Lost Child/Prologue Dream 1
Apostasy goes to bed, feeling drained and emotionally exhausted. Her talk with Crys helped to centre her a little bit, but she still feels boiling anger and hatred toward herself for failing for so long to fend for herself. She passes out into a dreamless sleep, at first.
The sleep turns sweet, than sour like honeyed wine, moving from good memories to darker tones. Then the tide ebbs into the strange and abstract. Apostasy wakes in a panic, her heart beating and breath coming in short gulps. She looks around and she realizes she's in her room as a child, and panics, looking at herself and realizing she's in her old body, from before P-day, the frail feminine body long since toned with the military training she had undergone. She realizes almost immediately it's a dream, but it feels incredibly real.
Apostasy continues to feel panicked for a few moments, before forcing calm back on herself. "Ok... another one of these dreams... fuck, what's he gonna do to me this time?" She climbs out of her bed and moves towards the door. "Might as well see if I'm locked in this time as well...."
Right before she manages to place her hand on the door knob it suddenly twists, shaking and twisting like it's locked. The noise as it rattles draws on memories, and a tingling runs down her spine. A sudden high pitched sound comes from the only window in the small room, the noise of tapping, almost like knocking.
Apostasy backs from the door slowly as it rattles. "No. Nonononono. This is just a dream. It isn't real. He can't touch me..." She almost misses the sound of the tapping over her self-reassurance, but moves to the window, checking the latch to try and open it, figuring that whatever wants in from there can't be as bad as what's rattling the door. The rattling grows louder and the latch seems to be sticking on the window. Then she remembers her father had welded her window shut.
Apostasy looks fearfully at the door, before crouching down to try and see what it is tapping at the window.
At first Apostasy can't see anything in the dark moonlit air, but she sees the light flash of a little creature's wings, at first she can't tell what it is, but before long she sees it's small bird hovering, tapping the window with its beak. The time she wastes looking though the wracking on the door has grown louder and the heavy thump of a boot on the door resounds.
Apostasy whimpers at the sound of the door being kicked, and looks around. She grabs a discarded item of clothing from the ground and wraps it around her hand, before punching the window as hard as she can, trying to break the glass. Even if letting the small bird in isn't the best move, the broken window will give -her- a way -out-.
The glass cracks, but Apostasy's fist isn't enough to shatter it. The door feels the impact of another kick, the hinges creaking.
Heartened by the crack, and trying not to panic at the sound from the door, Apo hits the window again, and again and again, trying to break through.
The window cracks more, spider webbing where she struck, but still holds. The door hinges crack and a screw pops out on the ground.
Apostasy is close to full panic now, and throws all her strength and desperation behind one last blow.
The window shatters outward, almost throwing Apostasy with the glass. The bird is nowhere in sight. There's another thud, and the whole top hinge comes off on the ground. Through the crack a warped and twisted familiar and masculine voice calls. Sel... Sel dear, I have a present for you... It's creepy, and the words nothing like what she remembers, but the voice... the voice chills her to her very being. She almost loses control of her bladder.
Apostasy whimpers again, and quickly sweeps the frame clear of loose shards of glass before squeezing out the window towards the comparative safety of outside. She doesn't stop to question where the bird might have gone, too focused on getting away from that terrible voice with its dark promise.
There's a gutter to her right, and the ground below isn't visible in the moonlight. She hears the echoing sound of "Selene...” and the pop of the other hinge of the door as the window bursts out. Apostasy isn't sure if she wants to look back at the doorway, or just get the hell out, jumping or trying to reach for the gutter.
Apostasy scrabbles out through the window, balancing on the small ledge outside as best she can, and jumps at the gutter, grabbing at it before she can fall.
Apostasy manages to cling to the gutter barely managing to hold on. She hears an almost buzzing in her ear, blocking out the calls from the bedroom.
Apostasy clings to the gutter, and tries to pull herself up to a more stable perch. She looks around, trying to find the source of the buzzing sound, guessing it might be that small bird again. Apostasy doesn't see the bird, but spots up on the roof the guttering is broken in a way that would make it easier to crawl up and over. She gets the chills when she hears the voice calling "Selene..." emitting out the bedroom window. Down below the ground is inky blackness.
Apostasy moves towards the broken guttering and tries to scramble up, her movements careful as she tries not to think about the fall or the voice calling her name. "I can do this... I can do this..." she whispers, repeating the mantra as she climbs
Just as she's about to reach it she feels something grab at her ankle, almost wrenching her grip free. A long tendril from the window, and a voice that says, "There you are, my baby is waiting for daddy's gift." With a burst of energy she manages to grab onto the broken guttering while she's being tugged at from below.
Apostasy shrieks in terror as her ankle is grabbed, and kicks back with the other foot, trying to knock it loose as she attempts to pull herself up the broken guttering. "No! Get away from me! GET AWAY!!!"
Apo kicks at the tentacle with her free foot, and smashes it against a bolt on the gutter, she hears an odd scream and feels it loosen its grip. She pulls herself up and over onto the roof. In the dark the gentle moonlight washes over her welcomingly.
Apostasy lays up on the roof panting and basking in the moonlight, adrenaline surging through her veins. "I did it... I got away..." Tears of relief stream down her face, blurring the moon as she stares up at it.
A small humming sounds, and then a gentle pressure as a small creature lands on her hand. The bird from before looks at her with its small beady eyes. It says nothing, after all, birds can't talk, but its presence is calming.
Apostasy lifts her hand slowly as she blinks away the tears and looks at the little bird. "You.... you called me over to that window. You helped me. Thank you."
The bird still stares, and then flies straight into Apostasy's mouth, and is gone. The shock of it knocks the breath out of her, and she suddenly wakes. In her bed, in her form.
Apostasy coughs and sputters as she wakes, looking around and seeing everything is how it should be. "That was... that was a weird little bird..." She shivers a bit at the memory of the nightmare.
