Sleeping

Chapter Four

I was falling for only a few seconds before I hit the ground and immense pain shot up my left leg from my ankle. My hands went to my face and I bit my bottom lip so hard I drew blood to stop myself from screaming. I couldn’t afford it. Not now. Not when I’ve come this far.

I crawled over a bit so if they flashed a flashlight down here I wouldn’t be seen and tried to survey my surroundings. It was very dark and I couldn’t see anything until my eyes adjusted to the dark. Ever since I woke up four months ago I’ve been terrified of the dark. My therapist said it was because how everything was when I was sleeping.

I grabbed the Swiss army knife I’d stolen from the janitor’s closet before I jumped. It had a little LED flashlight and I used it to examine my ankle and the room I was in. The ankle was swollen but it didn’t look broken, only sprained, which was a relief. I looked around me and was horrified of what I saw.

People—no, things—were all staring at me wide-eyed. They looked human mixed with some kind of monster. Scales, fur, teeth, gills, tails—they all looked so grotesque. I shut my eyes. This is a dream, I thought, a very bad dream. I felt something grip onto my arm. My eyes flew open. There stood a girl, no older than me, with brown hair and bright pretty blue eyes. A boy who looked identical to her quickly flashed a flashlight at my face then grabbed my other arm.

“Come on. We have to get you out of here before they do.” The girl said. They both pulled me up.

“It’s my ankle,” I grunted out and winced as I stood. “I think I sprained it.” The creatures were getting closer. I could hear them now

“It’s okay. We got you.” The boy said and wrapped his arm around my waist. I somehow felt safer with him supporting me. The girl looked at him like he was crazy. “Come on, Ash, what are we gonna do? Leave her here?” The girl—Ash—wrapped her arm around the other side of my waist. We all limped to God-knows-where, but it seemed they knew where they were going.

After what felt like an eternity, we arrived at a small house. No—hut or shack would probably fit better. The boy opened up the door. I collapsed on the floor, my breathing heavy with exertion and squeezed my eyes shut. People instantly began yelling and I couldn’t make out who was who.

“Why did you bring her here?”

“She’s one of them!”

“It’s injured!”

“We can’t afford another mouth to feed!”

“We had to take her! She would have died.”

“And good riddance! Look at her! She’s an Ice!”

“You remember what her kind did to your parents!”

“Don’t you dare bring our parents into this!”

“Stop!” A loud voice boomed above the others, filled with authority. I opened my eyes and looked at the person. A tall man with a five-o’clock shadow and a thick scar from his temple to his jaw stood there, his gaze set on me. My mind whirled. I replayed all the yelling that just went down in my head. It and one of them in reference to me. What the hell is an Ice and why did they say I was one? Her kind. What does that even mean? I’m human. Just like them.

Right?

“Get up, girl.” The man who I assumed to be the leader said roughly.

“I can’t. I hurt my ankle.” He shut his eyes.

“Martha,” The leader snapped, “take a look at the girl’s ankle.”

“But—” the woman who I assumed to be Martha started.

“No buts.”

Martha began walking over to me. She was pretty and young, probably only about twenty, with dark skin, hair, and eyes. “I’m going to have to take your shoe off, okay?” I nodded. I winced as she slid my sneaker off and rolled my sock down to below my ankle. She began poking and prodding my ankle, asking me if it hurt. “Well, it’s not broken—but I have to wrap it up. Al, can you get me the bandages?”

“Why should I? She doesn’t deserve it.” Said the guy I guess was Al. Martha took a deep breath.

“Ashton and Ashley, you know where the bandages are.” Martha looked at the boy and girl that brought me in. They nodded. “And can you all give this poor girl some space?” Everyone in the room backed away from us. “What’s your name?”

“Snow.” I said shakily. I hadn’t realized how scared I was here. What if I had avoided one danger only to literally fall into another trap?

“Is that your name? Snow?”

I nodded. “It’s a nickname, because I’m so pale and white. Because my dad—not that I ever knew him—was sick. He had some disease…” I trailed off and shook my head to clear my thoughts. I was babbling.

Martha looked away from me. Everyone else looked at me.

“Why did you call me an ‘Ice’?” I asked and sat up. Everyone was glancing and mumbling to each other.

Martha took my hands in hers. “We called you that because it’s what you are.” I lowered my eyebrows and looked at Martha incredulously. “I hate to tell you this, but you are what’s known as a Isarian.”

“What the heck is an Isarian?”

“An Isarian is an alien from the planet Isar. They came to Earth about four-hundred years ago.” Martha said.

“No, that’s not true. My mom’s name was Samantha Blanc. She had dark hair and dark eyes and this pretty olive skin I always wished I had. A-and my dad had some disease that made me all pale, like him. I never met him or even knew his name. Th-they met when they were in high school. An—and…”

I stopped. Everything began making sense. When I first met Viola, she had known that I was from the past. I had simply been too shocked by the whole situation to really notice. Somehow she had known. That was the only part I couldn’t figure out. When I woke up from being asleep, a needle had been ready to knock me out. How had they known a person was in there?

I was focusing on two questions. How had they known? And, more importantly, why?