Galinda's Nightmare
A/N: This is a companion piece to vinkunwildflowerqueen's 'Come What May'. It is based on the chapter where Galinda cuts Elphaba's hair.
Galinda had a horrible, horrible dream.
There were scissors everywhere, their sharp snips slicing the cold air. Razor sharp edges inched closer and closer, threatening their onslaught. Galinda tried to scream but could neither move nor speak – she was frozen, paralysed, and forced to watch as the scissors approached their target.
They seemed to whisper: Get the hair.
NO, thought Galinda – No, don't take it away!
She couldn't cry, though she desperately wanted to. The army of hair choppers moved ever closer, their tips opening and closing, circling their target, who sat in a chair in the middle of the blackness. Her head hung forward, the beautiful midnight silk sheaths cascading over her hunched shoulders and down her back.
Green hands were clasped on her lap.
PLEASE, Galinda screamed, or tried to, but she was ignored, and the scissors danced around, cackling and snipping the air, teasing Galinda by approaching the hair and then pulling away. Then, a pair of pale hands appeared out of nowhere and grasped one of the pairs of scissors, and Galinda sucked in a deep breath, horrified that she recognised the pink nail varnish that decorated those small, round nails.
I'M SORRY, she thought. I RUINED IT!
Flashes of other things began to appear: a set of soaking bed sheets; a sad, haunted stare, echoes of wailing and despair; random words – 'Take control'; 'I can't!' – and guilt, endless guilt overwhelming her.
Snip. Cut. Chop.
Black streaks falling to the floor, lying dead in a messy heap. Chocolate brown eyes staring at her with a mixture of gratitude, sadness and insecurity. More flashes – a clinical smell; needles; a small, thin body crumpled up in a heap on the floor; a white coat and a shaking head – 'There's nothing more we can do.'
Galinda screamed. And woke up.