I woke up, eventually.

I'll never know how long they had me knocked out. It could've been hours or days, but the only thing I knew was that I was knocked out in Madison Square Garden, and I woke up not in Madison Square Garden. Other than that, I don't know what to tell you.

My first thought when I woke up was: "Not dead?"

And my second thought was: "No shit, Sherlock."

And as I sat up, I had a third thought: "Fuck."

Because I was not in Madison Square Garden. I was not in a hotel room and I was not at my house in Manchester and I sure as hell wasn't away from the men who showed up at the show. I was in a metal room with no windows or doors, and that was a problem. I was still wearing my stage outfit, heels included; blisters where starting to form.

As I lifted myself off what was less of a bed and more of a slab of metal with a pillow strapped to it, I had another thought: "Fucking fuck."

I had a very vivid flashback of roughly the past eighteen years of my life. Hiding from the government isn't a particularly easy lifestyle, especially when a record label approaches you and says, "HEY THERE LITTLE LADY! YOU CAN REALLY SING SOMETHING!" to which I had to respond, "Never call me little lady again." At which point I was presented with a contract and, in a spiteful sense towards two scientific parents who want their one and only (highly intelligent, if I may add) daughter to go into the same field they're working in, sign it, because I was almost out of college and paying for it myself and did I want to be a lab coat wearing nerd? Absolutely not.

But that's another story, never mind.

Anyway.

Yes, I was a chart-topper in multiple countries, but did that mean I couldn't hide from the government? Probably. Did that stop me from trying anyways? No, no it did not. And I did well for four and a half years, up until I apparently did something noteworthy of the government's attention.

What did I do? Who knows! It's not like I tweeted the government " Government hey btw I have strange qualities please arrest me I am not normal!"

I don't even use twitter. Or that many explanation points in one sentence.

I'm continuing to get off topic, so let's recap:

I wake up, am not where I passed out, am most likely in a government facility, stand up, think many things that involve the word "Fuck." Then, as my flashback is coming to a close, the bed gets pulled into the wall and I have a heart attack.

Okay, not actually, but I did fall over.

Multiple sounds of metal and heavy machinery clanking followed, before suddenly the ground lurched underneath me, shooting the compartment I was in upwards at a fast rate. My breathing hitched; I scrambled backwards and forced myself to stand, leaning against the wall behind me and staring around the room with wide eyes. I could feel my stomach in my throat as I continued to go up, accelerating and showing no signs of slowing down or stopping.

And then: WHAM.

Everything froze, my knees buckled, and I was slammed onto the floor in a very violent manor. I lay on the ground for a long moment, before finally picking myself back up and this time deciding just to sit against the back wall. My breathing ragged, I ran my hands through my hair and closed my eyes, holding my head and listening to the silence.

Then: CLUNK.

My eyes snapped open as the wall in front of me, which was now opening upward to show me an enormous room with almost nothing but a huge table in it. I pressed myself further against the wall; if they expected me to stand up and go out there either they were insane or they thought I was insane. There was no way I was willingly going to stand up and walk out there.

Note the key words: stand, walk, and willingly.

All things I did not have to do, considering the wall began shoving me out into the room, despite my protests.

It slammed to a stop when it was almost parallel with the wall, leaving me no choice but to move or be crushed by the wall that was now coming back down to close it off. I scrambled to my feet, stepping out into the open, my feet wobbly with the heels and a lack of food. I struggled to speak, but when I finally managed a meek, "Hello?" it was scratchy and small.

I cleared my throat and tried again, "Hello?" as loud as I could manage. Eventually I found my way over to the table in the center, and around the other side I found one that suited my size a little better. Four chairs sat around it – three of them older and almost rusty looking and one of them crushed. The one closest to me looked newest; I ran the bar under my hand, feeling the cool metal and looking around again.

"S-seriously there are four chairs in here!" I shouted, "I can't be expected to sit in all of them!" I looked back down at the chair, tapping it with my nails; two of them were broken. The sound cut the silence in half and I bit my lip. I stopped tapping. The sound echoed off the walls and bounced back at me. It almost masked the sound behind me.

Almost, but not quite.

I whirled around, my eyes going wide and searching the entire room within a matter of seconds. Granted, my judgment was blurry, but it was better than none. I gripped the chair behind me and shouted, "I FUCKING HEARD THAT."

Off to my left there was a gasp; surprised I managed to hear it over the echoes of my scream, I quickly turned my attention to that side of the room, straining my ears, "…ut a coin in the swear jar!" I heard, and I scrunched my nose, about to shout, "PEOPLE WHO CAN'T HANDLE CUSSING ARE FUCKING WEAK," when I heard it again.

And this time, I saw it.

I basically choked trying to turn fast enough to catch the brown streak the darted behind the leg of the unnecessarily large table, "I SAW THAT!" I shouted, "S-SO COME OUT, O-OR ELSE." Or else what? I have no idea. Was I going to beat them up with my heel?

Actually…

They did come out, and what I was met with caused an overwhelming urge to scream as well as pick up the nearest sharp object and stab myself in the eye.

I didn't do either of those things, actually.

Unfortunately.

