Nightmare

[TaLi63372]

*twitch*

*twitch*

The tiny body stirred from stillness.

The girl was curled up on the floor between the vanity and the armoire. The muscles in the girl's legs twitched as tiny toes curled within shoes. A soft whine escaped her lips as her body shifted as if it were uncomfortable. Her hands flexed as her fingers splayed apart widely. Another soft whine as she stretched them outwards away from her. Gaunt arm muscles tensed and quivered as if straining. Her arms pushed out again against the unseen again, but this time finding traction on the wood floor. She pushed her back firmly against the wall as her neck kinked awkwardly. Her fingertips flexed as arms pushed again. She opened her mouth and made an unhappy noise as a leg kicked out of her fetal position. Her body jerked as a whole several times as another unhappy noise escaped her lips. Her heart beat rose dramatically as did her breathing. Movements become more panicked as the thin legs move rapidly. The sides of her shoes rasp against the floor as her legs pedal valiantly. She made a gurgling short yell as she continues to kick out. The leather soles of her shoes gather a bit of resistance against the wood, pushing the girl strongly against the wall as she lets out another loud wail. The next carries beyond her room before catching in her throat with a wet, choking sound. Her eyes fly open suddenly as she continues to flail for a moment. Eyes wide as she scrambles to sit up as she pushes herself as tightly against the wall as possible. Brown eyes scan the dark room frantically as her breath comes in gasps.

Not here. Not here.

 

[TaLi63372]

There is nothing worse than waiting and not knowing what'll happen to you. Your own imagination can be crueler than any captor.


The night had been a struggle for the girl. She hadn't been sleeping well since the rings were removed. Nightmares, both real and imagined, plagued her throughout the night. She would have nightmares regardless of the rings being present or not. Their absence just added more fuel to the psychological fire. She missed the pile of Others. As far back as she can remember, they had slept huddled together on the stone floor. Perhaps it was for warmth in the cold, damp cells or a grasp on the ailing humanity still left within them. This heap of children were all relatively close together in age. As the group aged and time passed, the pile changed. Some boys were pushed out at times as more dominant personalities appeared. A few of the boys began becoming more aggressive as their body's turned on the faucet of testosterone. Most of their aggression had been aimed at other boys as a pecking order became established and enforced. The girls had remained relatively immune to this newfound aggression. Many of the girls as if sensing the changes in the more dominant boys had become overly submissive. They started to acts towards the boys similar to how they would to all of Them. Avoided eye contact. They didn't struggle when one of these boys would take their food. These few dominant boys thrived in this new position of power and abused their authority. Some learned they could take more than food.

Gradually, the boys mellowed towards the girls and favorites were developed. The favorites waxed and waned. When sleep called, they all climbed into a pile. The center was the warmest. The dominant boys would lay inside with the girls surrounding them. Girls who had favor were closest while others were pushed more to the outside. The boys who were outcasts and forced to sleep along the outside edge. Even those who were most abused and tortured by their peers were never alone. Even if you are were the lowest of the low, you still had an arm or a leg slung over you. You could still reach out a hand to touch another human.

The girl now slept alone. The hard surface of walls and furnishings served as poor replacements for the Others. Her most common sleeping spot was the piece of floor between the armoire and the vanity. With three of her sides touching something solid, it helped. It was a substitute of the pile, even if it turned out to be a poor mimicry.

The one with the hard mask had told her to not look at Alia. She had tried to ask him why. Then she remembered that you aren't supposed to ask. Only do. Maybe if she asked him about Faeryl and Rotep she'd understand more the reason why without upsetting him. He never answered. He was probably upset because she asked before. She didn't understand why she wasn't supposed to look at Alia. She liked the woman now that she was no rings to touch.



Now this same confused little girl hid under the bed, watching the doors to the room. They stood like silent guards, standing vigil over the quiet room. Her dinner tray lay untouched where the innkeeper had put it earlier. The box of edibles given to her by Alia also lay uneaten on the vanity.

The marked one was sick. Paine. She would be too for questioning the hard mask one.

The sick and injured ones were always removed from the group. Sometimes a few returned to the group, but most were never seen again. It became the superstitious belief of the group that any sickness was a punishment for a wrong. The Doctor was the core deity of their ****ed up theology. You questioned Them. You didn't do as told. You did something you weren't supposed to. You were being punished. Sometimes Others became sick on their own. Sometimes one would get sick and then others would too.

Once They saw you were sick. They came and took you away.

She remembered all too well...

It happened to her and now it was going to happen again.

She negotiated with fate. She made promises of being good. She bargained and pleaded. Sleep silenced her mental prayers as she cried herself to sleep.

 

[TaLi63372]

The next couple of days the girl kept to herself in her room. She wasn't sick... yet. If she wasn't around her new group, she couldn't disobey. If she didn't disobey, she wouldn't get sick. She would stay not sick.

Had Paine disobeyed John Hard Water? John's tone always seemed to sound irritated when making words at Paine. In John's defense, he sounded that way most of the time. When she had gone to look out at what he had spewed out the window, John had told her to sit down next to Faeryl.

The whole thing was confusing. She never saw big ones at the First Place get sick if they weren't an Other. She had seen them hurt, but not sick. Paine had a mark like hers, did that mean he was an Other like she was? Had Paine made John upset and gotten sick as punishment? What does that make John? Was he something like Them? Was there a Doctor here in this place?

She pulled the pillows, sheets and the comforter from the bed and dragged them beneath. Almost resembling an underground bird's nest, she constructed her defenses. One side of the nest was the wall with the comforter bunched in a large 'U' extending out from it. Her sheets became her flooring, the pillows her shield. She brought her all belongings into her nest like a tiny packrat. Her paper, pencils, baubles, trinkets, clothing and even the tiny bird Rotep had given her. The only thing that was absent from her fort was food and water. There wasn't a morsel of it to be found underneath.

The innkeeper was still bringing in three meals, a clean chamberpot and water three times a day. Upon seeing the bed stripped of the expensive linens and down pillows, the innkeeper had sworn loudly. The girl flattened herself against the floor at the tone of his voice. The innkeeper put the tray on the bed, looked around the room and then abruptly bent and looked under the bed. A nervous pair of brown eyes peered out from the narrow opening between the manufactured comforter wall and the underside of the bed frame. They both looked at each other. Blink. Blink.

The innkeeper muttered again and stood up. "You better not be making a mess under that bed. No food under it either! An' you better eat or I'm going to have to tell your guardian, John. " The girl didn't reply as the innkeeper muttered again. He bent over replacing the old chamberpot with the clean one he had brought in. "At least I know you aren't doing that under there." She watched his feet go to the door as it swung open. The door closed behind him.

She had only understood a few of his muttered words. Most of the familiar words had been separated by other sounds so she wasn't sure what he was trying to covey. She understood eat and knew she was supposed to do that. After several minutes had passed, the little girl crawled over her wall with bird carefully in hand. They went up on the bed to quickly eat from the offerings. She shared the soft bread with the bird. They also ate some sweet small round things that hung on a branch. The meat remained untouched. They shared water and then both did their business. The girl in the chamberpot where she was supposed to and the bird on the floor. The girl cleaned it up with a corner of the small hand towel that was on the tray. She put the towel on the floor near the door where she had seen the innkeeper's wife put the linens when she changed the bedding.

She then crawled back under the bed and into her fort. The bird fluffed its feathers and settled into a small indent on her pillow. The girl laid down to take a nap. The innkeeper kept up his exemplary service providing for his guest. As long as she didn't make a mess and kept eating and drinking, he wouldn't bother her guardian about her odd behavior. Kids were weird in general and this one was weirder than most.