Chapter Two: Which reality...?

Regina sighed and rubbed the back of her neck. Shivering, she rubbed the tops of her arms in an effort to reduce the goosebumps. Kryssie shook her head, "You know...you really shouldn't sleep in class so often! You're gonna be in trouble once the Finals roll around."Regina just snorted and shrugged. She didn't feel like talking. Kryssie turned to talk to Celine who laughed. Regina rested her throbbing head against her arms and sighed.

A dream? But....of what? Why do I feel so troubled?

"Gina? Where're we heading for lunch? Are you okay?"
Regina opened her eyes and smiled.
"Yeah...how 'bout we go to our usual place? I don't feel like going far today."
Jessica frowned and lowered her voice.
"Not sleeping well?"
"Well...I do try!"
Jessica just shot her a look and shrugged.

Regina watched them go, calling out that they would wait for her. Wiping off the smile she had plastered on her face, she sighed. Grabbing her stuff, she trudged out, not noticing anything out of the ordinary.

The wind tugs at the sheer curtains as they flutter wildly. Chills ripple down my spine, tingling goosebumps cover my arms and legs. Where am I? Shifting my limbs, I look down and gasp. I am reclining on a snow white couch. Propping myself up on my elbow, I scan the room. A large wall mounted television faces the couch I am on, soft rugs cover the gleaming marble floor and my favourite Casablanca lilies spill over in glass vases all over the room. White sheer curtains flutter around the room as I get up to close the large glass windows. As my fingers wrap around the white wooden frame, I gasp. The view of the sea is spectacular...the garden attached to the house is filled with bushes of sparkling white roses and a shining white path leading to a white gate which opened to a vista of sparkling white sand. As I stand there, staring at the view, I feel a pair of arms sliding around my waist. Knowing instinctively that it is him, I lean back, revelling in his warmth.

"Did you have a good sleep?"
"How long was I asleep?"
"Far too long...I thought I was about to lose you to your dreams."
Although he was teasing, I tug at the ends of my hair feeling at odds.
"I dreamt...I was an overweight college student...I wasn't happy..."
He nuzzles my neck gently and I relax.
"It was just a dream...just a dream."

We stand there in dreamy silence as the sounds of the ocean washes over us.

"You remember what day it is right?"
I started from my reverie.
"What?"
He laughs and I gasp when something cold slips around my neck to rest on my collarbones. Fingering it, I simply stare.
A simple perfect snowflake consisting of radiant cut diamonds set closely together rested from a slender chain around my neck.
"Happy Anniversary, darling..."
It was then that I notice the ring.

At that moment, the doorbell chimes. Seemingly irritated, he kisses my neck and goes to open the door. I follow him, passing a dining room where a table is set for two. Stopping, I finger the elegant crystal champagne flutes and brush my fingers over the white linen napkins. Raised voices caught my attention and I walk down the corridor lined by glass waterfalls towards the front door.
"You!"I gasp!
The two people standing at the door are eerily familiar...yet I cannot place them.

"It's us!! Run!! Run before he gets you!!"
He stood in front of them, not moving as they attempt to push past an invisible barrier.
"Get me...I don't understand..."
But somehow I do...backing away I knock into a glass vase. As it smashes onto the floor, I stare at the white lilies and somehow...they're roses...white shining roses. Almost as though I'm in a dream, I kneel and touch the roses. Immediately, I snatch my hand back but it is too late...my blood drips steadily, turning a single rose blood red.

"What..."
He is standing over me now. His fingers caress my hair.
"You belong here with me...don't you remember?"
A strange wind blows and my flesh begins to crawl.
Mine...mine....mine....
"You....I..." I look into his eyes and I see love...for me and only me....yet even as my heart bursts with the same emotion, it quickens in fear as he pulls out a knife.
"This is the only way...the only way you can be mine..."
I scream and my vision began tunneling into darkness....

Regina screamed and jumped up. Staring around her wildly, she sank back onto the sofa as Kryssie and her boyfriend ran from their shared room.
"Gina! What happened? Another bad dream?"
Regina wrapped her arms around herself, the images fading so fast she could barely remember.
"I....I can't remember..."
Kryssie's face was a mask of concern.
"Do you want to see a doctor? Or maybe tell your parents..."
"No! I'm fine....really. I'll just take a shower and then we'll all go out for dinner ok?"
Kryssie looked dubious but agreed.
Regina pushed herself off the sofa and clomped to her room. As she tugged her sweater off her head, it caught on something around her neck. Turning to the mirror, she gasped.A perfect diamond snowflake necklace rested around her neck. Involuntarily and not really knowing why, she turned to stare at her ring finger and gasped again. A perfect white circle seemed to be burnt into her skin...

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...