My sharp heels clicked on the hard stone steps. Everything was pitch black and I could hear nothing. Feel nothing. Life in my dream world was a frightening place, full of nightmares and things of my past. It was all I could do to keep myself from waking up. Then a blinding light forced me onto my knees and lit up this strange world. Lost souls, my father, mother and twin brother, were dancing in the street. They were happier than I had ever seen them in life. I tired to call out to them, but no voice came from my throat. The scene switched, clouds formed a melancholy world above me and rain came down in torrents and lightning smacked through the heavens. The ghosts of my family turned to me at once and opened their mouths, their voices covering me like a sheet of cold sleet.
"You killed us, Madeleine. You killed us," they said together, taking a few steps forward. I backed up and shook my head, words still not forming in my throat. "Why did you kill us, Maddie? Why did you do it?"
I still shook my head, hands covering my ears and tears streaking down my face. A scream ripped its way out of my throat as they jumped out at me. I screamed again and woke up to someone screaming something.
XoXo
I was screaming when they found me, blood pouring down my cheeks and tears mixing in. My hands were throbbing and my fingernails were stained red. Nothing could have prepared me for that nightmare, not even seeing that same nightmare at least ten times before.
"All right, let's take care of you," a warm voice said as I was lifted up and carried away. "What I am going to tell Ben, I have no idea. But, I guess that falls under the category of, 'where do you come from?'"
All I could tell was that they were female. I was scared of them, and writhing in her arms. She tightened her grip but didn't slow down, forcing me to stop squirming.
We walked that way for a few minutes, her arms protective around me and her breath moving strands of my hair. I could not open my eyes to see who it was, though I wasn't unconscious. My mind was reeling, trying to figure out what had happened to me. All I could remember was falling. Falling down and being excited because I might reach my family. And then there was a brief flash of pain and then the dream and then the woman. Everything was swimming around my mind and nothing was straightening out.
"Here we are," the woman said, stopping. She sighed loudly and then walked up some steps. I shivered, suddenly cold in what used to be a warm day. "Don't worry, dear. Ben will be here soon enough and you'll be fixed."
"I don't want to be fixed," I whispered hoarsely, trying to get free again.
"What?" she asked good-naturedly genuinely confused.
"I want to die. Please let me die," I begged, finally opening my eyes. The woman was beautiful. Blonde hair with blue eyes. But she had surprise all over her face. "I am begging you!"
"No. No, it's not up to me," she whispered, laying me down on an operating table.
"What do you mean it's not up to you?" I hissed angrily, trying to sit up. She pushed me down and grabbed a walkie-talkie from her belt. "Answer me! What do you mean it's not up to you?!"
"Ben. I need you over here," she growled, talking into black box in her hand.
"Why?" the box answered in a man's voice, crackling a little bit.
"Because I have something you need to see. And bring the doctor."
"Fine. And Juliet?" Juliet just looked at the box and didn't respond. "If you've disturbed me for no reason then there will be consequences." I could hear the threatening tone in his voice and knew that this was someone not to be messed with. Juliet sighed and turned back to me, obviously trying to figure out who I was.
Blood was still running down my face, but I couldn't feel any pain. It was like every sensation was cut off. I looked up at her with my eyebrows raised and gestured toward the gash on my forehead. "Is there any way this can be cleaned out? I mean, since you're not going to let me die, that is," I said harshly, trying to get her to break under my will.
"Oh, right," she said breathlessly, hurrying into a back room of some sort to get something to clean my head off with. "Here," she whispered, handing me a damp, warm washcloth.
"Thanks I mumbled, grabbing it from her. I pressed it to my forehead and winced. Now I could feel the pain. Now I could feel something. What a wonderful time to feel something too. Juliet stood up again, grabbed the cloth from me and pressed it tenderly to my head. I winced again and smacked her hand away.
"I'm trying to help you so stop trying to get away from me!" she hissed, gripping my shoulder and forcing it back onto my head. I gasped and pushed her off of me. "Fine. If you want blood dripping down your face then be my guest!"
"What does it matter?!" I yelled at her, a headache screaming its way into my mind. "The doctor's gonna fix me up and then I'll be on my merry way. Unless you let me die, that is."
"Why do you want to die so badly?" she asked calmly, still refusing to get angry. "What did you do in the real world that was so bad to you have to die to fix it?" I was wrong. Now she was getting angry and it was much, much, worse than her being happy-go-lucky all the time.
I opened my mouth to retort, but the door slammed open. A red-haired, bug-eyed man walked in with a brunette man in tow. Juliet stood up and crossed her arms over her chest, glaring at me the entire time. The redhead stood off to the side, watching the brunette check me out. "Hi. I'm Jack," the man said, brushing the hair off of my forehead, causing me to since. Again. He examined the cut and grabbed the bloody cloth from Juliet's grip. He pressed it to different areas of my face, clearing all the blood off. "Okay. I'm going to need sutures to stitch this up and disinfectant and another cloth to clear this blood off."
Juliet nodded and walked out of sight. Jack smiled at me and I grimaced back. The other one, Ben it must have been, was just standing there, watching. "What's your name?" he asked, still standing there and just watching.
"Madeleine Bradlee. Why?" I asked him, suspicion clouding my mind. He smirked at me, but just stood there, watching us.
"I think I deserve to know. You are on my turf," he smiled, raising an eyebrow.
"What do you mean your turf?" I asked, sucking in my breath when Jack pressed his fingers to my cut. "Ow! What was that for?!"
"Sorry. Just checking how much work we need to do," he explained calmly, looking around the house to see if Juliet had come back. "Ben. Can you check and see what's taking Juliet so long?"
"Sure, Jack. I'll just do whatever it is that you want me too," he said sarcastically, rolling his eyes.
"I'll take that as a no then," Jack muttered under his breath, looking back at me and smiling. He stood up and then went back over to the wall, sitting down and staring at me. "So, Madeleine, where are you from?" he asked. He had a nice, fatherly way about him. I hung my head and felt a throbbing beat in my head that was keeping time with my heart.
"New York City," I whispered, tears caressing my cheeks with their salty, wet fingers. I looked back up at Jack; his features were crumpled in an effort to look concerned. "Well, actually, a lot of places, but New York is where I was born." He smiled at me again and then came back over and knelt down to face me. His thumb wiped the tears away and stung the tiny scratches on my cheeks.
"Why are you crying?" he asked paternally, taking his thumbs away.
"I think Juliet and Ben are back," I hissed harshly.