Happily Ever Christmas

~Thirteen~

Cold wind howled all around me. I opened my eyes and a sickening feeling assailed me as I saw the ground below me rapidly getting farther and farther away as something dragged me up into the air.

It was like a bad dream.

I saw my own house from a bird's eye view, then the whole neighborhood was spread out below me. Soon it was hard to even breathe as the town became visible, spread out below me to make a spiderweb of lights.

I screamed and passed out once more. I never got a good look at what was dragging me up into the cold night sky.

*~*~*~*

I slowly drifted back to consciousness, feeling warm and a bit fuzzy in the memory department.

The first thing I became aware of was the scent of pine needles and wood smoke with a comforting underlining aroma of cinnamon. This hardly surprised me; I had fallen asleep on the couch in the living room in my family home. Someone must have started the fire and the cinnamon rolls already. I was only surprised at the absence of shrieking children running around ripping open presents and jumping all over me.

Not that I was complaining.

They would be up and raging around soon enough.

I stretched, feeling well rested, then froze as I felt something odd and unexpected beneath my palm; wrapped all around me in fact.

Satin.

I blinked open my eyes and stared at the red satin sheets pooled around my face.

The sheets I had fallen asleep in had been flannel tattersall, this...I don't think I had ever had satin sheets in my entire life.

As I began to lift my head in confusion, a furry white something tickled my cheek. I sat up and saw that a giant white fur blanket was spread over me, over my body as I lay in a giant lake of a bed, enrobed in red satin sheets.

What the hell?

Something moved beside me and I jumped and let out a little scream of alarm, to relax slightly when I saw that it was only a cat.

A giant, orange, incredibly fluffy cat, who had been curled up next to me on its own pillow. It sat up and meowed at me, staring at me with big green eyes.

I stared down at it in complete surprise, blinking rapidly.

Was I still asleep and dreaming?

I had never seen this cat before.

I had never seen any of this before.

My bleary eyes moved around the room, taking in everything very slowly because there was a lot to process and my head felt very thick and hot, and it throbbed with a low pressure, I had discovered when I sat up.

The first thing I saw were the windows. Giant windows with light streaming in through gauzy white drapes. I couldn't see a view, only the morning light itself.

Then the walls and floor were what I noticed next; made entirely from a dark gray stone with many fur rugs scattered across the vast expanse of floor. Large wooden beams arced across the ceiling.

Then I experienced another jolt when my eyes landed on the fireplace. It was huge and the mantelpiece itself was an impressive black marble with carvings all throughout it of impressive beasts and tall pines set against a mountain background.

A big mirror in a gilded frame hung above the mantle.

I was starting to hyperventilate as my eyes flicked over a big wooden armoire on the far wall and then over to a big door with an old-fashioned brass handle.