Thorns of a Rose #1 (Howl's Moving Castle fanfiction)

Chapter 3: A Wonderful, Yet Slightly Disappointing Surprise

The comfort of the soft, cotton quilt couldn't soothe Sophie as she slept - or at least as she tried sleeping. Every so often, she plumped the pillows and flipped them over, itching to find a relaxing position yet to no avail. Once more, she picked up the pillow and tossed it around, laying her head on the cool plushness. Sometime during the night, she did fall asleep.

However, her mind wouldn't leave her alone.

The sound of her clinking shoes on the ground echoed off concrete walls as Sophie ran through a long hallway. It was dark, so void of anything there was no telling what lay in the vast beyond. She didn't know why she was running, either, only that she needed to – that someone needed her to.

When she reached the end, Sophie was in a square room, an exit on all sides. She looked down each, wondering which would lead her down the right path. There were too many options and not enough time. A deep voice bellowed in pain, reverberating against the walls and deafening her ears. It was too deceiving to determine where it was coming from, but she had to act fast.

Before it was too late.

Time was up - the ground faded away and eventually Sophie couldn't stand anymore. She screamed as she fell through, her arms reaching up as if she could pull herself back to safety. Yet instead, she kept falling faster and faster, the wind picking up and sending chills down her spine. As she looked down, there was no end to the fall.

Contrary to the painful screams, Sophie next heard a maniacal laugh grow in volume. The laughing grew so loud that even when she pressed her hands against her ears, the sound resonated in her mind. She couldn't escape from the horrors of this nightmare.

In a flash, she landed hard on the ground, though she thought for certain it would be hours before she landed. She also thought that she would wake up before landing on the ground, as was most common during a nightmare, but rather she felt the pain surging through her body, her bones nearly broken and useless.

Sophie tried pushing herself up, but her arms were so weak and feeble that she fell forward, her cheek colliding with the cold, hard concrete. The laughing and screaming molded into one sound, screeching in her eardrums and forcing her eyes to open. From the ground, she saw two figures, a woman standing over a man, raising him up by his ratty, torn shirt.

Her vision was blurred, but she saw that the woman had complete control over the man, his body limp in her grasp. His dark hair covered his face and his mouth was agape, blood dripping down like the end of a heavy rainstorm.

The woman turned to Sophie, her words bouncing off like a distant echo. "Watch closely, dear Sophie."

When Sophie's vision cleared up slightly, she could make out the figures. The woman's perfectly rounded, light grey hair was too haunting to forget.

"Suliman..." Sophie whispered, only causing her wicked smile to grow wider.

"Such a shame, you could have had everything. Now, you have nothing." Suliman reached forward, her hand submerged in the man's chest. Sophie screamed in pain - not for herself, but for watching Suliman torture the love of her life.

Sophie tossed and turned in bed, her muscles twitching out of control. A rough hand brushed against her skin, running up and down her arm. Was this in the nightmare or reality? She felt a cool breath on her neck as a pair of dry lips just barely grazed against her ear.

"Sophie, wake up."

She jolted her eyes awake and sat up immediately. Her heart pounded against her chest, trying to break through the confines of her ribs. She breathed in and out in short breaths like a woman about to give birth. The sweat lined her forehead, sticking to her hair as if she had been exercising for hours. She knew someone was next to her, so she grabbed his shirt with sharp fingernails.