THE WRITER'S BLOCK FINALLY LET UP A LITTLE WOO HOO
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[x] Anna
Anna sat in the center of a pool. Blue-green waves lapped gently against her waist, soothing her bare skin. She could feel it push and pull against her. Back and forth, push and pull, push and
pull, push and…
Pull.
Down she went, down under the waves and into the deep. Her body shook and twisted in the current, but she made no effort to escape the tumult. Deeper and deeper she was drawn, until all she could see was darkness.
She felt it then. The smooth barrier of lumber. The source of the pull. It called to her, begged her to come over,
needed her to. She beat against the wall, struggling to find a crack or weakness and break through. Her lungs began to burn and her arms felt heavy, so heavy, so weak.
Were her hands always this small? Was the water always this hot?
Tiny fingers clawed against the wooden barricade, seeking any notch or lip to grab and pull, anything to open a way out. She could feel the heat behind her, consuming, devouring, burning away the world as it raced towards her. Red light slowly suffused the landscape, bathing the deep in fire.
The water, cool and sweet, wrapped around her as she struggled to escape. It bound to her skin, shifting into a thin layer of translucent cloth. It, too, feared the flames and clung to her like a frightened child.
Her fingers found something. In the poor light, all she saw was a patch of black against the reddish wood, but her fingers felt some kind of cavity. The heat bore down on her as she dug in, seeking any kind purchase. Her thumb pushed against a strange lump, and the wall before her shifted. A square section, twice as tall as her, popped ajar from the rest of the barrier.
She gripped its edge and pulled with all her might. Her arms strained, her feet ached, her lungs and nose burned with sulfur. The inferno closed around her, crackling like laughter as it inched further towards her. It was on her heels when she pulled the doorway open, and a tongue of flame reached for her as she dove through.
There was a feeling like something tearing through her midsection, and she turned as she fell through the doorway. On the other side of the door was a young girl with blue hair, dressed in a simple green dress. She was crying, beating against an invisible wall as the flames slowly ate her body.
Anna reached out towards the girl, but the current
pulled again. She struggled against it, pushing towards the girl. Back and forth she went, push and pull, push and
pull, push and…
Pull.
Down she went, down from the girl and into the deep. Her body shook and twisted in the current as she struggled to escape its grasp. Deeper and deeper she was drawn, until all she could see was darkness.
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Day 4
Morning
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Your eyes flash open as you jolt awake. You're sweaty, your heart is pounding, and you feel so
cold. An unnatural shiver crawls down your spine as you reach out to steady yourself.
It's okay, you tell yourself.
It's just a dream. Just another crazy, terrible dream. You sigh as you wave your arm a little, sear
ching, scrambling for purchase against the empty air.
You feel an itching sensation in your Seals.
Empty air? Shouldn't you have reached the wall by now?
You twist around to find that, at some point in your sleep, you'd turned around and the wall was on the other side of the bunk. Which left your leaning side hanging over open air.
Thoughts of your nightmare are quickly driven from your mind as you yelp, falling off your perch and crashing to the floor far below in a graceless heap, your legs stretched awkwardly in the air behind you by fabric. A chorus of whines and derisions echo around you, none particularly notable as you groan into the wooden boards.
A stray hand drunkenly grabs at your head, poking your cheeks and inelegantly groping the majority of your face. "Anna," a tired voice calls from your side. "Did you fall again?"
You attempt to turn your head, but the awkward angle prevents you from seeing any more than the small frame of the girl who was unfortunate enough to sleep in the bunk below yours. Her hand gropes your cheeks with a little more purpose, and you hear her click her tongue at you.
"Yeah, yeah," You whisper loudly, struggling against your bedding. It seems your fall managed to tangle it into a tight knot around your legs. "Could you help a little, Caph?"
"One sec" another click of the tongue, and her fingers deftly slipped into the knot, wriggling for a moment. "Almost…"
The knot loosens in an instant, and your lower body drops with a
thud against the ground.
"...got it," Caph helpfully proclaims.
You groan in response as you drop your head to the floor with a light
thunk. It's too early for this shit. Far too early.
Click. Something pokes your side. "Anna, get up," your bunkmate chides. "You're not easy to walk around like that."
You sigh as you pull your legs under you and stand, grabbing your dislodged bedding as you do so. You toss it onto your mattress and stand to one side. "There, aisle's clear."
Another click. "So it is!" Caph crawls off her bed and faces you. She's quite a bit shorter than you, crown just barely reaching your chin. Her nightwear hangs loosely off her thin and fragile figure, giving her a ghostly look. Short white hair frames her small face and simple smile. Her grey eyes almost look at you, but don't really focus right. She's staring a little to your left. "Thank you."
"It's no problem," you assure, and her head adjusts slightly. "I'm just sorry I woke you up."
She shrugs, eyes still unfocused. "Meh, I can use the extra time to get myself ready for the day. It's always nice to take care of
myself, go at my own pace" she walks around you and moves cautiously towards the baths, clicking all the while.
"I- yeah. Okay." You mumble. You mentally slap yourself.
I can't believe I made another spectacle of myself.
It wouldn't be so bad if you could keep quiet. The nightmares come and go all the time, but over a decade you've gotten fairly good at making your episodes minimally disruptive to the other girls. Yad-Caph, the girl beneath you, stopped complaining about any noises from your bunk long ago, only every once in a while groaning about how creaky the frame was when you moved.
She was kind enough not to say anything after your worst nights.
You step out into the center of the room, a small walkway that cut between the stacked bunks. You navigate the messy floor with a grace that came with familiarity, stepping around various piles of clothing, literature, and hobby material. Say what they would of you, at least you and Caph kept your floor cleaner than most. It was by necessity, of course, but true nonetheless.
You quickly ready for the day and leave the women's quarters behind. After a minute you find yourself at the dining hall, seated with a plate of bread and eggs. It's nothing special, but it's a hot meal in a mostly quiet room. Few people are up this early, allowing you to eat in peace for once. A few tables down, Caph eats with an older, much groggier woman. The girl laughs as her friend falls into her food, coming up a moment later with an eggy face mask.
You almost move to join them when you're startled by a plate clattering across you. You turn, speaking out of habit, "Sheesh, Miriam, you nearly gave me a hea-"
Vibrant viridian eyes meet your own grey ones. Familiar raven hair peeks from under her headdress. A bandaged hand shakily lets go of her plate, and her other shovels a bit of egg into her mouth. There's a bit of her usual demeanor in her eyes: defiance and a bit of disdain for you, but you can see a hint of something else in her posture from this close. A hint of doubt, of fear.
Lo-Ruhammah swallows and clears her throat. "H-hey Anna," She says it casually, but your name sounds odd in her mouth. Like it's not used to the shape of the word. "You don't mind if I s-sit here, d-do you?"
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[] "Actually, I was just leaving."
[] Do not respond.
-[] Leave
-[] Stay
[] Scream
[x] Internally
[] "Not really…?"
