The Undrowned

Chapter 20

I wake up covered in water, choking for air, gasping for breath.

     I thrash against the sheets and still feel like I'm drowning, until I realize that I'm safe.

     I'm in bed.

     Daylight pierces through the curtains.

     And I'm not covered in water. It's sweat. Just sweat.

     I flop back on my pillow and stare up at the ceiling, breathing fast as a rabbit.

     Downstairs, I hear my parents and Jessica talking, the faint rumble of the television. Outside there are birds and cars and people.

     I'm safe. I'm safe.

     "It was just a bad dream," I whisper.

     I look over to my nightstand, to where I stashed her sketchbook last night. It looks perfectly normal. Perfectly dry. No wonder I'm having nightmares---I'm losing my mind.

     "Samantha!" Dad calls from downstairs. "You better be getting ready for school!"

     His voice makes me jump.

     I close my eyes and force the last of my dream from my mind. It's Friday. Almost the weekend. And then I can avoid Rachel. I just have to get through today.

     I can do this.

     I can do this.

     I try to get out of bed, and stumble immediately because the sheets are wrapped around my ankles. I collapse on the carpet, the sheets still tangled around my feet. At least I landed on a pillow.

     "Clumsy," I mutter to myself.

     I try to kick off the sheets, but they don't budge. I reach down and yank them away.

     But it's no longer my sheets.

     It's seaweed.

     Thick ropy vines tangle around my ankles, their leaves covered in tiny snail shells and thick algae. I yelp in horror and grab at the vines. They are cold and mushy beneath my fingers, but I can't pull them away.

              With every grab, they twine tighter.

                                    With every scratch, they dig deeper.

     I want to scream out, but my voice is lodged in my chest.

     This can't be real.

     This can't be real.

     Except it is.

     The sun is shining and the birds are singing and it is.

     I look around, trying to find something that can free me, and find a pair of scissors sitting on my desk.

     I claw my way over. The seaweed tugs me back.

           Almost 

                           there---

     My fingers close around the scissors and I twist back, cutting and hacking at the seaweed until it finally---finally---gives way. It coils back in on itself, slinking back like an injured snake.

     I scramble to my feet

                  drop the scissors

                                  race to the door

and when I look back,

the vines are gones.

Just tangled sheets.

     Tangled, shredded sheets

                 and a swiftly fading puddle of lake water.