Nightmare's Daughter

by Aurora Smith

  “Justin.” I whispered his name, remembering that it had been all of the strength that I could muster up at the time. Sheila was circling. Complete, unadulterated fear was deep in her eyes. A glass orb above her was crackling and buzzing, the fluids around her were being ignored as she walked around them haphazardly.

  “How do I get out of here?” she asked me and I tried to point to the stairwell that was down the hall to her right but she jumped when I moved. Her body hit a table that held too many volatile flammable chemicals to mention and in slow motion they fell onto the ground and quickly ran together. Moving as quickly as I could manage I made my way over to her and pushed her as hard as I could. Her light body went flying into the corner of the lab, followed by more crashing.

  I watched in horror as the table became consumed with fire and I was unable to move away from it.

  I belly crawled away but my feet had already caught fire and it was moving fast up my legs. I put my hand out for Sheila to help me but she didn’t move. Her eyes had become completely glossed over and her bloody hands still shook with her knife pointed at my burning body.

  I heard Carl’s booming roar echo off of the brick walls that lined the room and then Sheila’s scream, unable to hold in her fright any longer. Carl saw me and dragged my burning body out of the line of fire and stamped the flame out from the lower half of my body but as soon as he turned around to face Sheila a flame he hadn’t seen that was creeping on my belly ignited again.

  “Be quiet girl.” Carl was yelling with defining strength at Sheila who was slashing her glass knife at him through the air. Carl lunged forward towards her, followed by another blood curdling scream and the room went completely dark. It provided rest to my aching mind, the memory was branded in my brain, my aching joints turned to jelly as I relaxed, but it wasn’t really over. Maya tapped into Justin’s mind and I was right where I had just been, passed out and burning on the ground while my brother ran into the room, tripping over his feet when he saw me. He grabbed a flame proof blanket and laid it over me and patted my body till the flame was completely out then ran over to Sheila who was still screaming. Carl had his hands around her throat and was screaming for her to be quiet.

  I watched as Justin ran to Carl and grabbed the screaming girls hand but Carl yanked defensively and in Justin’s hands were the remains of Sheila’s arm.

  Complete darkness came over us again and I fumbled around in the dark for my brother, to hold him and tell him it was alright, that it was my fault, but he wasn’t there.

  “He’s not here, he woke up,” Maya said. Her hand was on my shoulder and I scooped her into my arms. I wanted it to be Sheila in that moment, I wanted to feel her alive and full in my arms, even though I hated her.

  “He told me that he chose you, that he didn’t help her,” Maya said in a low, soothing voice as she caressed my hands that were tight around her waist.

  “He was lying, he tried to help her, he tried to help both of us.” The tears began to rise and my chest burned from the pain of seeing Justin face, the pure terror he had faced as he held Sheila’s severed arm in his hands. I put my head down and let Maya put her arms completely around my neck, her friendship the one thing that I was focusing on to try and not explode from the pain I was feeling.

  “Liam? Can I ask you something?”

  “Sure.” What did it matter. Ask me anything, what could I possibly keep from her now?

  “What did Carl mean when he said he gave you your life back?” Oh, there was that. I went to answer her with a fake reason but I was interrupted.

  “Maya?” A deep voice echoed through the darkness that was Justin’s inactive conscious.

  “A-oh!”

  “I have been looking for you, what is the meaning of this? Who else is here?”

  “Dad, I-I was in Justin’s dream and…”

  “First of all, it’s not safe to hang around in a blank subconscious for very long and second, I told you to be careful not to develop fake feelings for the person whose dream you went into; you obviously can’t handle this yet, you need to get out of here.”

  “Yes, Dad.”

  I blinked and we were sitting in the forest, where we started and Mayas arms were still wrapped around me. I put my fingers on her hands and pried them off of me then stood up, feeling completely numb; the pain in my heart was too much.

  “What did your father just say?” I asked her.

