Set in Stone

Chapter 1: Charlie

It's so cold. I can feel a warmth spreading around me but inside I am turning to ice. I can't feel my fingers. Then my toes. I try to move my legs and nothing. The panic is rising as I realize I am paralyzed. I cannot see anything except a bright light. God, no. Please don't say this is the bright light coming for me. I can't be dying. How did I even get here? What happened? The light is getting brighter, filling more of my peripheral vision. Then I see blue. I hear someone call my name faintly, Charlie, then I see more blue before...

I open my eyes wide sitting up and looking around to realize I am in my room. In my bed. With movable parts. It takes me a minute to come back to earth, but when I do I twist to crack my back, wipe the grogginess out of my eyes and look around the bedroom to gather my bearings. My alarm is set to go off in 11 minutes. May as well just get up now. Yet again, this dream cuts my precious sleep short. I have been having this reoccurring dream for several weeks now. It is so vivid I sometimes wake up feeling a heaviness in my body like I really was paralyzed. I knew I shouldn't have had that bowl of coco pebbles right before bed. Such a bad habit and the sugar makes the nightmares stronger.

Generally, I dream a lot of crazy things. My mother blamed the stories I'd stay up reading late into the night. As a little girl I kept a flashlight beneath my bed and as soon as I was tucked in, Id reach down to grab it and whatever horror or science fiction novel I was reading at the time. I would get so scared that shortly after finishing a few chapters I would try to go to sleep and my mind would wander. The coat hanging off of the doorknob turned into snakes and the red colon on the clock would be bat eyes staring at me. My parents would wake up the next morning to find me curled up in my Little Mermaid sleeping bag on the floor next to their bed. Mom even tried to prevent me from reading certain genre's, but Dad would take me to the library on Wednesdays after school and let me pick whatever I wanted. He and mom would argue over him spoiling me with what she considered to be inappropriate books for a child.

"I'm just happy she's reading. I'd rather have Charlie reading than out getting into trouble." Mom rarely won that argument.

There's a knock on the door, followed by Bridget storming in.

"Oh good, you're awake!" Not that me sleeping would have stopped my roommate and best friend from barging in. Good thing I never bring a man home. "Can I borrow one of your nerd shirts? The shop is making us wear something nerdy since the geek fest is in town. They act like everyone owns swag from a marvel movie. I was not about to go buy something." She's rummaging through my closet then moves to the hamper. "Are these clean?"

"Yeah, but please put them back in the hamper after your done digging through." I love Bridge but she really can be messy and inconsiderate. "Here, let me." I grab the pile of socks and jeans she was piling into her arm and put them back in the hamper. Opening a dresser drawer, I look at all of my nerd shirts, trying to decide which one I am okay with never getting back again. Even though she won't ever wear it beyond today I can guarantee it will be lost forever in her room. Or worse, left at whatever frat dudes place she ends up at tonight.

"Here, take the Captain America one. Maybe someone in Steve Rogers cosplay will think you are a real nerd and sweep you off your feet."

"Cosplay? God no," she takes it out of my hands, kisses me on the cheek and is on her way, "thanks love. Be ready at 9 tonight. Wear something sexy. It's the Roaring 20s themed."

Shit. I had forgotten all about the party tonight. I would not normally be attending any kind of fraternity event but Bridget's Big Brother is throwing her a birthday party Sigma Chai style. So as her best friend I am being forced against my will to suffer a night with drunk frat guys groping anything that has two legs and a vagina. You would think as a senior, B would be tired of the sorority life. But rather than drifting away from it and focusing on getting her last credits done to graduate, she registered for the minimum number of classes and ran for president of Iota Theta. They called themselves the IT girls. I on the other hand got out of that in a hurry. Our freshman year, B was rushing and didn't want to do it alone so she drug me into it. At first I liked the idea. I could meet new people, do charity work, and make life long sisters. I didn't have a real sister, so the idea of sisterhood was appealing. But who was I kidding? That isn't me. After three semesters I got tired of being told what to wear, or how important French tips were and I didn't make any real friendships beyond the one I already had with Bridget. So, I resigned.