ASYLUM

"Aaaaah!" Annabelle was falling down, down. She glimpsed the black night sky with a bright round moon and dark buildings before landing in water. She went under, choking on the thick liquid which did not taste like water. She kicked and flailed, trying to move upwards. She had lost sense of direction, and started panicking. It was dark, and the murky liquid was impenetrable. Gasping for air, she waved her hands wildly, blindly trying to find something to hold onto. Her hands touched something slimy, and though her skin crawled, she seized it with both hands and pulled herself up. Her lungs burned, but she could feel the water becoming less dense. Suddenly her head was no longer in water, and she took in deep, long uneven breaths which hurt her chest.

"What is this? Who dares disturb me!" a deep female voice boomed.

Annabelle whirled around and screamed. She screamed so loud that she thought she might burst her own ears, for the thing that had spoken was hideous. It had green scaly skin that looked slimy to touch and large eyes that glowered at her. Annabelle realized horribly that it was the thing that she had grabbed. Frozen with utter terror she gaped at the monster that seemed to be female. Her legs had gone numb and she wildly tried to support herself with her arms.

"What are you doing here? Get out!"

Before Annabelle could move, the monster had grabbed her, and with strong arms hurled her out of the water. Landing hard on smooth concrete, she tumbled further until she hit a wall, and lay there stunned. After a moment, she twitched, slowly regaining herself. Groaning with effort, she got up. Annabelle was sure that she had had a concussion and was now dreaming, for she was no longer at Riks' place, but somewhere else entirely.

It was night, and a huge moon loomed in the sky. She was surrounded by buildings that seemed out of perspective, colourless and shabby looking. The water that she had landed in was in fact a fountain which seemed to be the centre of the place. Her heart raced and she quickly backed up to put as much space between herself and the fountain, for she did not want to meet the green fish monster again. Bumping into something she spun around to see that it was not the wall but a structure of some sort with two beams about ten metres high. After noticing the sharp blades at the top, she realized that it was in fact a guillotine.

Annabelle was scared and wet. Her dress weighed down on her shoulders. She had no idea where she was or how she got there. She had just run into a fish monster, and was standing below a device that has not been used for centuries. Her heart felt it was going to burst and her head was spinning.

She ran, not knowing where to, hopelessly trying to dodge the shadows that followed her. She ran down gloomy streets before stopping beside a wall to catch her breath. Her heart beat so loud that she wondered why no one was yelling at her to keep it down.

Breathing more steadily, she started to feel tears well in her eyes. She felt so guilty about yelling at Siana and ruining Riks' party. Now she was going to be seen as a stupid baby, and it was because she had yelled at her friend for something she shouldn't have been worrying about, and now she was in hell, atoning for her sin. Annabelle was so caught up in self-guilt that she did not notice the horrible music playing beside her.

The band watched the strange looking girl. She was unlike anything in Halloween Town. She was hardly scary looking at all, just a sad lonely figure. She reminded them of their leader, Jack, and how he used to look so down. But now he's happy, now that's he's met Sally that lovely girl.

Annabelle turned around to keep moving and finally noticed them watching her. She froze, her eyes almost popping out of her head. They stood there staring at one another, not daring to make a move.

Finally the cello player spoke up.

"You alright there lassie?"

Annabelle shrieked and ran away, looking for somewhere to hide. There! That gate! She tore for it and slid through before running up the long staircase. She prayed that the door was not locked and that whoever lived there was not a green fish monster or zombies or any other sort of monster from horror movies.

Slamming into the door she tried the knob. It opened with a loud creak. Tearing in, she slammed the door behind her and closed her eyes. Her heart was pumping hard, and the adrenalin had not subsided. She was gasping for breath, so she lay there under the door hoping no one would come through for her head was right beside it.

Minutes passed, and she still lay there. No monsters had come knocking, so she thought she was safe inside the house. Sitting up slowly she suddenly noticed how different she looked. Her dress was wet and in tatters, though Annabelle cannot recall how she tore it without noticing. Her arms and legs were much paler than before, but that could also be the lighting. Looking around she noticed that she could see, though rather dimly, without any lights on. The moon was so bright it was almost like the sun, thought its light was shady and ghostly. She was in some sort of library, for the room was circular, and the wall was covered with shelves and shelves of books. Creeping to a stack of texts, she lay back on it using it for support.

Annabelle was tired and, now that she realized it, hungry. She wasn't scared anymore, and almost started to think that what had just happened had been figments of her imagination, thought she dared not to look out the window. Then she was overwhelmed in her self guilt again. She should never have gone off at Siana, never had gone and trashed Riks' room, never have come here…

But where is here? Where is she? Surely she would remember how she got here? But her mind was fogging up. She wanted so much to just close her eyes and drift off to dreamland, but she couldn't, she shouldn't. What if monsters came?

There are no such things as monsters, she told herself, and already her eyes were becoming too heavy to hold open. Tilting her head to rest it on a pile of stacked books, Annabelle fell asleep.