over the keyhole. Someone is on the other side! She pulls her battered body up, slowly and painfully, to peer out the keyhole. Her own eyes stare back at her. In pity and indifference.
Eis jolts awake in her bed. In Vegas. 'Katie' sits on the night stand. Eis brushes away the freezing droplets of tears on her face and pulls 'Katie' into her arms. She lays there, sobbing... shamelessly. Until sleep claims her again.