Dreams or Reality?

Chapter 15: The Trial

CHAPTER 15: The Trial

For once, I was in my own body when the dream reached me.

I stood in the forest. It was twilight. Fog rolled gently around me in gray-white clouds. I looked down, for some inexplicable reason I was wearing a long white dress that trailed on the ground behind me.

The sleeves flowed around my arms, brushing my skin as gently as water. The skirt moved by it's self, effortlessly not getting tangled up with my legs. The dress's neckline was cut in a gentle half circle, revealing white lace, the lace also peeped out at the bottom of the sleeves.

I was confused as I walked aimlessly through the unfamiliar woods. I had no destination in mind as I wondered yet my feet seemed to point me in certain directions, following an unseen path.

The sky stayed a pink orange that I originally thought was beautiful but now seemed menacing in it's sameness. The forest was also creepy, it lacked the sounds of animals and bugs and living things, the only sound in the silent forest was my footsteps and my breathing.

After what seemed like a lifetime but time seemed to be paused so I don't know how long actually, my feet stopped moving.

I was now standing behind a tree and, confused as ever, I looked around it. Some subconscious part of me was telling me to stay hidden so I did this secretly.

I was surprised. Standing ram-rod straight was Cheshire guy and Demetri. Cheshire's focus was a cross the clearing, on a girl who looked, not much older then I. His icy gaze was cold yet she didn't flinch. 

Demetri was looking at her too. He seemed unhappy in the half-light. His blue eyes didn't shine with the amusement and arrogance they normally did. The only emotion they held was something unreadable.

A small part of me wanted to come out from behind the tree and talk to Demetri but my instinct to stay hidden overruled it. Instead I turned my attention to the girl.

She was pretty, or at least she would be under the dirt and blood that was almost everywhere, covering her and her torn dress like a blanket.

Whoever she was, her dark hair sat in perfect ringlets, I'm assuming naturally because, judging by the rest of her, her hair was the least of her worries. Her dress was similar to mine, identical except it was a soft lilac color, it had been cinched to her waist with a dark purple sash and it was raggedly torn and filthy.

Her face was just as dirty as her dress, I could see a long thin cut on her forehead, dried blood crusted around it and in a line down her face.

The once magnificent dress was, almost randomly, ripped and where it was I could see small cuts that no longer bled.

But the worst part was her stomach, a large part of her dress had been torn there and only a few ribbons of fabric held the top and bottom halves together. Through this hole was a cut, no, not a cut. It was so much worse then a cut. It was like someone had grated her stomach with a cheese grater. Repeatedly.

I fought the urge to vomit at the sight of this grotesque wound. That was only the part I could see because one of her hands clutched it, trying to staunch the blood that was flowing from the cut. Her hand was almost crimson from the blood staining it.

Moving my eyes to her face I could see tears running down her cheeks as she cried with pain. Despite the cut and the almost certainty that she would die soon, the girl held her head high. This was someone who would go down fighting.

The silence was broken all of a sudden when a cold, cruel voice that still struck terror in me spoke. "Daughter." Cheshire said, calmly, precisely, "You have disgraced us. You tried to warn the last of them yet you still look me in the eye."

"Father." The girl said, her voice low and sarcastic. "You say I've disgraced us? Look at yourself! Preparing to kill a teenage girl who knows nothing of her heritage. You've disgraced us, not I." The same precision that was in his voice had been injected into her's.

Cheshire seemed unfazed. He laughed once, short and kind of evil sounding. He spoke. "Brave words, too bad they're your last. You can proclaim your innocence in the after life." He smiled wickedly at the beat up thing that was his daughter.

The girl looked steadily on at him, unafraid. She seemed to have been expecting worse. Demetri, however, looked slightly shell-shocked for a moment before masking it with blankness. In that look it was obvious he had been cut deeply at Cheshire's words.

"Your words hold no meaning to me. Killing me now would be a gift." She said. Like I mentioned before, brave till the end. "Do you not see the wounds you've already inflicted upon me? I would die slowly and painfully without your help."

Demetri's voice carried across to me. "Father, do you not find death a harsh punishment for your only daughter?"

It took me a minute to connect the dots. Demetri's father. Cheshire? That couldn't be right. My head snapped back to them as Cheshire coolly turned on Demetri.

"Son." Cheshire's eyes flashed and the anger was evident. "She has done the unspeakable and for you to object that she deserves anything less then death is the equivalent of betraying me and to your blood. You have no right to contradict my actions and I will carry out whatever I think is necessary."

Before anyone else could say anything, I stepped out of my hiding place.

The girl smiled warmly at me, like I was her friend. Cheshire narrowed his eyes and his anger clearly grew. Demetri turned towards me and drew in a surprised breath.

I hadn't gotten this far in my supposed-to-be-brilliant plan. Now that I had their attention I thought about what to do next. I didn't get that long to think before Cheshire spoke.

"Her blood runs strong." I think I heard begrudging respect in his voice. "You shouldn't be here. If only the time was right, but no. Begone girl, I'll be back for you."

Weird that he called me girl when I know he knows my name. The girl screamed. Whether it was out of pain, at Cheshire's words or anything else, I don't know.

I tried to scream stop and throw out my arm but I only got as far as bringing my arm up before Cheshire flicked his hand and the scene shattered around me like glass.

My hand was still out when I was in bed. My scream was still caught in my throat. The memory was still running through my head.

It had been so real. So life like.

But it wasn't. It couldn't be. It just couldn't. Could it?

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I'm back! What do you guys think? I'll be uploading the other chapters I wrote at camp, I don't think any of them are this long but I'm not sure. Comment. Vote. Please! I want to know what you guys think!!!! Thanks for reading.

-Jodi