"We're all stories, in the end."
~ Steven Moffat
~~~~~~~~~~
When Blue's senses returned, the first thing she registered was the strong tang of metal and oil.
Weird, she thought groggily as her eyes slowly fluttered open. For a second, Blue was content to think that she was in her room, piled underneath her blankets. But the side of her face was cold. In fact, her entire body felt cold. And when she reached out to cuddle with Timmy, her hands only grasped air.
Realising something wasn't right, Blue snapped awake, shooting into a sitting position, blood rushing to her head and making her feel light-headed at the sudden jolting movement.
A shocked breath escaped her lips as she registered the metallic bars of a cage surrounding her. The floor was a greasy metal too and cold to the touch. Beyond the cage, everything was dark. Squinting, she could faintly make out the outline of a vast room but, other than that, Blue was clueless.
And, just like that, it all seemed to crash down on her in an instant: the trip to Finland, then to India, the horde of zombies, her father's ship, the Maritime forces and...Warren's treachery. Her heart beat faster, determined to keep pace with her increasing panic and fear, creating a wailing symphony she couldn't tune out.
Her breath came in short huffs, hitching and reluctant. And Blue was suddenly reminded of the nightmares she would have as a kid, the absolute surety of monsters that hid beneath her bed and behind her closet and wouldn't let her a moment's peace. She would burrow herself under Timmy' fur and even his familiar doggy smell wouldn't stop her from losing her bladder. And when she would startle awake, the shame would rush in, like a cold current. The feeling of helplessness and disgust would crawl over her as she would make her way downstairs, seeking the warmth of her Ma's arms, her face red with embarrassment.
That same feeling of helplessness consumed her now. But this time, she was left alone in the dark, the comfort of being near her Ma like a taunting echo.
What was going to happen to her? Where was she, even? Where was Warren? And what had happened to Miracle and Sherry? Did they even know where she was? What about--?
"Blue?" a soft unfamiliar voice called, timid but almost heavenly in the inky darkness. "Is that you?"
Blue whirled around in her cage, jumping to her feet and almost out of her skin too. Fortunately, the cage was a large one and with her magnificently intimidating height of five foot nothing, standing up didn't prove too challenging. Blue was almost affronted that she didn't even need to bend.
"W-Who is it?" Blue asked, her eyes darting around to locate the disembodied voice.
"I'm here, right beside you, in the next cage," the voice said again. It was the voice of a young girl and didn't seem at all threatening. But if Blue had learned one thing in these last few hours – or days, for that matter. She wasn't even sure how long it had been since Warren knocked her out in the ship – is that one must always be careful on who they choose to place their trust upon.
But curiosity and the need for company bested her wariness and she found herself walking to the edge of her cell. She slipped her thin hands past the bars and, for a second, they only grappled air before they came in contact with more bars of metal.
Beside her, the girl sucked in startled breath. But, then, abruptly, Blue felt thin reedy hands entwine with hers. Blue gripped them tightly, temporary relief flooding her. She thought she heard the other girl almost weep with respite.
CZYTASZ
Once Upon A Miracle
Fantasy[COMPLETE] Twelve-year-old Blue was a dreamer and a believer of all things impossible. But even her all-encompassing imagination could never have thought that miracles were not just something that happened. No, how was she to know that Miracle was a...
