Role Reversal

11. Size Matters

After the expectedly uncomfortable dinner, I had politely said good night to Megan's parents and gone straight to bed, grateful for the solitary haven of my guest room. Pretending to be my enemy's boyfriend was turning out to be more tiring than I had thought, leaving me exhausted at the end of each gruelling day. Not for the first time, I had wondered why I was still here, and not at home, hanging out with my real friends and just generally passing the lazy summer days, chilling. I wonder what Mark's doing right now? Is he having fun without me? Knowing him, he's probably spending all his time at the mall trying to pick up chicks. Thinking such depressing thoughts had worn me out, and I had fallen asleep soon after, lulled by the peaceful silence of the cool night.

                                                      ************

I was back on the beach; but this time, I was lying under a beach umbrella, soaking up some vitamin D. With my eyes closed and the sounds of the waves gently sliding onto the sand, I was content and relaxed. I sighed and a cloud of blue smoke drifted out of my mouth, swirling in the humid air and twisting into abstract shapes. I smiled and felt myself being pulled from reality into the hazy world of dreams and fantasy.

A sudden thud jolted me from the welcoming blanket of sleep that was covering me and my eyes abruptly opened to come face to face with a pair of bright green ones. Megan? I rubbed my eyes and saw that Megan had somehow popped up out of nowhere and was currently straddling me, her hands balled into fists on either side of my head. What is going on?

"Get up," she demanded, angry red smoke pouring out of her mouth and her nostrils.

I laughed silently and yellow smoke burst out from my between my lips. She looks funny.

"Get up," she repeated harshly, banging her fists on the sand again.

Wait, stop doing that, I tried to speak, suddenly getting a bad feeling, but no words came out. Only quick puffs of white smoke.

"Get up. Get up. Get up," she continued, thumping her hands onto the ground again and again. The red smoke intensified, pouring even faster from her mouth and nose, rushing over me and obscuring my view of her.

Stop it.

"Get up." Thump. More smoke.

No, wait!

"Get up." Thump. The red was blinding.

Megan, stop that!

"GET UP!" Thump. The red smoke was invading my body and restricting any movement as Megan continued to beat the sand by my head.

No!

The sand fell away from my body, the smoke dissipating into the nothingness, leaving me falling. Sinking. Drowning. I was being swallowed up and absorbed by the darkness, deeper and deeper, never-ending.

"Woah!" I woke up sharply, panting. Great, I thought, annoyed; now she's haunting me in my dreams too? I can't get rid of this demon.

"Ugh…" Someone groaned from on top of me and I turned my head to the unfamiliar sound.

Hold up.

On top of me?

"Megan?!" I cried, discovering that my movement was limited by the female body currently lying on mine. She groaned again in response, and I managed to piece together what had probably happened. When I had fallen in my dream-turned-nightmare, I must have kicked my leg out in my sleep, causing her to topple forwards onto me. Wait… But that still didn't explain why she was in my room, on my bed, in the first place.