I next came to with a groan. My head hurts like hell and light is streaming in my face, making me wince before I even opened my eyes. The very fact that light is streaming in my eyes tells me I'm no longer in my apartment, since I'd blocked all light from the windows ages ago.

Turning away from the window, I blearily open my eyes and sit up slowly so as not to aggravate the jack hammers in my skull. Quickly taking stock of myself and my surroundings, I note a few things instantly. First off is that I'm naked and under a fairly thick blue quilt. Something about myself also seems extremely strange, like my perspective of things is skewed. Everything seems a lot bigger than I would have expected.

I'm not sure where I am though. Disregarding everything being bigger than usual, I'm in a wide room with ten beds, and I'm in the one farthest to the right. Four of the other beds look occupied and the window that'd been shining in my eyes is between me and the bed next to me on the back wall. There's a door across from me, and another across from the bed at the opposite end.

This is where things get decidedly odd though. The walls appear to be made of cobblestone, and there are no electric lights anywhere. Instead, there are torch sconces with unlit torches in the wall. I'm not sure what to make of this at all. Was I transported to a third world country or something? I live near the VA hospital, so why the heck am I here? It's obvious from my injury that wherever I am, this is supposed to be some kind of clinic. The fact that the guy in the bed next to mine is wrapped up in enough bandages to pass off as a mummy also lends to that idea.

Before I can muse anymore on where I might be, someone, no something, enters from the far door, and my train of thought abruptly crashes to a halt. I'm not sure what it is, but it's freakishly tall, bipedal, various shades of brown, furry, and has tentacles for arms. It also has a lot of mini tentacles for hair and no face. No mouth, no nose, no eyes, nothing. It just has indentations where those things would normally be.

I stare at it gaping, and it suddenly freezes. I don't know if it's caught sight of me or what, but it is facing my direction. Quickly, it backpedals to the door and closes it swiftly, though quietly. I have no idea what the hell that was about, but I've got a pretty good idea that wherever I am, I'm probably not at Florida, let alone Earth, anymore.

I'm not really sure what to think at all. My brain seems stuck on the fact that some weird alien thing, that inexplicably seems almost familiar for some reason, just entered and exited the room. An alien. A freaking ALIEN. What the hell!?

While my mind is running this litany of shock, the door across from me opens, and I automatically turn towards it, only for my mind to come to a screeching halt. There, in the doorway, is a man wearing a blue tunic and white wrappings, a turban, and a cowl, making him look like a cross between a ninja and an Arab. He has straw like blonde hair, and deep red eyes that are observing me just as closely as I'm observing him.

He approaches me slowly, "Relax. You're safe."

I nod slowly, still utterly dumbfounded at this turn of events. The man approaches my side and gives a small short bow, "My name is Sheik. May I have your name?"

On automatic, I answer, "Matthew."

"How are you feeling?"

"Like my head is getting repeatedly smashed by a hammer, literally and figuratively."

I'm not sure where I got the wit for that answer, and the utter ridiculousness of this situation made me giggle. It's not a sound that lends well convincing someone you're well, but then again, I'm starting to feel convinced that whatever happened last night has made my brain crack, so I must be in an insane asylum.

Sheik's eyes crease at the sound I made. I think he's frowning. Gently, he places his hand against my forehead and the pain in my skull recedes a little. Almost without my volition, my eyes partially close and I lean into the touch.

After a moment, Sheik pulls his hand away, and he pulls a bottle full of red liquid out of the folds of his tunic. Uncorking it, he hands it to me and says, "Drink this. It will help. It's a healing potion."

Taking the bottle, I tilt it back, draining its contents. The taste nearly makes me gag. I guess no matter where you go, medicine is always bound to taste bad. Thankfully, my headache recedes thanks to the magical cure all. Not only had my headache gone away, but I felt better than I ever had in my entire life.

I handed the bottle back with a quick, "Thanks." Sheik nodded. I watched quietly as Sheik put the bottle away and adjusted a few things, checking my pulse, and rummaging with a few things in the dresser next to the door across from the bed. He pulled out a pair of pants, a shirt, and underthings for me and set them at the end of the bed.

