-8-
I woke up screaming. I think I may have been screaming when I passed out, too. There were still voices around me, talking to me, trying to soothe me and reassure me that everything would be alright.
But it wasn't. Something was terribly wrong.
The darkness of the castle and its cave had been replaced by a stark white background I didn't recognize. Some of the voices around me were female, and for a moment, I feared that the guards had captured the lot of us and taken us to some weird prison or experimental chamber. But some of the other voices were oddly familiar. I couldn't put my finger on it, but I think...
I opened my eyes a little more as the headache eased away. I was definitely not in the castle. This place was some kind of... dream world, a fantasy. There were white lights and metal objects and everything was clean and...
A blond-haired male approached my side and looked down at me with a small smile. "Come on," he urged. "Get up."
My first thought was, 'you mean physically?' But I couldn't will myself to speak. Perhaps the screaming had tired me out. I felt really groggy, like I was just waking up from a dream.
"You okay?" he asked.
I stared, noticing a name tag on his clothes that simply read "K."
"Come on," he whispered. "Everyone's waiting for you."
I wondered who he meant. I wondered where everyone was. I began to feel my memory slipping away, and panicked.
My rapid breathing scared him a bit. He backed off as another person approached my side. "Is she okay?"
It was an older man, with dark hair and eyes that just... were full of stress and age and worry. Somehow, seeing me relieved a bit of the stress in his eyes. "Hey there," he said with a smile.
I couldn't help noticing that everyone here knew me, but I didn't really recognize anyone. Where was I?
The older man continued watching me. It was starting to creep me out, but I couldn't bring myself to say so. Who was this guy? According to his name tag, he was a "Dr. Andersen," but I had no idea who that was.
"Alice," he began.
That triggered something in me. That's me, right? Alice? I couldn't remember for sure.
"Alice, I don't know if you remember me. We're never really met, so I guess you can't. But um..." He paused, trying to regain his composure. This was obviously a big moment for him. "I'm your father."
My what?
"Welcome home."
I'm not exactly sure why, but for some reason I started screaming again.