Containment Breach: Hearts In Lockdown (Female Creatures X M! Reader)

Part 3: Trapped in a Perfect Past

Y/N POV

I woke up groggy, like I'd been hit by a truck, and for a second, I thought I was back in the Foundation's delightful little padded cell. But as I blinked the haze out of my eyes, it was clear that wasn't the case. Nope. This room? It wasn't white, sterile, or depressing—it was way worse.

It was a kid's bedroom.

Not just any kid's room either—it was filled with stuff I'd forgotten from my own childhood. Action figures, posters of cartoons I hadn't thought about in years, toys scattered around like I was waiting for playtime. My stomach twisted as I glanced around. There was even a stuffed bear sitting on a chair, looking like it had seen way too much and wasn't telling.

I rubbed my eyes, trying to shake the weirdness off, but that's when it hit me. My arms—my body—it felt... smaller.

I glanced down and saw these tiny little arms, the kind you'd expect on a grade-schooler. Panic shot through me as I scrambled out of the bed and ran straight for the mirror. And what I saw made me freeze.

I wasn't just shorter... I was a kid. A freaking kid.

"What the—?!" My voice came out all high-pitched and squeaky, like I was just hitting puberty again. Except, this time, I was the before picture.

I stumbled back, tripping over a pair of pants that looked like a tent for a child my size and landed flat on my back, surrounded by action figures. Perfect. Absolutely perfect.

Great job, Foundation. First, I make out with a creepy Plague Doctor who's convinced she's "saving humanity" by turning people into zombies, and now I'm stuck in some twisted dreamworld as a nine-year-old. I could've just done the time for that hacking job, but nooo...*

I was so close to pulling my hair out. How did my life become this mess? I signed up for some petty crime, not a VIP membership to the freak show. And now I'm stuck in Frederica's playground, as a kid, with her lurking around somewhere, probably waiting to turn this into some nightmare on Elm Street situation.

This is what happens when you let people in lab coats play God.

I groaned and lay back on the floor, staring at the ceiling like it had answers. All I could think was, How the hell do I get out of this one?

I sat up, trying to piece together what the hell just happened. One minute, I was face-to-face with a psycho dream killer, and the next, I wake up as my nine-year-old self in what looks like a scene straight out of my old life. Definitely a dream, right?

Time to check the usual signs.

First off, fingers—one, two, three, four... five on each hand. Great. I wiggled them just to be sure. Nothing extra or weird. Check.

Next up, the good ol' pain test. I pinched my cheek. Not just a little either—no, I went for the mother of all pinches. "Ow! Okay, okay!" I groaned as my cheek went bright red. Great, so I can feel pain. Another tick on the checklist.

And finally, the reading test. Everyone knows you can't read in dreams. I grabbed a comic book from the nearby desk—an old favorite, apparently—and started flipping through it. Words. Pictures. I could read everything. Perfectly.

So... I can read, I have normal fingers, and I feel pain.

Before I could come to any conclusions, I quickly checked inside my shorts just to be sure. Yup, that's a downgrade... My "wood" had officially turned into a "stick." Oh, come on... I groaned, sinking into the ridiculousness of this whole situation.