01

[returntothesea]

Upon waking up, she found herself enshrouded in complete darkness.

This wasn't normal. This was nowhere near normal. This wasn't her bedroom, she wasn't in her bed, and she wasn't even close to it. At first, she thought was was dreaming; perhaps this was still a dream?

She realized quickly that it wasn't.

And it was then that she started to panic. So much, in fact, that she managed to accidentally find her way out of her current entrapment; not without a bit of pain, of course.

Polka sat up, rubbing her head (which was now throbbing), and squinting her eyes as they adjusted to what little light there was. As they slowly began to focus, they widened; this was definitely not her home, as she had suspected from the start.

It was then, as she began to push her trembling body to a standing position, that she began to wonder if perhaps the happy ending she had thought she was living before was the dream she had thought this place was beforehand. Perhaps the happy ending hadn't happened at all. Perhaps this place was the desolate, barren wasteland that had been her own world. Perhaps she had to make her sacrifice after all ...

She shook her head. No, the place she had seen before ... she remembered it vividly. It looked much, much different than this place. This only left her more confused, however. If it wasn't that, then ...

"Hello?" She called out, taking a few cautious steps forward.

"Where am I ..?" She called out again, this time in a much softer tone of voice.

Suddenly, she felt more alone than she ever had before.

Comments

[seventeenth]

Hey there! [Bet you weren't expecting a response, right Polka? But Desmond has been making a habit of checking on the room full of coffin pots every day for a while now, and today is no exception. He doesn't look terribly concerned, and his smile is edged with only a touch of concern as he approaches.]

Welcome to the castle. [He gestures grandly, then offers a hand out to her.] You feeling alright, besides the standard issue headache?

[returntothesea]

[ she jumps a little bit and squeaks at the response ... and then she realized how silly that was, seeing as she had called out. she looks up at the man silently for several moments before she reached out and cautiously took his hand. ]

I-I think so. I'm just ... really, really confused.

[seventeenth]

[Desmond carefully pulls Polka to her feet. He laughs a little at her response.] No kidding -- everyone is at first. [He pauses.] Well, a lot of us still are now. But not as much.

[returntothesea]

[ now that she's standing, she takes another look around the room. ]

So then, you know where we are? [ this is a dream, this is a dream, this is a dream. ]