Sheik then, to my consternation even if I was partially expecting it, pulled down the quilt and made to pick me up. Quickly I covered my lower area and asked, "What are you doing?" Sheik stopped and said, "You need a bath. We cleaned you as best we could last night, but we couldn't do much about the blood in your hair from the hit you took. Now that you've had a potion, you need to be cleaned."

I nodded and said, "Ok, but that doesn't explain why you're exposing me like this."

Sheik's eyebrow rose and he asked deadpan, "Do you think you can make it to the bath yourself?"

In answer, I swung my legs over the side and made to stand up, only to be hit by a wave of extreme vertigo and fell back to the bed gripping the sheets, waiting for the room to stop spinning. Meanwhile I asked, "What the heck is this? I thought the potion healed me?"

Sheik answered, "The potion did heal the damage, but it always has strange side effects from healing head injuries. Despite healing the damage, the head injury persists as if it's still there for a while."

Groaning, I shut my eyes, willing the spinning to stop. Once again, Sheik placed her hand against my forehead, and slowly the spinning stopped. Finally I opened my eyes, and he asked, "Will you allow me to take you to the bath?" Wearily I nodded.

Sheik picked me up, and the room started spinning again, but it didn't stop me from noticing one crucial fact. I'm freaking tiny compared to Sheik! What the heck? What happened to my 6'6" tall form? Sheik carried me out the door, down the hall, and into a bathroom. I can't tell you anymore than that since my head hadn't stopped spinning the entire time. I heard more than saw Sheik twist a knob, and heard running water.

After a few moments of this, Sheik set me in the water and proceeded to bathe me. I contemplated stopping him to bathe myself, but the spinning didn't stop till a few minutes into the bath, and by that time, I'd started to find the experience extremely relaxing, so I just let Sheik continue without a fuss.

Meanwhile, my brain is working on overdrive, trying to identify if I've gone insane or not, as well as trying to shove away the déjà vu I'm experiencing, since this entire situation matches almost exactly with a day dream I had when I was eleven that spawned an entire story that I'd continued to this very day and lovingly dubbed it my double life.

But now I seem to be living it, or the beginning of it anyway. Here I am, being bathed by Sheik from The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, and now that I recognize the situation, I realize that the alien from earlier must've been Aunt Beast from A Wrinkle In Time. I really don't get how any of this is possible. I already know that the fact that I'm aware that this should be fake answers my question about whether I've gone insane or I'm dreaming. Dreamers don't know they're dreaming and when they are, they usually wake up. At least that's what happens to me, and I've heard that insane people don't know they're insane, so can't question their sanity, and hoo boy I can tell you that I'm very much questioning my sanity right now!

To get my mind off of the thoughts starting to spiral out of control in my head, since they're not getting me any answers, I opt to find some answers from Sheik, and ask, "Where are we?"

Sheik didn't stop washing me as he'd started gently working soap into my tender scalp, and answered, "Patience. I'll answer your questions after the aftereffects of your injury fades." Sighing softly, I answer, "Alright."

Thankfully, it didn't take long for the bath to finish, even if a part of me didn't really want it to end at all. Sheik set me up, dried me off in a large fluffy white towel, then carried me back to the previous room and dressed me. At that point, I'd given up making a fuss, and just followed his silent directions as he moved me into position to maneuver the clothes on.

Truth be told, despite the entire situation being surreal and entirely improbable, I'm enjoying myself immensely. I can even pretend for a moment that I'm back in that daydream from when I was eleven, which really isn't all that hard, and that Sheik is taking care of me and showing me a tender love and caring that I'd been craving practically all my life.

As soon as Sheik had finished dressing me, I asked, "How long until the injury fades?"

"It could take anywhere from an hour to half a day. Considering you shouldn't have even awoken until much later on, it may be even earlier. Are you hungry?"

I sighed and nodded. So much for Sheik rocking me for a while I guess. Of all the parts of the day dream that'd come true, why'd that one have to not be part of it?

