Soul Chains

Control Freak

I grip her heart with steady hands

Forcing her slowly into submission

She resists with a soul of titanium

But I am so much stronger than that

She cannot escape vicious Fate

As it turns on her in my favour

And she will become my prisoner

And live out what was in store for me

One day I will control all

The world within my lonely grasp

The last tendrils of hope squeezed out

Like the last juice from a lemon

~Sammy's Diary

I tossed and turned in my sleep, knowing that I was only dreaming. Despite that knowledge, it felt far too real to be a dream. I was choking under her vice-like grip, struggling to quell the feelings that were squashing me down. Then, as if her squeezing my heart and mind mentally wasn't enough, she reached out her hand, and, with a smirk on her face, grabbed my throat. I felt sweat trickle down my cheek, her claw-like fingers grasping the sides of my throat, the pulsing heat of the Twilight Zone, and I felt hopelessly alone, frightened, and, more importantly, near death. I had never felt such pain before in my entire life. And to think this was all a dream... Then it hit me like a hurricane: A dream. This was a dream. And it was my dream.

"You might be far more powerful than me," I croaked, smiling, "But you made one mistake."

"Oh? And what, pray-tell, is that?"

"This is my dream."

Her smug grin turned into a mask of horror as she realised what I had realised merely a few moments ago, and I fell right out of her grasp. I had turned her into what she had appeared as: nothing more than a shadow. I fell down, down, down past ages of nothingness, hoping to wake soon. But I didn't. I wasn't waking up. Why wasn't I waking up?

~*~

A thump came from Samantha's infirmary room. Dr. Mortimer looked up from his tearful regrets and toward the silver-and-bronze hospital door. Larry jumped up to his feet in alarm.

"Is she okay," Larry asked, 'I should go see if she's okay."

Mortimer eased himself to his feet as well. He wiped away the single tear that had coursed down his pale face, and rubbed his eyes with the back of his hand.

"All right then," he said, in a tone of voice that would have made even the oldest human feel younger than him.

They entered the infirmary room, only to see me, writhing on the floor. I was helplessly caught in a dream, a horrid nightmare, with no way out on my own. The very first second he saw me, Mortimer dropped to the floor to help. Larry bent down over my head and grabbed me by the shoulders, while Mortimer grabbed my feet. It sounds like a rather easy task, but actually, I was twitching and rolling all over the place. It must have been incredibly difficult, but they managed to haul me, rolling and all, back onto the stretcher.

"There," Mortimer said, patting my head, "Get some rest now, little Sammy."

Larry smiled. This was really cute. Suddenly, I flipped off the stretcher in a muscle spasm.

"No..... Coraline..... Muffins...." I muttered with creased brows.