OOM
She wakes.
Rarely do the nightmares make her move and thrash in her sleep, rarely does she ever make noise. But the sheets are twisted around her limbs and she has to take several deep breaths before she's calm enough to lie still and figure out how to extricate herself.
One relief: she wasn't screaming. If she'd been screaming, Jordan would have woken up and come in. Either to yell at her or look at her worriedly. Little sister trying to baby the eldest, making Rachel smile even if the expression was shaky and bleak.
But Jordan isn't there. She didn't scream.
Slowly, carefully, she pulls the sheets away from her. They're damp with sweat and she's still trembling, cold when she pulls them back. There's something odd about the sheets beyond that but she'll worry about that later.
The shrew. The pool. An android. Blood, gore. Words in her head. A single pulsing red eye.
A rat.
The rat.
Stay calm. Deep breaths. Push the sheets back and away, shiver in the chill and don't worry about if it's only in the mind or the air in the room. Swing legs out to the carpet. Just get to the window, open it up, find a way to the meadow. Tobias will be annoyed but he'll go with her if she asks. Just for an hour, maybe two. Three if there's a good place to re-morph. He'll take to the sky in the dead of night if she asks him, especially if there's a moon.
That's it. That's right. Sheets back, legs out, feet on the carpet, stand and reach for the windo-
CRASH.
Pain. Cursing. Spitting and hissing like an angry cat, clutching her knee where it had banged into-- into what? Her mother never rearranges furniture, her sisters know better than to poke around in her room. Light, she needs light. Must have drawn the curtains last night, doesn't remember-
CRASH.
Something blocking the wall where the light switch should be. More cursing, more pain, fleeting thought to go bear and just tear it all to pieces. But the adrenaline of anger is comforting. Not trembling anymore. Better.
She stumbles around, no longer crashing, simply wondering. Just get to the stupid window, get some light, see what happened and yell about it later. Sky. That's all she needs right now. The sky and Tobias and some wings and she'll be fine.
It takes a few minutes. The initial cold when she woke. The anger as she stumbled. The slow climb of fear as she realized how very different the dark room was from hers at home.
Home.
She finds the light switch where it's always been - in Milliways. Stares at the room, neat and tidy, beige and blank. Like a nice hotel room. The nightstand she'd banged into first with a little lamp. Rachel sits back on the bed and puts a hand to the knob on the little drawer in the front. Curls pale, cold fingers around it.
Doesn't pull.
Knows what she'll see.
There is a sky outside. She could have wings.
Two out of three.
This is not the first time she's woken like this.
Somehow, she knows it won't be the last.
Rarely do the nightmares make her move and thrash in her sleep, rarely does she ever make noise. But the sheets are twisted around her limbs and she has to take several deep breaths before she's calm enough to lie still and figure out how to extricate herself.
One relief: she wasn't screaming. If she'd been screaming, Jordan would have woken up and come in. Either to yell at her or look at her worriedly. Little sister trying to baby the eldest, making Rachel smile even if the expression was shaky and bleak.
But Jordan isn't there. She didn't scream.
Slowly, carefully, she pulls the sheets away from her. They're damp with sweat and she's still trembling, cold when she pulls them back. There's something odd about the sheets beyond that but she'll worry about that later.
The shrew. The pool. An android. Blood, gore. Words in her head. A single pulsing red eye.
A rat.
The rat.
Stay calm. Deep breaths. Push the sheets back and away, shiver in the chill and don't worry about if it's only in the mind or the air in the room. Swing legs out to the carpet. Just get to the window, open it up, find a way to the meadow. Tobias will be annoyed but he'll go with her if she asks. Just for an hour, maybe two. Three if there's a good place to re-morph. He'll take to the sky in the dead of night if she asks him, especially if there's a moon.
That's it. That's right. Sheets back, legs out, feet on the carpet, stand and reach for the windo-
CRASH.
Pain. Cursing. Spitting and hissing like an angry cat, clutching her knee where it had banged into-- into what? Her mother never rearranges furniture, her sisters know better than to poke around in her room. Light, she needs light. Must have drawn the curtains last night, doesn't remember-
CRASH.
Something blocking the wall where the light switch should be. More cursing, more pain, fleeting thought to go bear and just tear it all to pieces. But the adrenaline of anger is comforting. Not trembling anymore. Better.
She stumbles around, no longer crashing, simply wondering. Just get to the stupid window, get some light, see what happened and yell about it later. Sky. That's all she needs right now. The sky and Tobias and some wings and she'll be fine.
It takes a few minutes. The initial cold when she woke. The anger as she stumbled. The slow climb of fear as she realized how very different the dark room was from hers at home.
Home.
She finds the light switch where it's always been - in Milliways. Stares at the room, neat and tidy, beige and blank. Like a nice hotel room. The nightstand she'd banged into first with a little lamp. Rachel sits back on the bed and puts a hand to the knob on the little drawer in the front. Curls pale, cold fingers around it.
Doesn't pull.
Knows what she'll see.
There is a sky outside. She could have wings.
Two out of three.
This is not the first time she's woken like this.
Somehow, she knows it won't be the last.