A young blonde girl knelt at a small rocky beach of Liberty Island during morning, examining various rocks. Behind her was a short seawall, and up in the sky, seagulls cried. The young girl wore a yellow dress, which matched her hair colour. She looked at the sun and smiled, a wind picking up, causing her hair and dress to sway. Taking her little shoes off, she stepped into the water, cold waves splashing against her little body. She merrily walked deeper into the water.

Water, water, everywhere... Dreaming? Floating?

Can't breathe. Can't see. Salt? I taste... salt. Eleanor felt pain everywhere, the salty water only making it worse. Good. That means I'm alive. I guess...

She opened one eye, feeling her face scraping against hard, jagged, pointy things. The rocks jabbed at her body as she dragged along them, poking at her bones. Oddly enough, she was flowing over the rocks, and still could not breathe. Was she...underwater? She struggled to stay awake, frequently blacking out. Yet, she struggled against the waves, fingernails clawing slimy rocks...

Waves splashed, seagulls cawed.

Eleanor lied on her back, the warm sun beaming down on her. Her skin was wrinkly, bruised, and swollen. She figured she was thrown into the river after being shot, then floated out to sea, but drifted back. She felt someone touch her sternum. Her vision partly cleared but she could not open her right eye. Her right eye hurt like hell.

Looking around with her left eye, the first thing Eleanor saw was...a doll of a Big Daddy wiggling over her face?

A young blonde girl, soaking wet, knelt over Eleanor. The child smiled when she noticed Eleanor's eye move. Eleanor weakly coughed, water leaking out her mouth and nose. Although it was a painful struggle, Eleanor took her first, albeit weak, deep breath. The tinge of salt stung her tongue. How long was she saturated in sea water?

"I knew he would wake you up!" the girl squeaked. "Good boy!" She patted the doll on the head then hugged him. "We saved Eleanor!" The girl lowered until their foreheads almost touched, Eleanor feeling the girl's hair tickle her face and drip water. Eyes big, the child stroked Eleanor's forehead. "You're back, Eleanor. I missed you," the child whispered. She cocked her head and grinned.

Gradually, Eleanor weakly smiled back as memories flooded.

"Yes... I'm back. I missed you, too, Cindy... And Little Daddy," Eleanor whispered.

The child hugged Eleanor. "We'll be friends forever, won't we?"

"Yes, Cindy...forever..."

The girl let go and giggled. "I'm not so good underwater as I used to be. But I didn't let that stop me!"

Eleanor raised her eyebrows.

"Th...thank you. Thank you," Eleanor managed to say, "you saved me." The sea slug attached to a Little Sister's stomach... My own... If he's still there, in me... He must have saved me...

The two girls overheard a woman's voice shouting for Cindy. The little girl looked up the island.

Eleanor lifted her head, seeing the concrete perimeter surrounding Lady Liberty, a group of people forming, murmuring about the girl ashore...

"Mama, look! We found Eleanor!" Cindy almost cheered.

"Cindy! Get your shoes on! Are you hurt?" Amanda Melzter, Cindy's mother, screamed, running towards her kid.

Eleanor sighed with relief, letting her body relax, though the jagged rocks under her weren't a decent bed. All she could do was lie down, and wait for help, just like back in Rapture. She sighed at that thought.

Though, this time... Father won't be seeing me...

Gradually, everything blurred, then faded to darkness.

Deep sleep.

Eleanor had a dream of Rapture. She dreamt she lied in that big, beautiful, red bed, under the covers. She slept peacefully and motionlessly, like a princess. On the chair was Mother's cigarette, smoking a little. Outside the glass entrance...stood no one.

Eleanor awoke in her dream, quite an oxymoronic scene. She stretched, feet poking beneath the cover. Arms up, she stretched and yawned like a sleepy cat. Letting her limbs drop, Eleanor lied, and waited.

Silence.

Just silence.

Eleanor looked out the glass of the entrance, seeing water silently rising outside. The ceiling began dripping here and there, yet the drops were red. The water outside was also...red? The scent of blood flowed in the room.

After several seconds, Eleanor heard something move under the bed. Sounded like something briefly dragged across the floor, then she felt something tug at her blanket. Puzzled, Eleanor attempted to slide out of bed, but she could not. Her torso refused to budge. She felt the blanket tug again, slightly to the side. Then again. And again.

A pause.

Eleanor's heart thumped. She turned her head and leaned over the bedside, seeing a pool of blood slowly flowing from underneath the bed. She froze. She heard something moving again, causing the blood to ripple.

Tap, tap, drag... Tap, tap, drag...under the bed.

