SENSELESS

VII - Verdant Prison

                                       ♥ Wild Card ♥

Fire.

Nothing but fire.

Flames swayed into a breath-taking dance as it burned down houses, obliterating them into nothing but ash. Soot fell like snow as catastrophe arose in my vision. People around me—no, before me—screamed and screamed horribly as the fire spread. None of them were familiar yet I know that I know them. Above were thunderclouds, gray against the dark, empty sky. Rain poured. Poured endlessly until the flash of lightning sliced across my vision.

I panicked, not knowing why and immediately, I slipped, feeling wood beneath me. 

I was on a wooden boat, with waves of the river—was it a river?— violently rocked the boat back and forth as chaos swirled before me. I rose, struggling to stand.

And a hand snapped out of nowhere and pushed me.

The gray river rose to engulf me as I fell.

My body struck wood once again.

How illogical, I thought as I rolled, immediately comprehending that I had fallen down to a wooden floor which was nonsensical. Have I not been on a boat? Instinctively, I felt myself move on my own accord, rolling as my hair flew about.

A loud thunk snapped me from dizziness to complete wariness.

Turning my head, I stared at the gleam of metal.

A knife.

A hand yanked it from the wooden floor. Seconds later, a shadow loomed over me with nothing but the shimmering of metal as my light. 

I screamed.

And light flashed across my vision until I was rendered senseless.

♥ ♠ ◘ ♥ ♠ ◘ ♥ ♠ ◘

The first sign that I was not roused by Hatter was a gentle nudge which felt like wind brushing against my skin. Second was a bleat that startled me out of my wits that I immediately sat up and felt myself skidding away for an inch or so, breathing hard as if I have just gone into a race. But it was not only because of the startling fawn.

The sun shone above us, a blinding blessing. It took me a few moments to adjust my vision.

“Dear miss?” Two gentle black eyes blinked at me, its voice alluring that I’m quite compelled to answer. However, my hand was over my mouth as I breathed hard and stared at the ground.

The flash of the knife swam across my vision.

I shut my eyes.

"Just a dream. It's just a dream," I murmured, breathing evenly.

"Dear miss, is everything alright? You're quite pale. White as sheet, I must say."

I looked up to meet with the deer’s eyes. Memories of the previous night were all but scattered in my mind but my mind fixed on a memory of this creature before me, of the comfortable warmth of its coat.

Its black eyes were questioning and I saw hurt in the layers of black, gray and white. "Do you not recall me at all, dear miss?"

For three seconds, I stared at the deer— fawn, I remember since it is undoubtedly female— before I recalled that time when I heard the rustling of leaves the time when Hatter had left me here in the woods—Labyrinth, Hatter had told me—the previous night. Ah, I must have fallen asleep wherever this creature and I had the pleasure of meeting the other's acquaintance.