  “About…about it being dangerous to be in someone’s subconscious?” She answered and my temper trembled under the surface.

  “No, about you, developing fake feelings.”

  “Oh,” she squeaked and I could see in her face that she had been caught doing something she shouldn’t. “Don’t worry about that.”

  “Don’t worry? Is that what is happening right now? With you and me. Are your feelings fake?”

  “I would know if they were fake, wouldn’t I?” Was she asking me?

  “Your father said it, he was warning you and he didn’t know that I was there.” I was pointing an angry finger at her and I could see her retreat away from me, no doubt because of how she had just seen me treat Sheila when I was angry. I took a deep breath and calmed myself.

  “Maya, answer me please.”

  “A week ago, yes, the feelings I felt for you were probably not real, but they are now.” I gaped at her, hardly believing what I was hearing.

  “What about Justin, do you also feel that way about him? You’ve been in his dreams.”

  “When I was in his dreams I felt something, but it went away.”

  “What a fool I am. I actually thought that you liked me.”

  “I do, I—” But I interrupted her.

  “No. This is better. The only reason I like you is because you’re the first girl to give me attention since the accident. You are not my type, Maya, I was just hoping for a little bit of action. Don’t worry, no fragile feelings are hurt.” I used every bit of energy that I had and made myself wake up. I sat up in my bed, the sheets wet from sweat tangled around me, strangling my legs. I struggled to kick them so that my body could get some air. I tore my clothes off of my body and lay on the cold floor, feeling a tiny amount of comfort.

  I hated Sheila, she did all of this to me. Why couldn’t she just keep her mouth shut? I hated Maya for making me believe that someone could possibly love me despite my appearance. Most of all I hated myself for what I had done to Justin.

  Chapter Twenty

  I had neither the desire nor the ability to fall back to sleep, which left me by myself in a room with a Brownie that I couldn’t see and my thoughts. Justin was only two rooms down from me and I wanted to go speak to him, but my cowardice kept me routed to the ground.

  What had happened to my life? How did I get here? In America, disfigured and heart broken. Hope being my worst enemy, my continuous stumbling block. The hope that someone would love me now the way I never would have loved them.

  Rubbing my tired eyes I got up and threw on the pajama pants I had torn off in my sleep tantrum, I reached around in the dark for my black hoodie and zipped it up to my neck and put the hood up. I fumbled around in my dresser and grabbed the antidote for Ashley; I wanted out of this place, I would just give it to Mr. Torricelli and be on my way. Maya was no longer my problem. I gave her plenty of opportunities to get out of trouble, she had made her own choices. I tried not to think about her or her green orb-like eyes that seemed to cut into me.

  Was I so desperate that I would fall for the first girl who batted her eyelashes at me? I kicked rocks aside as I scoffed at my surroundings, this camp was a joke. What did people do here exactly? Lay around in the sun? Pranks? I longed for my own culture, to be surrounded by my homeland.

  The sound of splashing took me out of my brooding state. I looked to the little lake I was passing and saw water rings, they were getting bigger and disappearing like something had jumped into the water.

  “Hello?” I yelled out into the early morning darkness.

  �
�Hi.” I heard a girl’s voice but I couldn’t see anyone. Feeling out of control was not my specialty so I spun in circle, trying to find where the voice as coming from.

  “You look like a top, twirling like that.” I pin pointed the voice and followed the sound down to the lake’s beach. I probably looked like a kitten following the fast moving red dot from spot to spot.

  Instantly I recognized the girl that was lying in the water, letting the shore lap her tanned fin as she lay on her stomach and rested her chin in her hands.

  “Oh, Abby.” It was the mermaid that I had “saved” because she was “drowning” after Ashley had shoved her into the lake.

  “Oh, Liam.” She smiled at me. “What’cha doin?” She asked, looking completely at ease with me seeing her less than attractive fin. Mermaids were renowned for having beautiful and richly colorful fins but for some reason Abby got a plain ol’ fish fin that looked slimy to boot. She seemed nice though, which was also another strange feature that mermaids didn’t usually seem to have.

