Two worlds

Forest

"You're late!"
Her orders are muffled through the sheets that shield my face from the world, the cold and on some days, my responsibilities.
"j...just one... more min... m-minute..." the words crawl out of my mouth like a painful hangover.

!boom! !boom!
I know all too well the sound of my mother's fists on the thin walls. Its nice having a personal alarm that doesn't require batteries. If only I could turn her off at the wall some mornings.

I feel slightly uncomfortable. I work today and decided to sleep in my uniform. My bag is also next to me under the sheets with my laptop and other similar millennial 'necessities'. Getting up early is so difficult for me that it is easier if I wear my uniform to bed some mornings. Too many times I have slept in and been waken up by a humorous phone call from my boss...
"YOU'RE LATE!"
I am a running joke at many staff meetings let's just say that.

"A few more minutes. Just... five. I promi-"
I let the thought (and the lie) carry me away.
Peace...
Darkness...
Silence...
Cold..

Wait, why am I cold?

!boom! !boom!

"AH!"
I spring up from my bed.
Wait.
Where is my bed?
"hoooot" I don't own owls?
"shhhhh, hisssssss" ....I don't even want to acknowledge those noises.
"There is nothing here, what is this... forest? why are.... where the hell am I?"
Speaking out loud seems to comfort me, as I adjust my sight and senses to the strange environment. A freezing eerie forest. I was in bed five minutes ago? what happened?

My hands curl up and punch myself repeatedly. I feel pain. I haven't woken up. This is obviously real. I feel alone, scared and frozen.
The trees tower and curl peacefully but somewhat uncomfortably above me. Moonlight pierces through the canopies and caress the forest floor in random luminescent patches. The sky glitters with an intensity of stars I have never before seen and melts from deep black into a navy blue horizon. Despite the beauty, I feel uneasy... small like prey. My hands investigate the cool, damp leaf litter disturbing some insects in the soft dirt. "well, wherever I am, it certainly is still planet Earth... I think".

!boom! !boom!

Dread spreads like lightning; fingers to toes. I turn to face the noise of splintering of wood behind me, the cracking and pops of tall trees being moved, uprooted by... by...
"ROAR!"

A titan.
Its body bends unnaturally sprinting towards me. Drooling, smiling.

Run.

What is the point? I'm not fast enough...
"HELP! HELP ME!"

The titan easily reaches 12 metres. Not even meeting half the height of the trees. This forest is beyond anything I have ever Seen on a David Attenborough documentary.
It reaches out a distorted arm to grab me, but I trip, my face landing in the leaves. I feel the weight of its arm pass by above me. "I can't die here! Please! I want to go home!"
As I roll over in fear, shaking in the cold leaves, the titan and I lock eyes for a micro moment before it looms its steaming hand over me. The titan's fearsome silhouette blocks out all of the moonlight that once kissed the forest floor, now engulfed by shadow.
I close my eyes, preparing to be crushed.

"HYYYYYYYYYYYYYYAA!!!!!!!!!!"

Shing! Schwshh! THUMP!

"..."
I'm too scared to open my eyes. I'm probably dead, I'm probably in its stomach digesting, i'm filling in the silence with words with words with thoughts and everything, I'm swimming in fear, I'm-"

"Oi, you there." A monotonous voice beckons. Squinting and blinking, my eyes recognise the titans body steaming on the ground motionless. A tall figure stands above me, confident, with bloodied swords in his bloodied hands. His cape sways softly with the rising steam and his face is hidden by the hood of the cape.
We both turn our heads to face muffled titan footsteps in the distance, getting faster and louder.
"...Get up, now."
The urgency in his voice frightens me, but also... comforts. I feel safe. After all he killed that Titan....
Saved my life.

"Get up NOW brat!"
"Heck™!" I sprawl up. The ground leaves my feet as the soldier slings me over his shoulder, and glides effortlessly through the trees with his 3DMG. I gasp, realising that I'm actually seeing this... a titan... The wings of freedom... The Survey Corps! I am excited, but terrified. I want to go home.