Chapter One: Awake....?

The scene flickers incessantly switching from clarity to vagueness. In that few moments, I felt like I've seen this life before. Cold fingertips brush the shiny dancing mirrors as I step in front, trying to see what I look like.

The mirror fades away before I can see and suddenly, I know he's there again.

"Not yet....", he whispers in my ear though I cannot see him. The darkness seems to spiral around me, the only source of light are from the mirrors dancing out of reach. Further away, another light begins to glimmer. A way out?

The mirror maze scares me but the only way out seems to be that light. I pick up my skirts...skirts? Amazingly I am dressed in a ripped and tattered black gown with elbow gloves...but even as I finger them in wonder, I know that if I don't hurry, the light will disappear. A cold rushing wind whips around me as I start to run.

I run fast but as I run, the mirrors dance faster and faster and somewhere in the depths of my pounding heart, a small voice is screaming, "No! You KNOW where that leads! That's not where you want to go!"
But even as the small voice breaks through my haze of panic, I skid to a stop, staring at that light that promises salvation yet asks for so much more in return.

Floating seemingly in the air, an overflowing bouquet of shimmering white roses glimmer and rotate, telling me without words that the way out is to take them. But I step back, knowing now what will happen if I do. In the centre, a single rose begins to turn red...as though it's bleeding. But whose blood?

As it turns completely red, I feel a sharp pain on my right index finger. True enough, it is bleeding, the red droplets staining the pristine white gown I now wore. I know this dream...I've seen it many times before. The wind that is still pulling at my hair and now-white gown intensifies, it's rushing force seemingly pushing me towards that fearsome exit.

"Mine....mine....Mine...." the wind moans like a living being. As a mirror begins to materialize above the bouquet, I moan in fear...knowing what I will see and knowing that I needed to escape NOW!

As the mirror solidifies, my eyes are inexplicably drawn to it. I see myself now...or the me in this reality. Is that really me? Long black hair falling in lovely waves to my curving hips...hips and a slim waist I've desired for so long...the face is still mine but it glows with a strange radiance. A soft white veil floating on my hair as a hand loving pulls it off my face.

I see HIM now...the black hair and glowing green eyes I feel I've known for eternity...his hands tracing the contours of my face gently sliding down to my neck. Even as my body relaxes into his, the small voice begins to scream again. I open my eyes in time to see a gleaming blade pressed against my throat.

As I scream, the scene dissolves and all is dark again...

Morning Light

Regina bolted awake, her chest heaving in fear as the morning light streamed through the windows. She looked wildly around, taking in the messy room and the piles of books around the bed. As the fear subsided, her brow furrowed...what happened?

Tossing the covers aside, she stepped into the adjoining bathroom and turned on the water. Shivering under the freezing spray, she groused, for the millionth time, that it was time to buy a water heater. Wrapping the towel around her, she stopped to brush her teeth and as she rinsed the toothbrush, her reflection stared back out at her.

A plump plain face with wet hair falling in messy strings to her shoulders and a button nose that always made her feel like a small pug... Sighing, she averted her eyes and stepped out of the bathroom. As she did, someone pounded on her door. Startled, she called out cautiously, "Yes?"

"Oi! We're going to be late for class! Hurry up!!", Regina's housemate Kryssie yelled from the other side. Turning to glance at the clock above her wardrobe, she swore, "Oh SHIT!"
As she dressed and hurriedly blew her hair dry, strange scenes and images flickered in her mind.
"What...?"

"Are you done yet??"
"I'm coming!!" Regina yelled grabbing the tote bag lying forlornly beside the door and bolted out of the room, the images pushed back into the deepest recesses of her mind...for now...