  “On my way to see Mr. Torricelli.”

  “Hummm, you think he will like being woken up at 3A.M.?” She asked.

  “Probably not,” I said as I sat down on the tiny rocks.

  “My roommate, Maya and your brother got in trouble a few nights ago and got sent to his cabin, it was early and he was grumpy the next day. Do you think that you Frankensteins could give us other campers a break for a few days?”

  “Did Maya tell you about that?” I thought about how they both looked as they walked in after an alleged “midnight stroll.”

  “No, I was here when her and Justin were here, sitting on that dock and talking away.”

  “Talking about what?” I was sure I already knew.

  “You, a girl named Sheila and a guy named Carl. I gather Carl is not a nice person.” Abby’s fin went back and forth through the water, dragging the water and going against the current she was creating; the sound was mesmerizing.

  “You heard about that?” I looked down at my hands, not able to be angry, I was too worn out and sad to be upset.

  “Maya kicked Justin’s butt too.” I snapped my head up.

  “What?”

  “Well, I assumed they told you but Justin was getting all grabby and Maya put him to sleep, just boom, dropped him like a hot cake.”

  “Grabby? What?”

  “He started yelling, ‘I’ll protect you, I won’t let you get hurt,’ something like that, I’m paraphrasing. But I was about to get out of the water and help her when the dock started shaking and that big ol’ brother of yours was on his back snoring.” Abby was laughing. She was so much more relaxed than I had ever seen her before; perhaps it was being in her element. I supposed I had earned a little bit of trust from her after I tried to save her from drowning. I nodded at her, not knowing what to say or how to respond to that. She of course had no idea what just happened. Or did she? She was roommates with Maya after all.

  “How long have you been out here?” I asked.

  “A few hours.”

  “Did Maya wake you up?”

  “Yeeeees.”

  “Is she okay?” I regretted the question. Wasn’t I the one who was hurt here?

  “Why wouldn’t she be okay?”

  “I mean, did she have anything to say when she woke you up?”

  “Maybe.”

  “Will you stop it?!” I put my hands on my head in frustration and Abby started laughing.

  “Chill out. You’re funny.” She splashed her tail down and cupped her fin and flung water at my face.

  “Are you asking me if Maya is in the room, freaking out about what just happened?” I glared at her and took a deep breath. That was obviously my answer or she wouldn’t have known anything. “Is Maya okay?” I asked again.

  “She’s sad. She thinks you don’t really know how much she likes you.”

  “Her dad said that what she feels for me isn’t real,” I said, feeling the pain creep back, full blast into my chest.

  “She’s also a little mad that you said something about “just wanting some action.” She quoted my words that had obviously been quoted by Maya to her. I regretted that lie but how could I take it back without going and talking to her, which wasn’t something I wanted to do.

  “I didn’t mean that,” I said pathetically.

  “Still a jerk move.”

  “I know.” We sat in silence, listening to the water slap the boulders that surrounded the lake and the crickets going crazy around us. I loved the smell of the lake, it reminded me of my home in Geneva and the lake by our home.

  “Abby?”

  “Liam.”

  “Can I ask you about your fin?” I was being rude tonight, I was just going with it.

  “Well, I suppose you could. What do you want to know? Why it’s so ugly?” She rolled her eyes.

  “It’s not ugly, it’s just…different.”

  “It’s ugly. I’m not having a pity party, its ugly by design.”

  “By design?” Was there something more than just bad luck to this Abby girl?

  “Do you really want to hear this story? It’s kind of a woe-is-me tale. No pun intended.” She gave me a beautiful smile, her square face turning soft, and I realized how beautiful she was. Her face was usually hiding behind a book or shying away from onlookers. I remembered all too well the way she hid in my chest when I had “rescued” her from the lake—how ashamed she was—and I realized that we two had a lot in common.

