Dark Fantasy Winning Features

Dawn by @Mishkady

Fawn opened her eyes slowly, blinking until she could see the shapes in the darkness. Her heart was racing as a side effect of a nightmare she could barely remember and cold sweat drenched her body and sheets. She could make up the sharp shape of her dresser and the long desk with her books and binders neatly organized, for once.

Taking a deep breath and exhaling slowly, she urged her heart to calm down. She was safe, surrounded by the familiarity of her room and the smell of her sweet Victoria's Secret perfume in the air. Once she could breath more easily and was sure that a blood crazed monster wouldn't just barge in to take her, she began to notice the ache in her joints and muscles.

Fawn couldn't remember the last time she had exercised to the extent where she couldn't move without flinching. She sat up, reaching to her side for the glass of water she always kept by her bed. Instead of closing her fingers around the glass, she found just air.

Her hand hovered over and she squinted, trying to make up the shapes around her. Maybe one of her cat's had knocked it over again. As she moved, her fingers grazed something sharp and cold, she took it in her hand and began to feel it, trying to guess what it was.

She gave up shortly and sighed loudly, jumping off the bed and running straight towards the door where the switch was. Her bed side lamp hadn't worked for weeks now.

The light flickered and bathed the room in a warm glow but Fawn's eyes closed immediately, feeling the pain reach her brain. She grunted then slowly blinked until she could keep them open. The first thing she saw was a bloody figure staring back at her. A scream escaped her lips and she stepped back, hitting the side of the desk.

The figure imitated her movement and it took her a second to realize she was staring at herself through the wall mirror. Her Minnie mouse top and polka dot shorts had patches of blood as wide tennis balls and to her horror, there were also hand prints on the white shirt. Minnie was no more and instead her face had been stained into a sinister grin. Her light ginger hair was damp too and the ends were a darker shade of a tangled mess.

She looked around, taking in the room. Her lamp was scattered into pieces around the bed night table and the ground and the same fate had followed the glass of water. The bed sheets were a mess and what she had thought were sweat patches turned out to be blood puddles. Unnatural amounts.

Her eyes teared up and in matters of seconds, tears began to slid down her face, mixing with the dry blood around her neck. She stepped towards the mirror noticing the mark of strangling hands around it.

Fawn whimpered like a tortured puppy. Her chest almost hurt physically from the force of her beating heart.

"Mom? Mom!" She tried the door handle but it was locked. She banged against it hysterically as she continued to call for her parents. "Help! Help me!"

After some fruitless tries, she decided to try the window. Fawn pulled the curtains away revealing what should have been a wide window overlooking the front garden of the house and the two streetlights from where the lights sipped in.

Instead she found a cavity in the wall with two strong beams that simulated streetlights. Fawn wanted to scream and pull her hair out. This wasn't her room or even her house. Everything was an exact copy with the exception of the strange neatness. Fawn had never been organized and her desk didn't even have space for a pencil case which now sat straight against the wall.

She wiped her nose with her hand, not caring for manners at the specific moment. Her tears were beginning to dry and she could feel the paths they had formed making her skin rigid. Fawn had to try something, she had to leave the macabre staging of her bedroom.

She began to bang on the walls and the door, whatever surface she could find. Someone would hear her and check on her, and Fawn would be ready when they did.

After several minutes, the door handle began to move and keys echoed at the other side. Fawn ran to the side and picked up the wooden chair from the bed. Maybe she had seen too many movies but in her situation, the chair was the only thing she could lift off the ground.

The intruder swung the door wide open and stepped in. Fawn used the surprise of seeing an empty bed to swing the chair over the head. It collided and to her surprise, it broke into pieces without even maiming the stranger. Slowly, the tall figure turned around and met her eyes.

Her blood ran cold at the sight of the deformed face. The eyes were as dark as an abyss, including the sclera, and a wild snarl revealed a set of very sharp canines. The eyes held her frozen in the spot, watching her under thick eyebrows. Under the eyes, dark veins created vines that spread mid cheeks.

She heard him growl like a rabid dog and a whimper escaped her. She didn't want to die. Her legs broke in a run before she could plan it, trying to escape through the narrow opening between the monster and the door. She only managed two steps before cold fingers crossed around her throat.

The air left her lungs when her body hit the hard ground and only when the room stopped spinning she realized he had lifted her off it and slammed her down like she was a rag-doll.

He brought his face closer to her and sniffed her neck. Fawn's body was paralyzed from fear. She shook all over like a Chihuahua and her chest rose so fast that she could barely tell if she was still breathing. She closed her eyes and turned her head to the side as her lower lip trembled, trying to hold in the sobs.

"Who said you could leave?" The raspy voice snarled and his cold breath hit her frozen cheeks. She was glad, at least, that his hand wasn't trying to asphyxiate her. "I don't like feisty pets, so be a good puppy and behave."

The grip was gone the next moment and the creature was on his feet, wiping his hands on a black handkerchief. He lifted a hand and called in two servants with his fingers. Two girls with a blank expression stepped in, both in an identical uniform and the same hairstyle. Their movements were almost robotic when they stopped in front of him and bowed.

"Clean her up and the room, then take her to the basement." He gave his orders and the girls straightened.

He began to walk away as calmly as he had entered. Fawn lifted herself up on her knees and palms and sat back on her legs, unable to find the strength to stand up.

"Where am I? Where are my parents?" Her voice was merely a broken whisper. He had left an invisible scar of terror in her. "Please..."

She began to sob although she tried to hide it as best as she could.

"You are far away from home, little Bambi. Just stay in your room and you'll be safe." He spoke without looking at her and close the door behind him when he exited, stopping her from asking anything else.

Fawn sat on her behind and brought her knees up while putting her arms around them. With her head buried, she began to cry. She had woken up from a nightmare only to find out she was in a far worse one, and this one wasn't a dream.