Sleeping Beauty: Chapter 01 (??)

Her head is resting on the pillow, but her eyes are open and staring out the window. Is she awake or asleep? It is almost impossible to tell. She doesn't know herself. She groans and swings her legs off of the bed, and tentatively stands up. Her feet scream with pain and she almost drops back to the bed. Every bone in her body aches with a dull pain. Surely this means she is awake? She can't be certain because sometimes the dreams hurt just as much as reality. Sometimes they hurt even more. She lifts her right foot up and presses it forward, taking her first stumbling step. With a crack of pain she hits the floor, landing straight on her tailbone. Her hair tumbles around her, much longer than she remembered it to be. Desperately, she claws her hand through it, trying to get it off of her head. The dark haired woman groans again and pushes herself forward onto her hands and knees, back protesting every movement. Surely the ache would cease once she got her body used to moving again? Slowly, gingerly she forces herself to climb back up to her feet. She wobbles there, arms flailing at her sides to try and keep herself upright. Once more her hair is in her face, she huffs to try and blow it out. What was she? Rapunzel now? She thought she was Sleeping Beauty. Or maybe she was Snow White. Did she eat a poisoned apple? Were there Dwarves waiting for her?

A little giggle escapes her lips, the noise rusty and just a little hoarse. She slaps a hand over her mouth, startled by the sound of her own voice. She turns to look around her surroundings. Her room was just as big as she remembered it. Just as warm. The carpet beneath her bare feet plush and just a little squishy. The old house creaks around her, making her shiver. It was a noise like the grinding of teeth together. A noise she hears in her dreams far, far too often. Bones creaking, teeth clenching, the monster hungering..

“No, no no.” She whispers to herself. Once more surprising herself that she had any voice what so ever. It had been so long since she had spoken on a regular basis she doesn't remember the sound. It was alien. It was someone else.

Arms wrapping around her abdomen she takes a tentative step forward. The door to her bedroom isn't that far away, and if she strains she thought she could hear … Her on the other side. Speaking with someone. About security, or how to care for Sleeping Beauty. Yes, that is what she is. Sleeping Beauty. And on the other side of the doors is one of her Charming Lovers. Wouldn't she be surprised to see Sleeping Beauty up and walking around? She presses a hand to her lip, she is smiling. Did she even remember how to do that? Apparently the muscles of her face remember. Taking a shuddering breath she attempts another step, and then one more. Her bones grind together with every step. Agony shooting up her legs and along her spine, then down her arms and to her fingertips.

She cries out with the pain, but no one came. Couldn't She hear her? Couldn't she hear the cries of pain? It didn't seem so. Sleeping Beauty lets out a little bit of a hiss, trying to breath through the pain and keep going. Halfway to the door the pain is too much and with white dancing before her eyes she goes to the floor once more. She lands in a heap of hair and useless limbs and agony. She feels phantom chains wrapping around her, trying to hold her back. She won't be held back! She will break free of the spell holding her in place. Even if she has to crawl to do it. She cries out a little louder as she rolls onto her hands and knees. Walking is over rated! It as if invisible hands are wrapping around her ankles, and her wrists, trying to hold her back. To keep her there, but she won't be denied.

Sleeping Beauty crawls closer and closer to the door. The sound of Her voice getting louder now. It is low, pitched pleasantly. She can't quite make out what She is saying. She needs to get closer to the door. The resistance is getting stronger, and stronger, until the invisible restraints on her arms and legs became to become painful. They aren't hands at all, but bands of pain that are cutting into her flesh. She screams out her frustration, and tries to press on forward. She can feel her skin shredding underneath the invisible manacles, blood beginning to drip down her flesh. She keeps pushing, keeps trying to get to the door. She won't fail. She will get to the door. She wants to stop and rest, but if she did she knew that whatever was trying to stop her would pull her backward. Back into the abyss. Back to the bed. Back to Dreams.

She scrambles, and scrambles forward. The restraints pressing into her skin even harder as she gets her hand onto the door. She claws at it, at first loosing purchase as the restraints jerk her backward. She screams louder and digs her nails into the carpet, dragging herself back to the door. This time she gets her hands onto the doorknob. She twists it and the door opens just a crack, it is dark on the other side but she can hear Her voice a bit louder now.

“'Better to not give in to it. It takes ten times as long to put yo...'” Her voice trails off, or was lost to the roar in Sleeping Beauty's head.

The roar sounds from behind her, and she screams out. She won't be dragged back in! She claws and claws at the door, getting it open a tiny sliver at a time. Until she catches a glimpse of a woman sitting in a chair near by.... So close by. The world through door is like looking through someone else's eyes, if they had them only open a slim crack. The woman's dark head bent over the slim e-reader in her hands. The woman's mouth is moving, but all Sleeping Beauty can hear is the roar from behind her. She curls her fingers over the edge of the door frame, and tries to pull herself through it but she can't because of the invisible restraints pulling her backward. The roar louder and louder. The woman's head lifts and dark eyes meet hers for a moment, a lopsided smile curling over Her lips. And Sleeping Beauty thinks She mouths, 'You're awake'.

But before she can answer, before she can scream for a hand … The thing trying to stop her from getting through the door yanks hard on her arms and legs. The force drags her back from the door several feet, and it slams shut. She screams and thrashes, but is dragged back to the bed. She lands in a heap at the foot of the bed, before finding herself tossed back onto it. She squeezes her eyes shut tightly, hoping to wish it all away. Hoping that she could make herself open her eyes and she would see Her sitting by her bed, reading to her.

A hissing, sibilant voice in the back of her mind, “I'm still hungry... I will devour your world...”

Sleeping Beauty screams, and weeps … Opening her eyes to find herself hanging in the darkness between the stars, staring at the dark outline of a massive creature. A mass of writhing tentacles, and impossible limbs. She is still there. Still trapped with the monster that wants to destroy the world, and everyone she ever loved.