Dominance

She was floating.

At least that’s what it felt like.

Her body was weightless and numb, but it was not an uncomfortable feeling. In fact, it was quite pleasant. Her mind felt totally at ease as she drifted effortlessly in a sea of nothingness.

It was dark and the air around her felt cold on her skin. It encircled around her form softly and lingered like a cool blanket.

And then she saw something. Not with her eyes, but a mental picture that glimmered softly in her mind. A droplet fell softly into the never-ending black. Ripples danced out gracefully where the drop had fallen, and then faded into the dusky silence.

“Why are you here, girl?” a hollow, unfamiliar voice whispered. It sounded like it was somewhere far away and stirred in her consciousness.

There was another moment of stillness and then another droplet fell. This time its fall was louder and clearer than before. The ripples danced away more violently, turning a vivid crimson before fading away.

“Who are you to wander here?”

Who am I?

Her mind was blank for a moment, and then it clicked as her thoughts fragmented back to receptive.

“I’m Sara.”

That’s my name, she realised, reassuring herself. And then felt foolish. Of course, that was her name. She couldn’t possibly forget something like that. Her name was Sara and she was-

She faltered. Questions flaring in her mind.

Where was she? What was she doing here?

She couldn’t remember.

She couldn’t think.

Her head was just too foggy.

A moment of dread washed over her. This wasn’t natural. It just didn’t feel right.

And then she was no longer floating in a place of peace. She felt heavy and sluggish. Her feet were unsteady on her heels. She was being weighed down by an enormous pressure.

As her muted senses began to return there was a horrible metallic taste in her mouth. It made her stomach queasy and her throat burn.

Finally, she could open her eyes.

Initially, it was far too bright. Her eyes stung and she blinked repeatedly trying to adjust to the light and get a glimpse of her surroundings. Yet, eventually, there appeared to be extraordinarily little to see.

The world was nothing but a blur. Space, but with nothing occupying it. It went on forever, hazed over in a thick white fog. Below her was sand, pure white and incredibly soft under her feet. So fine that it felt like flour.

The air, she realised, smelled like it tasted, an awful metallic and smoky scent. It frightened her. This place was just so wrong. But it was also familiar to her somehow. Strange, considering there was nothing to distinguish familiarity at all. It was just a continuous gloomy mist on a white landscape.

“Sara.”

Sara’s body stiffened. It was that voice again, deep, yet somehow soothing, testing her name on their tongue. It echoed through the silence and sent shivers up her spine.

Where was it coming from?

Her eyes darted into the distance, searching. She whirled on the spot where she stood, too afraid to venture out. But still, she saw nothing but the fog.

“Where are you?” she called out, her voice warily croaky.

But there was no reply.

Finally she spotted something moving through the mist. She couldn’t work out what it was at first as it was easily camouflaged in the hazy surroundings. But then the fog swirled and dissipated around the creature, and it came into view. It gazed back at her with a still and fearless glare.

The creature was beautiful, but also intimidating and frightening, even at a distance. Truthfully, Sara was not quite sure what it was. At first, she thought it might be a wolf. But it was not quite proportionally correct to be so.

It was all white with an elegant, yet powerfully built frame and long legs. Its neck consisted of long wisps of fur that danced gracefully in a breeze that Sara couldn’t feel. Two horns emerged from on the top of its head and curled over attentive pointed ears. She found herself staring into eerie amber eyes.

Without warning it was abruptly in front of Sara. She was surprised by how fast it had moved and instinctively tried to back away, but she lost her footing and stumbled onto the powdery ground.

It reared onto two legs, looking far more proportionally correct than it had on its four, and easily towered over her. Fog whisked up along its back as it stood. For a moment, Sara thought the fog took the shape of wings, but then it settled and dispersed.

She was too alarmed to tear her eyes from the beast and just whimpered where she fell.

“You cannot escape this fate.”

The air became thick and hot. It caught in Sara’s throat and she found herself struggling to breathe. The creature pulled back its lips, totally shattering the image of its elegant face, and revealing predatory jaws lined with pointed teeth.

“Your human ignorance will be your demise.”

It fell atop her. Its clawed feet landed at her sides and pinned her to the spot.

With a horrifying amount of belligerence, it roared just inches from her face.

"GET OUT!"

And then the strange world fell away as she was engulfed in darkness again.

Sara woke with a start, automatically swinging a hand out to roughly smack her alarm clock into silence. When the ringing did not stop, she launched upright and dove for her bedside table, fumbling for her lit-up phone and awkwardly balancing herself from falling down the side of her bed.

“Hello?” She croaked trying to gain her composure. She tugged the cord free from the device’s overnight charging.

“SARA!” a loud, shrill screech answered her.

Sara cringed and pulled the phone away from her now-pounding ear. She didn’t need to have it up close to hear the continued screeches from Kate on the other end.

“I’VE BEEN CALLING YOU FOR AGES! WHERE ARE YOU?”

Sara waited a moment, making sure Kate was done before returning her phone to her ear.

“What are you talking about? I’m at home,” she returned with a yawn. Little pops relieved the tension in her back as she stretched.