"What's wrong?" Sheik asked. I guess he'd noticed my disappointment or something. I schooled my features and said, "It's nothing." Sheik's eyes furrowed once more and he said, "If something is bothering you, please tell me. It might be a previously unknown injury acting up, or something else. Whatever is bothering you, it can't be treated if you don't say anything."

I shook my head and said, "It's not an injury. It's just… a while back, I had a dream that was really similar to this one. So far everything that's happened has followed pretty closely to that dream, except one thing, but it's not that big of a deal."

Sheik's eyebrows had shot up in surprise and asked, "You've dreamed this before? Perhaps it was a vision. What happened in this dream that hasn't happened yet?" I ducked my head and softly mumbled, "In the dream… you picked me up and rocked me for a while, even before you went to bathe me, and afterwards too."

I risked a glance up at Sheik's face. I'm not sure I can identify the expression he's wearing. I look back down, feeling embarrassed. The next thing I know, Sheik is reaching for me, and picks me up and starts rocking me. Shocked, I look at him in surprise. His eyes seem to crinkle and he says gently, "Relax."

Unbidden, I do start to relax into the swaying motion. Sheik is holding me very close. A warm feeling starts to seep through me and I'm almost transported back to that moment, when things were far simpler and all I had wanted was a reprieve from the hell my life had been, and my day dream of Sheik giving me something I desperately wanted answered that.

I feel warm, safe, cocooned. Like everything is perfectly alright and nothing bad will ever happen. It's a heady feeling and something I could easily get addicted to. I relax to the point of bonelessness, and my eyes drift closed as my cares are slowly wiped away. Why this is happening, why am I so small, what happens next, have I gone mad… all of it gently wiped from my mind.

Just like in the dream, Sheik started humming Zelda's Lullaby and the sound of it causes a smile to appear unbidden on my face. I can't help but snuggle a little closer to Sheik, and I can almost hear the smile in his voice as he continues to hum to me.

I've no idea how much time passes before I felt Sheik shift and stand up. I open my eyes partially to watch as Sheik carries us out the door. He takes me further down the hall to an entrance hall of sorts and up a staircase to the second floor. Despite everything appearing larger than normal, the place isn't quite as big as I expected. There's only two floors, and I'm guessing the hall and the few side rooms, and the central dining room are the only rooms in the place.

Even the dining room Sheik carries me into isn't as big as I expected. It's still fairly big, but it's more cozy, and the table is just big enough to seat ten people.

Sheik took a seat, setting me down in her lap, a departure, but a welcome one from the dream, since the dream had me placed in a chair. I'm guessing the injury had finally faded since going from laying in Sheik's arms to a vertical position in his lap didn't make the room spin.

Without a word spoken, the Alien from earlier, Aunt Beast, brought in a large silver tray laden with food from a separate door from the one we entered. I watched as she set the tray down and gave a small bow. Words echoed in my head, giving me a start, 'Greetings little one. I'm sorry if I gave you a scare earlier. You may call me Aunt Beast. What's your name?'

"Hello. My name is Matthew. You didn't scare me. I was just surprised."

Aunt Beast's hair tentacles waved and I got a feeling of amusement from her. It was a little odd. I looked down at the food available. Sheik made me a plate of fruit, eggs, sausage, and a biscuit before making herself a plate of the same. I watched interested as Sheik pulled down his cowl. His face isn't very remarkable. He's rather tan and has a rather boyish face. Add that to his rather flat chest, and one wouldn't have thought he is a female other than his somewhat feminine figure. I guess that answers the question of whether Sheik changes his gender with his disguise.

While eating, there was a bit of small talk, mainly Aunt Beast asking me about where I lived. Sheik didn't say much. I answered what I could. The questions weren't all that invasive. Just general questions about my usual activities, reading, what kind of stories I read, all kinds, mainly comedies, romance, and adventure stories, and questions about my home.

Once the meal was finished, Aunt Beast took the tray with her back through the side door, that I'm guessing leads to the kitchen. I had to wonder why she's here and why's she's serving as a maid, for all intents and purposes, for Sheik. Aunt Beast isn't gone long before she's back. Sitting down across from Sheik and I again, Sheik turned me sideways, so he could see my face and asked, "You wanted to know where you are?" I nodded.