Another tug of the blanket, this time to the other side.

Eleanor let her head fall into the pillow, wondering what was going on. The smell of roses flushed Eleanor's nostrils.

"It's a dream, this isn't real." She tried to sit up, but could not.

Looking at her hands, then opening her palms, Eleanor saw blood. Her hands were covered in blood. She looked down, feeling that the blanket was...wet? She clutched the covers, blood oozing between her fingers. The bed nudged to the side, Eleanor gasping. She noticed blood leaking out her nose. She then tasted blood, and the redness began leaking out her mouth as well.

"Huh, wha, wha...what the hell!?" Fear climbed Eleanor's skeleton. Wet, squishy noises under the bed loudened.

She paused in silence. Tiny puddles of blood formed atop the blanket, seeping through the fabric from underneath.

Grasping the covers again, Eleanor was about to lift them, but hesitated. Did she really want to do this? The blanket tugged again, then the bed kicked up, feet knocking against the floor; Eleanor gasped.

"Mom!?" Eleanor called. She gritted her teeth, eyes wide, breathing hard, panic seeping her whole body. She felt like a scared, pathetic little girl. For once in her life, the first time in her life, she actually wanted...Mother. Anyone was better than no one, right now...

She looked out the glass of the entrance again; everything outside filled up with blood. The face of a lifeless Splicer drifted by, pushing against the glass, deformed face briefly visibly. The face twitched, then drifted off.

A loud crack sounded from the ceiling—Eleanor gasped. The bed buckled again. Breathing so hard her shoulders moved up and down, Eleanor lifted her head, looked down upon the blankets, and lifted them, taking a look into the darkness. From the darkness, a pair of glowing yellow eyes stared back at her.

Before Eleanor could do anything, the blanket slid and she lost grip of it but flipped up, blinding her. She tossed it aside, revealing the other occupant of the bed: A giant, skinless, fleshy, serpentine face chewing on her body, her legs and waist already inside its mouth.

Eleanor quivered as the teeth sunk into her body repeatedly. She smacked her hands against the monster's forehead, trying to push it away, her fingernails just scraping along its smooth flesh. Its nostrils breathed powerfully, blowing air and spattering blood over Eleanor like a set of blood-filled bellows. The monster writhed, growling as if a dog with a chew toy, the glow in its yellow eyes intensifying.

Blood gushed out Eleanor's mouth and nose as the jaws crushed her belly. She wanted to scream for help, to use her Plasmids, to teleport, to do something, anything!

But nothing worked. She could not breathe, couldn't think, totally useless. The monster swallowed; Eleanor grabbed its fangs, now up to her chest. Another swallow; Eleanor got pulled deeper. Teeth gritted, hyperventilating through her nose, Eleanor clawed into the skinless face and eyes, its exhaling breath hot on her. She felt it sucking her body in, breath her up as if she sat in a sauna. Another swallow—one more, and she'd be lunch.

The beast reared with a snarl, hoisting Eleanor up. The bones in her back and neck popped and she slipped into blackness—and sat up in a hospital bed, left eye unblinking.

It was dark. Night time? Breathing hard through clenched teeth, whole body sweaty, Eleanor shook with fear, unable to close her eye. She never felt so scared since she saw Father shoot himself.

As if a dead leaf in the wind, Eleanor twitched under her blanket. She groaned. Eleanor stopped shaking and sat up. She lifted her knees, her head and shoulders dropping on them. She grabbed her forehead, feeling something on her face, a bandage? A large bandage covered her right eye, also going around the back of her head. "Had a little nightmare, Eleanor?" she teased herself. "You need to grow up. Be a big girl, heh heh..." She dropped back to the mattress.

Around her hung transparent blinds. She saw IV hooked up to her arm. She wore a silly garment, not even good enough to be pajamas. The shitty hospital bed had a rather thin blanket.

Eleanor turned her head, and behind the blinds, a pair of giant glowing yellow eyes glared. The beast slowly pushed its skinless head through the blinds, mouth dripping blood, nostrils fuming hot air. Eleanor sat motionlessly, not even breathing, eye big as a few teardrops fell. The serpentine monster raised, eyeing Eleanor as if she were a mouse, its fangs protracting.

Eleanor blinked slowly. The monster...was gone?

The blinds were normal, hanging motionlessly, faint sunlight shining from the hospital windows. The IV remained where it was, Eleanor still sitting up. She slowly inhaled, then slowly exhaled...

Eleanor sighed. She rubbed the tears away and put her hand on her forehead. "Going crazy, huh?" She chuckled. With a groan, Eleanor let herself fall into her terrible bed. "I just want some fucking sleep..."