Straight-Up Not Having A Good Time At Night Raven College: Chapter 1

Chapter 1: A Desperate Heart

Just as promised, the sets of clothes were folded on the bed when Kat and Grim returned to the Ramshackle Dorm.

She'd taken a shower, even though the shower only had two settings, freezing cold and boiling hot. Then she changed back into her t-shirt and hoodie.

She folded the new school uniform, putting it on the chair along with the other new clothes that were waiting for her on the bed.

Finally, she'd wiped the thick layer of dust off the mirror in her new room, staring at herself for a little while.
Her hair was damp and tangled, and she combed through it with her fingers.

Her eyes were pretty damn puffy, with the dark circles under them almost matching the dark, steely blue of the irises.
The weird abrasion from the monster spit or whatever stood out sharply against her pale skin.

It was still her, though...
Still her own face looking back out at her, even after all the impossible shit it had seen over the past two days.

...Okay, that was enough introspection for tonight.

She turned and clambered stiffly into bed, wincing at her sore legs.
In the shower, she'd found tons of bruises on them, mostly on her knees...
Well, she did bruise like a damn peach. Most of them probably weren't that bad, it was just that she was stupidly pale.
Honestly, it was a good thing that it was just bruises...

Taking off her glasses, she put them back on the bedpost, then fell back against the pillow.

The door creaked open slightly. She didn't react as she felt Grim hop up onto the bed, padding over to her and curling up in the crook of her arm.
She moved her fingers a little, giving the top of his head a small stroke.

She must have fallen asleep at some point, because the next thing she knew, she was dreaming.

With her eyes closed, she saw the mirror on the wall shimmer and pulse, rippling like water.
It sucked her in like a vortex, blinding her with white light.

Suddenly she was watching a little girl wander through a hedge maze.

If she had control of her body or facial expressions, she would have frowned.
She didn't dream in black and white normally-- there were colors, just dark, murky ones, in confusing patterns that she couldn't see clearly.
This dream looked like an old movie, though... A stunningly sharp, crisp old movie.

The 'camera angle', for lack of a better word, was in the third-person view, hovering above and behind the girl like she was a video game character and Kat was the player.

She was wearing a puffy dress with what looked like a pinafore. Her hair was long, reaching just beneath her shoulderblades, and she had a ribbon headband keeping it in place.

As she moved, there were brief flashes of color. It was like the monochrome vision was just a filter, glitching slightly to show hints of the color underneath.
There were glints of blonde in her hair as it moved, and the folds of her dress gleamed sky-blue.

How old she was was hard to say without seeing her face, but she looked about... Seven? Maybe?
No-- more like ten?

Her dress had a very lolita-esque silhouette, with that puffy, cupcake skirt supported by layers of crinoline and petticoats, and looked to be vaguely Victorian in origin.
She was...
Why was she so familiar?
That outfit, there was just something so... So... Classic about it, so recognizable...
Why the hell couldn't she remember?

Even as she watched, she heard something in the distance-- voices? No, was that a... Song?
Apparently, the little girl heard it too. Perking up, she paused mid-step, turning her head, then started walking again, following the sound.