Graced

Chapter Four

In her new room, Lia sat on the edge of her bed while Bree tended to her injuries. She winced as Bree poked at a particularly painful bruise.

"They wasn't such a brilliant move on your part. What were you thinking, threatening to kick them out?" Bree accused.

She shrugged, which also was a bad idea, since her ribs hurt terribly. She figured they must be cracked or something.

"I was telling them the truth. I'm not gonna sugarcoat things. If they can't behave, we don't need them here taking up space."

Bree just looked at her for a moment, then shook her head, exasperated, and returned to tending Lia's various minor injuries.

"You should have known a comment like that would set everyone against you. And I think they actually might have been trying to kill you. That was a pretty nasty fight. You held your own pretty well though, especially since you were outnumbered almost fifty to one." She smiled slightly.

Lia shrugged again. She wasn't going to tell Bree that she had no idea how she survived that. It was pure instinct and reflexes. It almost felt as though she didn't have control over her own body. It was strange, and she didn't understand it. Plus she didn't want to freak anyone out. But she wanted to figure out what was happening, how, and why. By herself.

Bree continued. "It was lucky Braeden stopped them. What is there between you guys anyway?"

Lia frowned at that. What did it look like, she wondered? Out loud, "Nothing. I think he's annoying, and follows me around way too much." She also wasn't going to tell Bree that she actually thought he was maybe, kinda, sorta cute. This would be ... the first boy she'd found even slightly attractive in like... 6 years?

Her mind and heart were betraying her. She was supposed to be a cold, emotionless robot. Not some lovesick girly girl. That's it, she decided. No more thoughts like that. I'll lock that part of me away forever. Back to what I'm supposed to be like. Lacking in emotions.

A relieved expression flitted across Bree's face, but she hid it almost immediately. Was she... jealous? Lia wasn't overly surprised. Her best friend was extremely boy crazy. But at least she admitted it.

Bree stepped back and examined Lia. "That's all I can do. You'll definitely have some nasty bruises for a while. But now you should get some rest." Lia glanced up at the small analog clock on the wall beside the closet, 11:47. She just lay back on her bed instead of replying.

"I'm going to go check on a few things, then I'll be back. It won't take long," Bree promised, as she walked out the door, gently closing it behind her.

Lia stared blankly at the ceiling for a few minutes. Strangely enough, the blank whiteness was quite fascinating. Soon, she fell asleep.

******

Lia dreamed of sterile, white halls that always ended in ominous black doors. But as soon as she reached out for the handle -for some reason she felt positive she could open them now- she was back in the blank, white hallway.

It was unbelievably frustrating. In dreams you were supposed to be able to do anything, anything. But she had no control over this particular dream. It was almost like it was controlling her.

She began yet another walk down yet another hallway. But this one was different. The whiteness was interrupted by deep slashes in the walls. Lia was strangely calm about it though. She knew she ought to have been terrified of whatever was at the end of this one, but she wasn't. Plus it was a dream, so nothing could really hurt her.

The gashes became more frequent as she walked, sometimes many in one place with chucks ripped out of the walls. She knew she was close.

Same as the others, this hall ended abruptly in a solid black door. Unlike the others, this one was ravaged. Gashes in the door so deep, she thought they must be almost all the way through. And the handle was gone, torn off by whoever, or whatever, had devastated this place.

But there was a hole, enough to see through, where the handle had been. Lia couldn't control herself. She bent down and peered through the tiny hole.

At first, all she could see was blackness. Like the door led into a void or, more likely, a pitch black room. It was odd, she thought, that all the dreams only led to this darkness.

Something felt off. She was still pressed up against the door, peering into the blackness. A flaming red eye materialized on the other side. With it came a roar that was also part screech. It actually paralyzed Lia on the spot. Not by fear, just paralyzed. She fell into blackness.

~~~~~~~~~~

A/N: This chapter is super short. My apologies.