𝙋𝙀𝙉𝘿𝙐𝙇𝙐𝙈 | 𝙎𝙥𝙞𝙙𝙚𝙧𝙫𝙚𝙧𝙨𝙚 | 𝙈. 𝙊'𝙃𝙖𝙧𝙖

7| 𝘼 𝙉𝙚𝙬 𝙉𝙤𝙧𝙢𝙖𝙡

┅╍━━🕷️🧿🕸️━━╍┅

The bed hadn't been so hard and cold when Vishwa had fallen asleep on it the previous night, nor did it smell like mold-infested cement. Confusion overtook her drowsiness when she peered through the slits of her half-open eyes. The ceiling fan was spinning to her left, its face facing up and its blades moving dangerously close to her shoulder.

Her knees hurt from being pressed against the hard surface as she pulled herself upright. Her hair oddly tugged at her scalp instead of falling over her shoulders. A band of throbbing pain collared the back of her head and her neck.

Her eyes drifted upwards and widened in horror. Why was her bed stuck to the ceiling along with her furniture, her blankets, and the curtains? The ceiling suddenly had the same tiles as the floors did. Outside the window, beyond the inverted edges of the curtains fluttering like the petals of a paper flower, she saw that the sky had suddenly sprouted snow-capped mountains that hung down like stalactites, while the ground had dissolved into an infinite blue ocean speckled with clouds.

Vishwa realised with a shudder that she was sitting on the ceiling. When she looked towards the wall underneath her, she spotted her body being anchored in place with what looked like a fine silvery net resembling the cobwebs in the corner. It annoyed how the silk clung to her hands when she dusted it off her shirt.

How was she even on the ceiling in the first place?

She felt the tug of the odd force holding her to the surface on the skin of her legs. When she tried to pull her hand off the ceiling, she winced at the way it suddenly clung to it. Panic began to steadily constrict around her neck, forcing her breaths to come out in short hurried huffs.

"Oh no, no, no," she mumbled, trying to yank her hand and legs off the ceiling with each successive no, but to little effect. She was a fly caught in a sheet of sticky paper.

Fear bled into her panicked mind. She was in a protected space, there was no way ghosts would trespass on a territory as heavily protected as their current residence was. Besides she hadn't angered anyone in recent memory to be pinned against the ceiling like a girl possessed.

Each attempt to peel herself off the wall resulted in the skin of her palms turning beet red, each yank threatening to rip it off her muscles. Tears welled in her eyes from how badly her hands smarted.

Anxiety flared within her chest, sending a surge of electrical sensations through her right arm and leg, sensations that terminated at her fingertips in rings of sharp pin-pricks. She turned towards the door on her right, and within seconds she heard footsteps climbing up the stairs, the sound of knuckles being rapped against the wood, and the voice of her mother in quick succession.

Each knock felt like a grenade being set off in her auditory canal, the silences that followed being filled up with a ringing sound that made her stomach feel queasy.

"Vishwa, are you okay?"

The girl gulped down the bitter acid surfacing from her empty stomach as she saw the steel bolt shaking in its spot but managing to hold the door locked. She stifled a groan with each pull but her hands refused to come off the ceiling.

"G-gimme a minute, Ma, I'll be out. I'm changing."

"Baba asked if you'll be going with him to the Kamar Taj for training, he's free today."