AN: Hi all ! First time writer here, after many years of reading FF, I'm experimenting on the other side of the spectre. Hope you'll enjoy the story, there's not much of it yet but we'll see where it goes!

Ever woken up and felt like things were a bit… off? Like your glasses aren't where you left them the night before, your phone still doesn't have battery despite you plugging it in the night before, you realize half your sheets ended up on the floor sometime during the night?

Multiply that by a hundred – no, a thousand – and you might just get what I'm feeling.

And no, I'm not being dramatic.

For starters, I'm pretty sure my room didn't look like this last night. I used to be in a cosy two bedroom flat I rented with my best friend. My room was small, but it had all the requisites – bed, check, wardrobe, check, desk, check. I had even decorated it with some pictures of my family and friends, and a couple fairy lights.

There were no fairy lights here. Instead, there's a gorgeous window seat at the foot of my bed, an antique chimney to my right, the ceiling feels twice as high as my old one, the room is rectangular instead of square, the bed is lumpy, there are no pictures… this all feels wrong, wrong WRONG.

Plus, it's unseasonably cold. I mean, ever heard of a radiator?

There's a knock at my door. For a second, I'm stunned, not entirely sure I might not be dreaming all of this up, but before I can muster a response someone bustles in, and starts to lay a fire in the hearth.

Okay, what?

I cough, trying to grab her attention. She – she's definitely a she – is dressed like she's in some sort of period drama. But she looks more like a "Downton Abbey" maid than anything else. She jumps a little when she hears me cough.

"Oh, Miss Mary, I thought you were still abed! I hope your first night out of the nursery went all right? You see, no monsters under the bed, just like I told you."

Still quite spooked, I just shake my head. First night out of the nursery? What on earth is she on about? And how does she know my name? I'm slightly irritated by her tone – I'm not a child.

"Come along now, if you're up you should get dressed. I'm sure you are looking forward to your first day having classes with your elder sisters!"

Okay, what?

I have never had sisters. My only brother, Mark, definitely never shared classes with me because he was a good seven years older than me.

"What's going on?" I ask. "Is this some sort of a joke?"

"No, no joke, silly! You've only been asking to be let out of the nursery and away from Kitty and Lydia for a year now, you're not going to have cold feet now, are you? Come on, out you get. I'm sure you'll do just fine in your studies, no need to be nervous, my dear. I've always said it, 'Miss Mary is sharp as a tack, she is, just wait and see how she does out of the nursery.'"

I really don't understand what's going on. This must be some form of elaborate prank, but frankly whoever did this has gone too far. I'm completely lost, and I honestly feel like crying. Mechanically, I obey the lady – I'm guessing she's some sort of servant – and get out of bed.

And I almost fall flat on my face.

I'm in the body of a child!

I sit back down on the bed, feeling faint. No, this cannot be happening. Is this some sort of hallucination? What sort of drugs am I on? I beg whoever may be out there and listening to just stop this charade and let me get back to me. My life. You know, I was a 24 year old girl, fresh out of university, living the life in the big city and starting her new job. Life was good! I got a computer science degree at a prestigious school, I was rooming with my bestie… Why?

As I start taking breaths to try to stop hyperventilating, my brain starts catching the clues… Kitty… Mary… elder sisters… old fashioned clothes.

No. I may be a fan, and a pretty die hard one at that, but this is going too far. I can't be stuck in some version of Pride and Prejudice. Nope.

"Miss Mary, are you all right?"

"I'm fine," I gasp, and I sit up.

And I'm Mary?

Orange Restricted