Liminal Moments

Chapter 2: Strange Ally

She wasn’t sure how long she lay there. She wasn’t sure what was real or fake. She didn’t know what was in her head and what was in the room. She felt so hot and so cold at the same time. It was unbearable to have the blanket touching her skin, but it felt like she was turning to ice if she had it off. 

I'm dying.  

A hand was on her forehead. A gentle hand. A hand that felt cool against her face. A hand that she could not see. She couldn’t see anything. She reached out to touch the hand on her face, to see if it was real, and the hand moved away from her quickly, as though to avoid her touch. She was already forgetting the touch of the hand.  

Was it even real? Has anyone ever touched me with such care? She could not remember.  

“Ya have a fever,” said a deep voice in the darkness.  

Strange things played in her mind. Dancing shadows, gentle hands, soothing wet cloth rubbing across her forehead, and broth that a deep voice coaxed her to eat.  She remembered eyes in the darkness. Eyes that accompanied the hands that took care of her. Green with gold specs. But she didn't know if it was real. The pupils were slitted like a cat's.

When the eyes and hands were not there, she had strange, twisted dreams. A machine in the ether. It got closer every time the hands disappeared. She knew something was in the machine, something that she didn't want to see. 

She was almost at the machine when her hands touched her forehead. Kind eyes met hers. She grabbed the hands and held them tightly. 

“Save me,” She whispered, the fear in it surprising her. 

The hands retreated quickly. The eyes disappeared, and she was not in the hut anymore. 

She stood in front of the machine. A girl who was her stared back into it. Except,  this girl wasn’t truly her. This other girl did not blink, just stared at her like the girl was trying to melt her with her eyes.  

The machine had tubes that continuously stretched upwards into oblivion. There was no end to it as it disappeared into the galaxy that surrounded them. She floated in a sea of stardust that sparkled in the purple ether that they called home.  

As the girl in the machine stared at her, an unnerving smile started to split her face. The smile seemed to spread further than her mouth was physically capable of. The girl inside the machine moved and pressed her hand against the glass of the metal cage. The girl felt a shard of ice-cold fear pierced her chest. She was looking at something she did not want to see, and it was looking back at her.  

“Now, this is interesting,” the thing that was not her said in a chorus of voices, all in tones of the same voice, as though multiple of the same person were speaking at the same time. “You're not one of mine.” 

She tried to open her mouth to say something, but she could not speak. She tried to move away but couldn't. A force kept her in place, in the sight of the thing that was not her. 

The thing pressed a hand on the glass harder, expecting it to open for it, but the glass did not move. The unsettling smile disappeared and was replaced with a look of confusion. The look of confusion quickly turned to one of rage as it started to bang on the glass. It screamed in fury as it clawed at the glass until black blood-like oil streaked across it. 

“What have you done? Let me out! Let me out!” The thing screeched at her as it banged on the wall. The entirety of the space seemed to shake with each strike. The stardust started to become agitated, swirling, and twinkling like an ethereal hurricane. “Do you think you're in charge here?! I'll find you! I'll find you and finish you!”