Rather, I tried to lurch myself away from the six foot being that had a cockroach head, only to run into the chair that my back was already touching. Why did I think I could go somewhere? Did I think I was going to be able to phase through the chair in order to get further away from the nightmare fuel standing in front of me? Apparently.

The chair made a loud clang that echoed through the room; my hands still clutched the bar, and as it stepped closer and opened its mouth, I used all the strength I could muster to throw the chair in front of me and at it. It didn't get close to going up into the air, but it did tumble across the ground in a loud flurry of clanking that hurt my ears after such a long time of silence. It rolled at it but it dodged it easily; I ran into the table. All the other chairs were on the other side; I gulped as it came closer.

"I'd say there's no need for violent introductions—" Words spilled from its mouth, so I took my own sarcastic advice from earlier and slipped off my shoe, daring to walk closer to it and smack it over the head with a heel, "OW!" it shouted, tripping to the side. I hit it again, and this time it fell, holding its head and collapsing on the floor. I dropped the shoe onto the floor and tried to back away from it, but something grabbed my wrist, pulling me off my feet and dangling me in the air.

Half a scream escaped my mouth as I was twirled around to face nothing but a big blob of blue and an eyeball; it inspected me closely before shaking its head, "Not putting your coin in the swear jar AND beating Dr. Cockroach up with a lady shoe! I think this is one of the most dangerous monsters we've ever gotten!" it shouted directly in my face, and my cheeks lit up pink.

"I'm not—" I tried to say, but then another, stickier hand wrapped around my wrists and pulled me from the blobs grasp, setting me down jarringly on the ground and moving between the blob and me. Covered with green scales and basically towering over me.

"Maybe compared to you," the scaly creature said, "But definitely not to me." It boasted, and I scrambled backwards on my hands and feet before finally standing upright, taking no more than three panicked steps backwards before tripping over the cockroach, which was starting to stand up. I landed on my ass, falling with a squeak from my closed up throat.

"Deepest apologies." It said, offering a hand to me once it was standing again. I stayed in place, staring at it and shaking my head, hugging my knees to my chest. It backed away, walking over to the other two, who were arguing back and forth over who was scarier, me or the fish. I stayed huddled on the floor.

"Gentlemen, please." The cockroach said, and they both quieted, stepping away from each other; the fish pouting, the blob smiling.

"I guess monster chicks aren't as rare as you've made them out to be, eh Doc?" the fish asked, raising an eyebrow. I choked on the word: monster. I would've stood and punched it in the face if I hadn't been going into shock.

"We've still a two to four ratio of female to male." The cockroach said, and the fish rolled its eyes. I lifted myself off the ground, walking backwards and trying not to shake violently.

"Okay Vanity," I whispered to myself, praying to go unnoticed, "Vanity Morgan…this…this isn't even real, okay? Right? It's not…not real…you know what happened?" I side stepped the chair and rubbed my temples, "You were walking on the catwalk and you thought you saw government officials so you ran and then you fell. And everyone was like 'Oh no Vanity Morgan fell' and you probably had to get unnecessary surgery so you're on a lot of pain medication or laughing gas or something but what you're seeing is not…what you're seeing…" I hugged myself, smiling softly and closing my eyes, my pace slowing as I continued backwards, "If you just keep your eyes closed long enough…they'll go away…they always do…they'll go away…"

I ran into something else with my back.

It only hit the middle, but I froze, reaching my hand down to feel it. Rubber faded connected to fabric. I opened my eyes, looking behind me, which wasn't enough. I had to look up. My eyes followed a shoe to an ankle, to a leg to a stomach to a torso, to a face. Happy blue eyes stared down at me, meeting mine almost instantly.

"I had no idea we were getting a new monster today!" she said happily; her voice froze me in place, her words hitting me in the face like she was trying to make me feel horrible, "Listen, they're no good for first impressions, believe me I would know!" she laughed, leaning down and getting on her knees to come closer. My feet were glued to the ground, "I'm Ginormica, or Susan, either one works really! You?" she asked, watching me expectantly.

There was this long moment of silence. Everyone was listening. Everyone was listening. Everyone was listening to my breathing, because I wasn't speaking words.

Everyone was listening when I gave up the calm and collected.

Everyone was listening when I screamed.

I launched myself away from Susan, my feet hitting the ground in an uneven pattern since one heel was six inches off the ground and the other wasn't. Susan jumped when my fit started, putting a hand over her mouth; I could hear her apologies behind me but they were being drowned out by me. I almost ran into the wall, hitting it with my fists and speaking my first words since they'd shown up, "I'VE WORKED—" –BANG- "—TOO HARD FOR THIS—" –BANG- "—TO LET MYSELF—" –BANG- "—GET CAUGHT NOW—" I darted along the edge of the wall, continuing to just fucking scream until my lungs had no air left in them. I hit the wall again, "I HAVE NO PLACE HERE—" –BANG- "—I DIDN'T DO ANYTHING WRONG—" –BANG- "—PLEASE LET ME OUT—" –BANG- "—LET ME OUT—" –BANG- "—LET ME—"

A sharp pain hits me in the back of the neck; my knees buckled before I expect them to and I fall to the floor.

I listen to the echoes of my hysteria as both they and I fade away.