Dreamland

Skeletons and Sisters

I couldn't handle a second in here, what would I do if I was stuck here? Would I cope?

I began to shake. No. This couldn't be real. It has to be the doctors. They are giving me the funny medicines again. They must be.

"Hey! Are you alright?" Bree asked worriedly.

My vision began to blur.

"You're not real. It's just like they said. I am making it up. It's not real."

"What? Of course it's real." Bree said. He took in my pale frame and took a step forward.

"Bree?" I asked.

I could feel myslef slipping away, my eyelids getting heavier.

"Yes?" He said

"Catch me.." I felt arms wrap around me as consciousness slipped away.

My head felt sore as I lifted it. I gasped and shot up. To my dismay I was still in that room. I looked around but I did not see Bree. I rubbed my eyes and swung a leg over the side of my bed. The sun was shining so I figured it was daytime. My  brain felt fuzzy. I slipped off my bed and onto the cold hard floor. Wriggling my toes I noticed that I wasn't wearing shoes. Bree must have taken them. Where would he have put them?

I crouched down and pulled up the sheets of the bed to look underneath when I heard a voice.
"Hellooo? Did you lose something?"

I screamed. A hand clapped over my mouth.
"Shh. We won't get out of here if she hears you. Come on" Bree held out my shoes for me and I took them, still surprised.
"I thought you had left me here! Why had you my shoes?" I asked.

"I was simply minding them. Now, come, you need to see something. We're leaving. "

"We're leaving the house?! To go where?" I gasped.

"The town, there are things you must see there, to understand all of this a bit better." Bree replied briskly.

I nodded and he slowly lifted the window pane, holding a hand out to me. I took the hand a little shakily after putting on my shoes and we stepped on pto the roof ledge. Carefully he gently lowered me down, before dropping down beside me. He bended slightly checking if I was alright before taking my arm and walking, me following. I sureveyed my surroundings, looking at the browns, yellows and bright greens of the leaves that hung from the branches of trees. There was a small scattering of stones leading out from the door and no other feature around except for bushes that held ripe blackberries.

As I walked, I pondered my situation. What did we need to see? Is Mother going to notice my absence? After a short while I turned towards Bree and opened my mouth unsure.

"Bree?",

"Yes my dear?" He replied, looking at me.

"Are we- Are we mad?"

"Mad? Perhaps. It's entirely possible. I'm not sure I'd know if we were. But don't fret over it. Normal is boring."

I studied his face, or rather, his skull and found that he had a particular way of tilting his skull that looked like he would be smiling. He had a small crack by his eyebrow bone and it ran down and curled around his eye socket. I found myself reaching for it and stopped myself, looking down.

"The crack?" He guessed.

I nodded.

"I got it while courageously fighting. I ended up fighting a rather mean old lady, with large white teeth and ferocious eyes. She whacked me in the head with her walking stick and tried to run away."

"Really?" I said with wide eyes.

"Of course not silly, I got it when I fell down some stairs. "

" Do you always talk nonsense like this?" I answered, annoyed.

"Only to people who listen. I've got you now, and you are the perfect candidate."

I rolled my eyes, and continued on. We reached what looked like a run down village, rather than a town. There were no cars littering the roads, and no one out walking in the brisk air. It was strange, but I was expecting worse, so I let Bree walk me to wherever he was bringing us to. He stopped outside an old tavern and nodded to me before pushing the door open. I felt a pair if arms grip me tightly in a hug as I was barely in the door.

"Thank God, I was so worried!"

I looked and saw Lilly. Lilly? Why was she here? I stared apprehensively as I waited for Bree to explain why I was here. I could see the dust and cobwebs dusting the tops of windows and shelves and the smell of mould was evident. There were two more people standing along with Lilly. A short kind looking man and a taller brunette, who looked slightly fierce.

"This is one of the only safe places in this town. If you ever need help, come here. " The brunette said. "I'm Alex. He's Bennett. And I think you know Lilly already. " She said pointing to the rest.

"What's going on?" I asked confused. The man named Bennette  looked apologetically at me and smiled.

"The one you call Mother? This is all her doing. This whole places changes every day. It is sometimes drastic and sometimes as simple as different coloured walls. It all depends on her. " He explained.

"She makes dreams a reality. She can take your worst nightmare and it would seem peaceful compared to some of the things she has done." Alex interjected.

"But, why am I here?" I asked.

"Because she's angry. You were one of the only ones to do it. " She explained softly.

"You changed it. You changed her dreamland."