Tangled

166

166

166 Lisa: Fevers and Dreams

LISA

How long has it been?

A few days?

Weeks?

The sun should keep me oriented, but a fever gets me the first night I'm there.

The girl, Marisol, comes by every so often. Always with food. A few times with bowls filled with some noxious liquid that has my nostrils trying to close, avoiding the smell coming from within. She's expressionless as she shoves it down my throat, and I'm too weak to fight her off.

It's medicine, I think.

I think that because I slowly get better after the third bowl,

In between moments of lucidity, I dream.

Normal life. Home. Mom and Dad.

Working with Ava at Beaniverse.

Flirting with that cute guy who accidentally wandered into our professor's Eng Lit class instead of some sort of philosophy class

two doors down.

Cozy, happy dreams, of a place far from here..

An escape from the reality that chains me.

17:37

At some point the dreams turn from happy comfort to something uneasy and dark.

Sunshine warms my face as Ava and I relax at our favorite cafe,

sipping lattes and chatting. For a moment, the world feels right again, like I'm back where I belong

But then the shadows come

vision, dark tendrils snaking across the ground. I try to warn Ava, but

behind her.

but no sound comes out. The shadow reaches for Ava, engulfing her, dragging her away as she kicks and struggles. I lunge for her, but my feet

I reach for her hand to comfort her, but the plane lurches, throwing us forward. Oxygen Ava's screaming. I'm

Impact.

screeches and rends. Flames erupt. Pain sears. Ava's hand. slips from

horrific than the last. Ava, drowning in a sea of blood.

55000

monsters. And always, I'm helpless

watch as she suffers.

against my chains, but I can't escape. I can't wake up. The horrors play out again and again, an

I

back in my cell, shivering and drenched in sweat. My throat feels raw, my limbs heavy and weak. Marisol kneels beside me. holding a bowl of that foul-smelling liquid to my lips. "Drink," she commands, tipping the

force myself

torment.

intensity. "How often has the Master fed from you?" she asks,

the question. "Just once," I rasp out,

for a single feeding." There's something in her tone, an undercurrent of emotion I can't

you

must favor y greatly,

monster might favor me fills me with nothing but a

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room, tie lase mast but no words

weten, my mind dealle

Mariel's odd

want

ere will die

mure endle

wees to

agan her hate prodding at my skin

detach that

she's doing. Her fingers press against my neck, my wrists, my ankles. It's only when she peers down at my shoulder that

voice rough from disuse and screaming.

looks at me with a strange intensity. "Only once," she repeats, as if tasting the words. "But

and the sickening rush of pleasure

return.

to push the

as she stares at me. There's something wistful in her expression, a longing that I can't quite comprehend. "When did you know? she asks softly, her eyes

Lisa Fevers

For