As soon as the cooling sensation of the cream settled into my skin, my consciousness started to doze off. It wasn't like a normal drift into sleep... it felt like my summer... that heavy, humid weight of the day... was finally sinking down, pulling me under into a deep, silent ridee. I could feel my breathing slowing, my limbs getting heavy and sinking into the mattress until I couldn't even feel the bed anymore. For a second, I thought I was finally going to get that peaceful rest I've been craving... just a quiet, empty sleep where my brain completely shuts up for once.
But then, the floor of my mind seemed to give way.
I felt like I was falling... a sudden, stomach-flipping drop through nothingness that made my heart jump into my throat. It felt like the bed had just disappeared and I was plummeting through a dark elevator shaft until... thump. I landed with a great big thud on my butt, the impact vibrating right up my spine and making my teeth rattle.
"Ouch," I muttered, rubbing my backside as I squinted into the gloom. My tailbone was seriously throbbing, and I was looking around like, Where the heck am I?
I was sitting in a vast, empty space. It was pitch black and silent... cold enough to make the hair on my arms stand up. I looked around, totally confused, trying to see if there was a door or a wall, but it was just... nothing. It was like being stuck inside a giant, empty box with the lights turned off. I stayed still for a second, my heart hammering, until the thick, dark clouds that were swirling around the room started to drift away. As the shadows retreated, a scene began to bleed through the darkness like ink in water.
Revealing itself before me was a sun-drenched field, so bright it actually made my eyes ache after being in the dark.
A young boy was there, his laughter ringing out across the grass in a way that sounded so happy it was almost weird. He looked so small... so full of a light I didn't recognize at all. He was chasing a little pet... a tiny, furry thing that yapped and nipped at his heels... while a woman stood nearby watching him. His mother. She looked at him with a smile that was pure warmth, her dress catching the golden light as it flowed in the wind. He was running around, jumping, just being a normal kid... not the cold-hearted, miserable guy I have to deal with every day.
I watched, mesmerized. Was this really him? Was this Dracarus? He looked so different than the "grouchy plus" man I knew. Here, he was just a kid playing in the fields, happy and completely unaware of the darkness waiting for him. He looked... kind. It was so weird to see him like that... seeing him smile felt like looking at a completely different person. He looked so innocent, like he didn't have a single care in the world, just focused on the dog and the sunshine.
The scenery started to shake.
The bright blue sky began to curdle, turning a bruised, sickly grey that made my stomach turn. The wind picked up, howling through the once-peaceful field until the ground itself seemed to groan. I stumbled, trying to keep my footing as the world tilted and the happy colors started to drain away into nothing. It was like a painting being washed away by rain.
Everything went black again.
I landed flat on my bottom for the second time, but when the clouds cleared this time, the field was gone. I was standing in a hallway, right in front of the Queen's private chambers. The air was cold... dead cold. I saw the little boy again, but the joy was gone from his face. He looked hesitant, almost fearful, as he approached the heavy bedroom curtains. He was walking so slow, like he knew something was wrong but he couldn't stop himself from looking. My heart was thumping in my ears... I wanted to reach out and pull him back, to tell him to run away, but I couldn't move.
He reached out a trembling hand and drew them back.
I wanted to scream, but the sound died in my throat. I was horrified... it wasn't just that she was dead; it was the way it looked. It was supposed to be an accident, but there was blood everywhere... splattered across the white silk, staining the ornate rug. Her body looked mangled, left there like something discarded. It was just unnatural and so supernatural in the worst way possible. It didn't look like a peaceful passing... it looked like a nightmare had come to life in that room.
The boy's scream shattered the silence of the room, a high, jagged sound that tore through the dream realm and felt like it was vibrating in my own bones. I felt my own voice join his, a panicked cry that felt like it was ripping my soul out of my body. The room started to spin, the blood and the shadows blurring together until I couldn't breathe.
I snapped awake, bolting upright in bed with my heart hammering against my ribs.
I was shaking, my skin slick with a cold sweat that made my nightgown cling to me. I tried to wipe the sweat off my face, gasping for air as I looked around the dark room. "What the hell was that?" I whispered, my voice cracking. "Was that... real?"
The image of that little boy... young Dracarus... seeing his mother like that wouldn't leave my mind. It was burned into my eyelids. Every time I blinked, I saw the blood and heard that scream. It made sense now. The grouchy, crunchy, "plus" attitude he carried around like a shield... it wasn't just him being a jerk. It was a scar. He saw something no kid should ever see. I started putting it together... that had to be young Drac. Is that why he's like this? Because of that nightmare?
Panic started to rise in my chest, a cold, unnatural fear that made the room feel too small. Everything felt so unreal to me now... like the world I was living in was just a thin cover for something much darker. I scrambled for the jar of cream on the nightstand, my hands shaking so hard I almost dropped it. I scooped out a handful and rubbed it onto my arms and neck in a frantic, panicked rush. I just needed to stop seeing it. I needed to drown out the memory of that scream and the blood.
I fumbled for the fan, clicking it on high until the whirring blades filled the silence. I needed the noise... I needed anything to stop me from hearing the echo of that hallway. I lay back down, staring at the ceiling, watching the shadows of the fan blades spin around and around. I tried to focus on my breathing, but my heart wouldn't slow down. I was terrified that if I closed my eyes, I'd be right back in that hallway, standing behind that little boy.
Slowly, the cream started to work again, pulling at my senses and making the room feel heavy. My eyes started to close again, and I just prayed I wouldn't go back there. I just wanted to sleep... a real, deep slumber where nothing could touch me... away from the blood, away from the Prince, and away from those horrible, mangled memories.