Unmasking the Nightmare

Chapter Twenty-Two: A Disney Princess Preaches to Me

Muffled voices swirl around me, fragile and faint. My head pounds, my skull throbbing and the region behind my eyes aching. My whole body is bathed in a torrent of fiery pain, tingling and sore.

All I can do is hear and feel.

What happened to me? Where am I?

With some difficulty, I curled my fingers into the soft surface beneath me, my heart lurching as realization dawned on me. I was sleeping on a puffy cloud, as soft as a pillow. Was I in Heaven? Oh, today was not a good day to die!

My back muscles tensed and the cloud beneath me shifted as I thrashed around, trying to escape from the cloud that stuck to me like glue. It should've felt comforting, but I couldn't die! I wasn't sure how it worked, but maybe if I leaped overboard and hurled myself from the heavens and towards Earth, maybe I would have the chance to cheat death.

For science, I mumbled to myself, slamming my palms into the stupidly-soft cloud and using the leverage to lift my torso upwards, rolling off to the side as my hair rippled with the clusmy movement. The cloud recoiled from my sudden motion, bouncing up to level out from the uneven weight distribution.

I knew I had escaped its clutches when I no longer felt the softness cushioning my back, my body tumbling towards the Earth, finally free. The Earth must not have been as far away as I thought it was, because the breath was knocked from my lungs as my body made impact, a squeak erupting from my throat as my limbs splayed out from my awkward landing.

"...Should've caught her." Something slipped under my bent legs, wrapping around my buckled knees. My head immediately lolled backwards as I was lifted, and my lower lip trembled. I was too weak to support my head so I allowed it to hang, whimpering.

"Please...don't wanna go. No more clouds. Wanna stay on Earth." I clawed at my captor, certain they were going to toss me back up towards the sky, where the clouds would trap me in their aerial prison.

"...Can't understand." A breathy, frustrated voice interrupted, different than the first speaker. "...Hard to read lips."

"That's because she's mumbling." The first speaker replied, his words slower and drawn-out, heavily enunciating every syllable. "She's dreaming."

"Dreaming? Is she having a nightmare?" Soft footsteps padded towards me, and I stiffened as something warm and maternal pressed against my forehead. A few beats passed before I realized I wasn't going to be harmed, and I melted into the touch as my temples were massaged, soothing circles tracing over my clammy skin.

"She's relaxing." The support, which I assumed was an arm, shifted beneath my knees. They adjusted their hold on me so my head was slumped forwards, my nose buried in their sturdy chest. "I'm going to put her back on the bed."

Bed? So that wasn't a cloud? Instead of escaping a clingy cloud, I had rolled off a bed instead?

How embarrassing.

I grunted as I was lowered back to the softness, my muscles loosening when I realized that it was indeed a bed and not a cloud like I had previously thought. The memory foam felt similar to the texture that a cloud might have, if clouds could have a solid form.

Curiosity prodded at me, and with a pained grimace, I sluggishly eased one eyelid open. Two figures stood by my bedside, close enough to each other that their shoulders brushed. The one on the left stood with a rigid posture, a tangled web of hair glued to her scalp. Her eyes looked weary but alert, showcasing the protectiveness that every mother should possess.

"Mom?" I rasped, unscrewing my other eyelid so I could get a clear image of her to make sure I wasn't hallucinating. "Mom."

"Nicole." My mom's defensive stance slackened, her voice heavy with emotion. "What happened? You and your brother..."