“Come.”
The voice that emerged through the fog in my head was clear, beautiful but unfamiliar, yet I felt I had heard it somewhere once before. It drew me in. I followed it, somewhere in my mind I felt myself follow it.
All of a sudden, a clear picture clicked into place in front of me.
It was a forest, sometime in the afternoon. The canopy of leaves above me filtered the light, basking everything in an enchanting green glow. I felt myself moving around, but nothing under my feet. Strange, I thought.
“Come closer.”
The voice was directly to my left. I turned.
Seated on a boulder, not five feet from me was a figure draped in sparkling white robes. Glossy black hair tied into a long braid hung over her right shoulder, her delicate hands folded in her lap.
But what was most haunting was the golden mask covering her eyes. The edges were encrusted with tiny bits of rubies and the eye holes were completely blacked out.
She was exquisitely terrifying.
“Come hither, child,” she repeated again from unmoving lips.
No! I mentally screamed. Something told me not to go any closer, but my mental self subconsciously approached until I was standing right in front of her.
“Where is the chalice, girl?”
I said nothing; I was numb with fear.
“Where is it?” Her voice was now more impatient, raspy.
Finally regaining a voice, I replied meekly, “No.”
“Give it to me!”
The once melodic and charming voice turned dark and threatening, reaching into my soul, frightening me to the core. The serene forest surrounding me blurred into a mass of roiling gray clouds and the black eyeholes of the figure’s mask glowed bright red. Her body contorted into a grotesque abomination before me and the lips that had been unmoving moments ago opened up into a monstrous maw with several rows of pointy white teeth.
Staring up at the hideous creature I did all I could do.
I ran.
***
“Think she’s alive?”
“Of course she is, you tweedlebrain!”
“How do you know?”
“Because I do… look! She’s waking up. Told you.”
Fluttering my eyes against the bright light, I tried to get my bearings.
“Oh. My. God.” Everything that had happened suddenly came swarming back in a jumbled mass of confusion. Twinkling lights, screams, the crash. And… a ruby mask?
Shaking away my drowsiness I opened my eyes wide and took in my surroundings.
White walls, white ceiling, white sheets. I think it’s safe to say I was in a place that liked the color white. The only things not white (besides the beeping monitors) was the picture window overlooking a, thankfully, colorful garden, the bouquet of roses on the nightstand next to me and an open box of Chip’s Ahoy cookies (chewy) next to it. Late afternoon light spilled through the window.
“Idy?”
A load of puffy blonde curls framing a cute cherub face suddenly obscured my vision of whiteness.