“Well hurry up!” Kate’s volume had lowered considerably, thank goodness. But there was an obvious irritation left in her voice. “You’re already way late. You promised you’d be here early, remember?”

Sara glanced back to the digits on the alarm clock she’d savagely beaten just moments before and swore softly under her breath.

Yep. She was late.

Sara sped down the stairs, shoving the remainder of her school supplies into her satchel bag as she went. Her hair was a catastrophe, her clothes were a crinkled mess, but there was no time to adjust her appearance. On the last few steps, she stumbled on her untied laces and dove head-first onto the carpet. In the tumble, all the contents of her bag made a dash for freedom and scattered everywhere.

“This can’t be happening,” she murmured as she rubbed the carpet burn on her forehead. It stung at the touch.

Sara groaned with frustration before getting up and collecting her things again. Nothing was seriously hurt, except maybe her dignity. Her passing mother, dressed formally in business attire and cradling a hot cup of coffee, stopped to roll her eyes before continuing to head into the kitchen.

“Don’t worry, mum. I got this!” Sara shouted from the other room, folding her bag and making sure it was zipped shut this time.

“You’re not leaving without breakfast, Sara,” she called back over the volume of the television. Her mother routinely watched the news every morning. Every weekday before heading to the office, and even on the weekends.

“Aw, Mum! I’m already late!” Sara exclaimed with typical teenage demeanour.

Knowing she’d be unlikely to win an argument, she tied her laces and dashed to the pantry, stuffing a bag of potato chips and a muesli bar into a velcro-sealed compartment of her bag.

Sara’s mother was leaning against the kitchen bench, her attention on the news anchor talking on the screen. Her coffee cup with a fresh peach-coloured lipstick stain upon the porcelain was still in her hands. She paused from tutting at this morning’s worldwide dramatics, which was the same as it had been all month; rising deaths from a strange flu strain and various government arguments on addressing said issue, to frown at Sara’s nutrition choices.

“Sara, that is not-” her mother began as she reached to click the little television screen to idle.

“Bye, Mum!” Sara raced through the house and out the front door. She slammed it shut behind her before her mother could rain down any of her disapproving nagging.

“Love you!” Sara added, yelling through the solid wooden door before heading down the crisscrossing brick pathway.

Her school was just three blocks down from her home. It was a breezy ten-minute walk normally, but only a few minutes away if she ran quickly enough. Sara tugged her phone out of her pocket and heedlessly scrolled through the copious amount of unread messages, most of which were from Kate, as she walked at a swift pace. Distracted, she almost stacked it again while jumping the tiny aesthetic fence that caged in her mother’s untidy and overgrown lavender. She cussed under her breath as her phone stumbled in her grip. She slipped it into her bag with a sigh, tugging up her shoulder strap and rearranging her sleeve.

“Young lady, you should keep that language in check.”

Sara looked up guiltily at the wrinkled frown of her elderly neighbour who happened to be tending to his cherished roses. Despite his age, he apparently had remarkably sharp hearing. Mr. Wayne shuffled closer and was sure to start a lecture, but luckily Sara was able to escape the conversation due to a call of her name. To her grateful surprise, two familiar figures were hurrying towards her on the sidewalk. Sara gave an awkward grin before scurrying to the company of her friends, Ashlee and Kate, who had raced down the road to meet her.

Kate, far less athletic than Ashlee, wheezed already out of breath. Her low ponytail had drifted down and become loose. Strands of black wavy hair clung to her damp face.

Ashlee beamed beside her. She had elegantly shaped features and was just one of those people who looked sophisticated no matter what the situation. She had dusky blue eyes, and soft brown hair that was kept short and parted to one side.

Sara raised a hand to her own untidy pale brown locks and raked her fingers through it in a futile attempt to suddenly improve its visual appeal. It was mid-length, barely a wave, and complete with a dorky-looking fringe that was just that little bit too short to tuck behind her ears.

“You never answer your damned phone!” Kate exclaimed with a hiss.

“It was on silent!” Sara fibbed.

“Like always!” Kate snapped back.

Sara bit her lip. This wasn’t the first time the pair had arguments about Sara’s slow response time to Kate’s messages.

“What took you so long?!” Kate continued as she shifted the weight of her bag on her shoulder. Her cheeks were rosy against the crisp of the morning. “And what happened to your face?” She added, noticing Sara’s scrape.

Kate started battering at Sara’s button-up uniform shirt in an attempt to decrease the creases.

Sara winced. “I slept in. And then I may have face-skated the carpet.”

Ashlee laughed. Kate raised an eyebrow. But before she could speak again Ashlee had grabbed both her and Sara’s arms and started dragging them in the direction of the school. “Come on you guys, the bus will leave without us!”

The girls’ feet smacked loudly atop the footpath as they bolted to reach their destination in time.

“I hope Ms Endecott is in a good mood today,” Kate rasped.

Sara laughed nervously as the friends towed each other along.

Chapter artwork by Cathrine6mirror:

https://www.deviantart.com/cathrine6mirror