Autumn Leaves

Hallucinations.

A/N: I just realised that in Winter Sunshine I said that Sleipnir was a product of his [Loki's] and Angrboda's magicks. But it was the builder, wasn't it? Svaldillhemmer, or something. Actually, it was Svadilfari. Considering I haven't done any mythology recently, I was pretty close. So bas-i-call-yee. these are Savannah's nightmares/ hallucinations/ flashbacks on the first night. Vairry darrrk.

Not-really-a-quote-but-me-helping-you-to-not-make-my-mistakes: Never eat Camembert in your room; it smells of old farts.

She was running. She didn't know where, and she didn't know why. All she knew was that she had to ... keep ... running. She didn't know who, or what was chasing her, but she knew that she couldn't stop. That she had to keep running. She could hear wild thrashing through the undergrowth, and whatever it was- it was getting closer. She couldn't remember where she was, or how she got there. She didn't know why she was being chased, or by what. She didn't know much. Two things- run, and be afraid.

Run

Be afraid.

Then the forest faded, and she was back in the Terracotta House, in the kitchen, held by two older, bigger boys, to a chair. She knew what was going to happen next, had seen it happen many times behind closed eyes. Still, when another child brought in a tiny cat, mewling pitifully, Savannah struggled even more furiously. One of the boys wrenched her arm painfully behind her back, and the child holding the cat- Rose, her name was, turned to Savannah. Rose lifts the cat up, a kitten, really, and forces its small, frail frame into a bucket of water. The kitten thrashes for a while, but it soon stills, and Savannah can feel tears threatening to fall. But they won't. She can't let them see her cry.

And then she's at school, waiting patiently for their swimming instructor to give her class instructions. At the teacher's command, Savannah turns, and climbs quickly into the pool. She is good at swimming, although she does not enjoy it as much now as she used to. Then they're doing laps. She's almost finished hers, when Jessica, teacher's favourite, grips her leg, and pulls her down. She thrashes frantically, and water begins to fill her lungs. As it all goes black, she remembers the drowning of the first kitten she had ever had, and prepares for death.

But death does not come. Instead, she feels waves and waves of nigh unbearable pain, pulsating throughout her entire body. She musters the strength to open a single eye, the other is swollen shut, and recognises that she's back in the Terracotta House, lying broken at the foot of the stairs. Footsteps approach, and she closes her eye tightly, hoping desperately that they will just leave her alone. They step over her, as if she were  nothing more than an inconsequential crack in an otherwise flawless pavement. More footsteps come, and go, all either ignoring her entirely, or gifting her with a vicious kick. In a way, the kick is better. At least the pain tells her that she's not dead yet. What feel like hours pass, and Savannah finally musters up the strength to crawl. The hallway had never seemed longer, though, and she expects someone to come any minute, and hurt her again. Eventually she reaches the phone, and stretched a hand to dial, but invisible forces swat them away, moving the phone out of reach. So she is forced to drag herself to hospital, and she is half dead by the time she arrives. People see her, but none help.

                                      No one ever helps.