It's not until a few days after the last injection that I start to notice strange things. I wake up suddenly, in the middle of the night, with my entire abdomen seizing in pain. At first, I figure I've just hit my monthly, but that thought is quickly dismissed. I'm not yet due for another.
My entire body convulses in pain, and I'm curled into the fetal position. Wave after wave of searing, burning agony rips through me; it's like I swallowed a group of ravenous tigers and they're tearing at my insides with their sharp claws and gnawing with their teeth. I know better than to scream, because the last time my nightmares woke me noisily Dr. Knight electrocuted me for almost five whole seconds. That isn't long, but with the amount of electricity she used at my size, it was an effective punishment.
To keep myself calm, I hum shakily, my pitches jolting when a fresh wave of pain hits. The words are ones I wrote a while ago, late at night, after I found out that my boyfriend was cheating on me with the head cheerleader.
"Wait for me,
Under the tree,
Where you told me you loved me
You loved me times three
Wait for the moon,
She'll be here soon,
She carries me with her
I'm coming to you.
But what should I see
Under the tree
But you with another girl
One who isn't me
Carry me away
Back to the day
Where you told me you loved me
You loved me times three."
As I sing, the world around me shimmers like a soap bubble. A patch of dirt shimmers at my feet, and the small terrarium begins to quake. Suddenly, a glowing green and brown blur shoots up from the ground. Stunned, I watch the oak tree unfold in all its arboreal beauty.
A bright white orb hovers above the tree - a little full moon, I realize. The figure of a girl appears in the moon, shadowy, pale. Two dark shapes appear under the tree, laughing and playing. Before my eyes, they intertwine, kissing.
The girl in the moon covers her face and begins to cry. Her tears fall like pearls; in wonder, I reach out to catch them. A few land in my cupped palm before the entire scene fades away. The world stops shimmering.
I stare in wonder at the spot where the illusion was, then at my hand, where four small pearls still gleam. "What just happened?" I murmur aloud.
Another spasm of pain ripples through me, lesser, but still noticeable. They remind me a little of what I would imagine contractions from pregnancy to feel like. Clinging to the pearls, I go back to sleep, where I have a very odd dream.
I am underneath the oak tree I just saw in my illusion, looking up at a dark black sky, covered with clouds. Softly, moonlight peeks through, revealing the full moon hanging high in the sky. Then I am hovering in front of the moon, and a silhouette appears in front of me - a black shadow, vaguely shaped like a girl.
"My tears will help you," the moongirl whispered. "If you take one and swallow it, you will temporarily be able to telepathically communicate with one person of your choice. But be warned - by the next full moon, they will be useless."
The dream shifts again - Carter, sleeping in a pet store cage. Justin, standing still like a robot, motionless in a line of Miniatures just like him. A shadow, slipping through the town, causing streetlights to spark and die. Dr. Knight, feverishly assembling a giant machine, pausing every so often to wipe sweat from her face.
I wake up to Dr. Knight slamming doors and muttering, peering through files and drinking coffee. I check my hand - four pearls, glowing faintly, a soft, milky white. As the "good doctor" approaches my cage, I quickly shove the pearls into an inside pocket of my clothes. No reason for her to know about a magic pearl from a dream - or, now that I think about it, an apparent ability to create illusions, now is there?
{ Not dead. Will try to update again soon. }
