Returning to Oz

Chapter 2

The next few months Dorothy, or Dot as she was called by her one true, and only, friend Brittany, stayed under the radar. She was organized, did her homework on time, was never late, and only spoke when called on by the teacher, or when someone asked her for a pencil or piece of paper, only for the sake of being polite. Brittany and Dorothy got close in the first two months of school and as time grew so did their trust between each other. Brittany was not as quiet as Dorothy, Brittany was more of the impulsive type, someone who knew how to let go, or take charge when needed. Her blonde hair was streaked with blue, while the tips were green, and her eyes were a dark blue. The tone of her skin was a few shades lighter than Dorothy's dark Kansas tan.

Whenever Dorothy looked into Britt's dark oceanic eyes, she felt like she was looking at home, ironically her home in fact did become Britt's home, considering all the weekends that were spent at her house. Dorothy only went over to Britt's when Britt had to get something or if she couldn't leave the house. At first, she didn't think it was that bad, Britt's sister, Amanda, who was older by 4 years, was pretty cool and funny. Amanda would ask if the girls needed anything, or if they wanted to hang out, but then as Dorothy got to know her she'd only nag about what needed to be done. That's what made Britt such a free spirit, at least, in Dorothy's eyes. Dorothy believed that since Britt's older sister and parents were so stressful, that she was always looking for a way out of it. Something that freed her, and maybe that's why they became close friends, because Dorothy was looking a way out of her own prison.

The days that Britt would visit were mostly carefree days, where they would together listen to each other's thoughts, go exploring with Toto, or if it was a lazy day just relax in Dot's room and watch a movie. Other times it was when Dorothy could not stand the thought of being alone after her one of her nightmares, which were on and off occurrences, and could happen at any time. Dorothy slowly began to go insane, and could always feel something following her, or as if something bad was going to happen. The tension became to be so bad that she would try to stay awake all night and, unfortunately, she would pass out in a light sleep until another one of the nightmares would slam into Dorothy's peaceful state of mind. Day dreams of being on the one of the beaches close by, or hiking with Britt, so happy and light, would suddenly change to rain, wind, or some scene of a horrible accident like falling into the water, or losing Britt, and they would all end the same: with the witch's haunting laugh and Dorothy being mentally suffocated with the sound of screaming monkeys until they would all pile onto her. When she would snap out of it, usually with a sharp gasp that was loud enough to cause Britt, who was swimming in her own thoughts, to jump a little with a small gasp of her own. If one of Dorothy's daydreams caught her in class, her gasp would be loud enough for the entire room to go silent and for every set of eyes to be on the troubled girl.

It was January now and Emilia was worried about her niece, who she had hardly seen since the beginning of the school year, yet heard more than enough from concerned teachers, counselors, and even the principal, who Dorothy was sent to after disrupting an English class by screaming. The principal was now on the phone with Em, relaying Dorothy's recent behaviors and nightmares in which Dorothy was often found talking, or rather screaming, in her sleep, and the principal highly recommended Emilia send her daughter to a psychologist. It had been two weeks since the phone call had gone down between the two, and Emilia had been struggling with the idea for quite a while. How could she let her niece see a stranger, and why wasn't Dorothy coming to her for help? The knowledge alone of the fact that Dorothy was going through this hurt enough, and on top of that she rarely got to see Dorothy because she was always somewhere, with her friend, in her room, outside, at school, but never with Emilia. Gulping down her black coffee, the strong flavor slid down Em's throat and down to her gut, where the feeling of guilt resided along with the feeling of failure which constantly plagued her. Em had one job, and that was to take care of Dorothy. She couldn't help but feel that another person's life in her hands was too much responsibility, but also, if it was Dorothy, Emilia wouldn't want the responsibility to be in anyone else's hands.