Alina

My head is pounding and my body hurts all over. But it feels like I'm sitting on a cloud.

Am I in Heaven? Wait... am I dead?!

I try to think about what happened and how I got here, but I can't remember—anything. I can't remember anything at all.

I'm so confused and begin to panic, but just then the door opens and a man rushes into the room.
His eyes grow wide and he looks me up and down, analyzing me. The man approaches me with quick and powerful strides. I'm frozen in place trying to remember who this man is to me. But I come up with nothing.

When he's about to touch me, I flinch. I don't know why, but my body just did it. I probably know him though, why else would I be here?

He moves his hand away and I scoot back until my back hits the wall. My eyes start to water, but a thought comes to my mind:
I must not cry, I must not cry.
Why? I'm a little girl, aren't I supposed to?

Just then a beautiful woman enters the room. Her hands fly to her mouth and she looks at me like she's seeing a unicorn or something on her bed. Do I have something on my face? I search for the source of her shock, but before I know it, I'm in her arms and she's hugging me tightly. She's warm and soft, I surprisingly lean into her embrace instead of fighting it.

I like her.

"Hello baby." She says softly into my hair.

"Hey! I'm not a baby. I'm tree years old. Tree. Tree!" I groan and just hold up three fingers. She and the man chuckle and my cheeks become red.

"You're adorable, you know that?" She says to me. I giggle a bit at the voice she does.

"Who are you? Are you my mommy?" She looks at the man.

"Do you want me to be?" What type of answer is that? I'm even more confused now. So why am I in their home? Why was I on a cloud? Why is she holding me as if she knows me?

"Uhhhhh, sure. As long as you keep playing with my hair. It feels nice. You can keep going." I say and lean into her hand more. She laughs and continues. "Who's he?" I whisper into her ear.

"That sweetheart, is your daddy."

"He's scary," I whisper again.

"I'm more scary than he is love. I can promise you that." I look them both up and down and shake my head, disagreeing with her.

I get another one of those feelings again and start to panic.

"No, no, no. I mean yes. Yes, you are scarier. Much more. He looks like a mouse." He looks offended yet worried at the same time. They both look worried actually.

The pretty lady lightly draws soothing circles on my back with her finger to help me calm down.

I reallyyyyy like her.

Suddenly, the man approaches again and I lean more into the woman.

Is he going to hurt me?

Where are these thoughts coming from?

"Can I hold you, princess?" I look up at the lady and she nods. I give a little nod to him and he takes me out of her arms and hugs me tightly. I'm stiff at first, but I relax and lean into him. He seems, decently likable.
He reminds me of those big teddy bears.

"Are you a teddy bear?"

"No princess. I'm your father." My eyes grow wide and I start to shake. "Father" that word just triggered me.