Where I Wake

The hotel was quite extravagant, as the giant golden ballroom made clear.

Violette’s family could afford it, and they certainly had no qualms about spending money.

My invitation to their annual gathering was, of course, because of my “will they or won’t they” relationship with Violette.

Unbeknownst to them, Violette and I had been “they will” for a while, but hadn’t let on.

There wasn’t any particular reason we were continuing to keep it secret, except that it amused us that no one had figured it out. And, admittedly, we enjoyed the playful thrill of being “sneaky.”

There would be time for glances and teasing smirks at dinner, but for now I walked down the covered boardwalk toward the amusement park beside the hotel.

I’d been told everyone was going, yet I found myself alone, except for two figures far ahead who didn’t turn when I called out.

Deeper in the park, I passed the old wooden roller coaster. One of Violette’s younger cousins sat alone in the front car.

I raised my hand, but the coaster launched before he saw me, even though no attendants were around.

A shiver ran up my spine. I kept walking until I stepped into a darkened dome.

I climbed into a WWI-style plane from an aeriel-carousel ride and rose as an image flickered across the inside of the dome.

Below me sprawled the house and neighborhood where I’d spent nearly a decade growing up.

It wasn’t the first time I’d been dragged back there, but it was the first time I hovered above it instead of being trapped inside.

Formless shadow demons swooped through the air, snarling and threatening.

I tilted the plane, pulled the red trigger, and fired.

A flash of light confirmed the hit.

Somehow I felt the herky-jerky hydraulics and the smooth freedom of flight at the same time as I engaged in a dogfight against the demons with a skill I didn’t know I had.

I smiled at the exhilaration, until the plane froze, lowered with a hiss, and the house lights snapped on.

-

Violette watched me from across the ballroom, worry etched on her face.

A feast covered the long tables, but no one was eating.

One of the great-uncles was dead, and several young cousins hadn’t returned from the park. Investigators had ordered that no one leave the hotel.

I scanned the room, voices buzzing everywhere, then met Violette’s eyes again.

“What’s going on?” she mouthed.

“I don’t know,” I mouthed back, shaking my head.

She gave me the bravest smile she could manage, and I returned the most reassuring one I could muster.

-

I shouldn’t be here.

This place is wrong.

I could see clearly enough, though the room was unlit.

Mirrors covered the walls like a dance studio, and the bare section held cubby beds built into the wall.

Unease clawed at my throat. I rushed for the double doors. They rattled and shook but wouldn’t budge no matter how hard I threw myself against them.

With no plan, I returned to the mirror.

I was me, but every inch of my skin was white, like ultra-white clown face paint.

Frantically, I rubbed and scratched at my arms. Nothing changed.

The color was part of my flesh.

I looked back at my horrible reflection just as they began to emerge from the walls.

Strange, twisted children..

Gurgling.

Clawing.

Reaching.

Grabbing.

Holding me with unnatural strength.

Terror filled my core.

If I didn’t force myself out of this nightmare, I knew something terrible and irreversible would happen.

Wake up.

I pushed my essence forward.

Nothing.

I tried again. Still nothing.

I had never failed to eject myself from a dream before.

As the suffocating, claustrophobic pressure crushed my chest and made breathing laborious, I knew something was very, very wrong.

Wake up! I screamed inside my head.

WakeupWakeupWAKEUP!

I jolted awake, sheets flying off as my arm swung wildly.

Soft blue numbers tried to illuminate the left side of my bedroom, while the television flickered with some late-night Adult Swim programming I was too tired to identify.

I lay back, sighing in relief at having escaped the nightmare.

I turned my head to check the time. The blue numbers declared

Blue numbers.

My alarm clock has green digits.

I sat back up, suddenly alert. The television shone in the corner, but it wasn’t the right model. And the dresser it sat on was in the wrong place.

Oh God.

This isn’t my bedroom.