a redhead's dream | a.d

Chapter One

Her brain was like a tower of cards.

Most times, it started off well. The cards would build up, and she could somewhat understand everything that was going on around her. Then, you reached a point where a mere ounce could cause your tower to come crashing down due to a single misplaced card. This was a crossroad. Something would happen, maybe something as insignificant as her getting distracted, and when she turned back to evaluate her situation, one step was missed and suddenly absolutely nothing made sense.

The thing is, you couldn't move forward at that point, because doing so would inevitably cause your tower to come crashing down. She wouldn't be able to catch back up with the situation at hand if she attempted to go along without that one detail, as it would cause her tower of cards to fall. That is, unless she took the tower of cards down herself, without trying to further understand the situation, and rebuilt it using that simple piece of information she'd missed before.

And by doing so, the tower of cards would be complete, and she would be satisfied.

There was a lot to be said about this analogy, especially since she'd only recently learned the term. Did it reflect her mental struggles, or physical ones? Regardless, it was early in the morning—far too early to be considering things of such weight. And she had stayed up far too long penning down these thoughts and wonderings before they got away from her in the morning.

"Let me sleep," she wailed dramatically, clutching onto the bed post as her bunkmate did his best to be gentle as he tugged on her legs, urging her out of bed.

"Ise doin' dis fa you," Bell reminded her frustratedly, blond hair glinting in the pale morning light that filtered through the room. "Tha earlier yer up, tha less likely Spot will go aft-ah ya. Ise helpin' ya!"

Abby didn't see it quite the same way.

"If you really wanted ta help me, you'd let me sleep!"

But alas, Abby severely lacked upper body strength, and it wasn't long until her fingers lost their fragile grip on the bed, sending her sprawling to the end of it.

Bell patted her head good-naturedly, before heading off to do his own thing. She grunted at his retreating back, wondering why he had to have such... happy energy in the mornings. Slowly pawing the sleep out of her eyes, she stood up, heading over to where she kept her belongings.

Her heart rattled nervously in her chest as she soon discovered a certain problem.

It was missing.

"Lookin' fa dis?"

Abby sighed deeply, turning to face the two nightmares. "Yeah, actually. Would ya be so kind as ta hand it back?"

Skip smirked at her, waving her letter overtop her head. Cosmas, on the other hand, had positioned himself behind her, like some twisted game of monkey in the middle. "What d'you think?"

Just don't give them a reaction, she told herself. They'll get tired eventually and hand it back to you. Hopefully.

She bit her lip and attempted to reach up for the letter, but the boy only raised it even more.

"What're ya, twelve?" she muttered bitterly.

Next thing she knew, the letter, still placed neatly in the envelope, was soaring over her head, causing her to let out a nervous squeak. Cosmas caught it, unfortunately, and began attempting to spin it around on a finger.

It was probably clear how he'd gotten his name.

She rolled her eyes as her heart slowed, finally deciding it wasn't worth it. She knew what the letter said, anyway. But then, as though they'd noticed her losing interest in them, she saw the boy begin to take the letter out of its envelope.