  “Hey, I need to be distracted right now. I’d love a story.” I almost begged.

  “Why not,” Abby cocked her head to the side and smirked her lips at me. “My mother is a beautiful mermaid, her hair is the same color as mine and I know poopy brown isn’t incredibly impressive but it’s pretty wonderful when it’s long, thick and wavy. Also, her face looks like the sun shines out of it. And her fin is what made-up fantasies are about, how all mermaid’s fins were beautiful. One scale from her fin would have made a person rich. It’s golden with a pinkish hue and bright, you could see her thousands of feet under the water. But like most unbelievably beautiful creatures in our world she was very mean, like Ashley mean. She tormented people, and eventually she tormented the wrong person.”

  “What happened?”

  “Well, it happened here actually, when she was a teenager. She was messing with a witch and, well, you never do that. But she did it and apparently that witch put a hex on her that her generations to come will all be ugly, which is about the worst thing you could do to someone apparently.”

  “So you have a common fish fin because of a witch’s hex?” I asked, stunned.

  “You got it. And my daughter or son will also be a big eye sore and so will their children. But, whatcha gonna do?”

  “Well, you could try and find that witch and have her take the curse off for one, I mean her decedents are probably here with us,” I said with my hands up out in front of me, like this should be the most obvious thing in the world.

  “And then what? I become beautiful and allllll of my problems are solved?” She asked, her face looking annoyed. “Will that solve my problems?”

  “If you’re talking about ugly fin problem then, yes.”

  “Is it a problem? Really? Do you think that once you fix Ashley that all her problems will be solved? Will she be a happier person who is kind to people now?”

  “She could be.”

  “I doubt it. She is too entitled and now thanks to you and Maya she is justified. You took her looks from her, she isn’t really ugly. You haven’t humbled her; you’ve just made an enemy. A mean one too.” How did this just turn into me getting scolded?

  “But she deserved it.”

  “Why did she deserve to look like a monster? Because she threw me into the lake?”

  “Because she is a bully!” I said angrily.

  “Now you and Maya are bullies, just like her. What makes you different now?”

  “I would never, we did that for you.” I tried not to gr
owl at her.

  “Me? I never asked you to do that. I feel sorry for her, and not because of what you did to her, because how someone behaves is directly linked to how someone feels. I truly believe that, so I can only assume that she is about the most unhappy person I have ever met.”

  “So you wouldn’t change your fin if you could?”

  “I probably would, honestly. But how drastically would my life change?”

  “A lot, believe me.” I fought my temper when I spoke.

  “You would go back to how you looked before if you could?” she asked.

  “Yes, I’m actually trying to find a way, I’m very close, too.”

  “And you will feel happier after you figure it out?”

  “Why wouldn’t I? I was born a certain way and through my stupidity I have caused this.” I pointed to my face but Abby looked unimpressed.

  “Will you be loved more?” She sat up and brought her fin to the side and sat next to me.

  “Yes.” I mumbled.

  “Being beautiful, being perfect is not the most important thing. I see my mother, who is still stunning and she is miserable. And she’s miserable because of how her actions have caused her life to turn out.

  “Do you think that if she had the chance to see you beautiful she would be happier, and in extension by kinder to people?” I wondered.

  “She could be. She has had a while now to live with her choices.” Abby shrugged.

  “So, let’s say that I find a way to take my scars away and I was able to do the same for you, would you do it with me?”

  “Your scares are the cause of a generational hex?” She looked at me like I was the stupidest person in the world.

  “No, but I am very smart. I can do many, many things.”

  “Sure, buddy. If you are able to fix me then I’ll play. Don’t turn me into a frog or anything.” She laughed but I was serious. I felt around in the pocket of my hoodie and cupped the antidote I was planning on giving to Mr. Torricelli.

  “Hey, do you have any special talents?” Abby asked me.

  “Not particularly, unless you mean science stuff, I can do anything that has to do with that.”