Once Upon a Time. . . (on hold)

Damn Nightmare.

My mother squeezed my hand firmly before letting go to answer the door. I peaked my head above her shoulder which was covered with a blue sleeve, greeting a cheerful looking man who was dressed in green. The dresscode made me sick to my stomach. "Good evening, Mrs. and Ms. Wood," he said with an awfully wide smile. I forced a smile back at him. He unfurled a scroll and cleared his throat. I felt my heart beating like I just finished running over twenty laps. 

        "Just tell us already," I thought to myself. I realized I said it out loud when my mother gave me an upset glare. The man still had a smile plastered on his face, which I found a bit creepy. "Congratulations, Ms. Wood, the man in green- not me of course, the other man-" he started to laugh. "Uh, anyway, congratulations! You have been selected! Please report to the field at 6 A.M. Axel will explain everything you need to know there." 

        "Who's Axel?" I asked, feeling my cheeks steaming with rage, but a little bit of excitement. As reluctant I was to leave my mother, I couldn't help but feel great that I actually got chosen. Maybe I wasn't so bad in archery after all? Or maybe there was some sort of error. Maybe there was another girl named Charlotte Wood who practiced extremely hard for this day but didn't make it because her name got mixed up with mine? 

        'Calm. Down,' a voice inside my head snapped. 'You make a lot of ridiculous thoughts up whenever you panic.' 

        "Axel's your instructor, sweetie." I resisted the urge to strangle his neck for calling me that. I absoloutely hated the nickname, and I hated it even more if it came from a man or boy apart from my dad. "Well, I have to go. I have more news to deliver!" He bowed down politely and left with a small jump. My mother slammed the door shut, the knob still shaking after her hand left it. She gave me a grave look before pointing up at the staircase. "Go to bed, now." 

        I opened my mouth to protest, but ended up nodding and walking up the steps with my head down. My room was pitch black when I entered. It looked like my mom hadn't filled my jar with fireflies yet. I felt around me until I was certain the rope I was touching was one of the ropes which supported my hammock. I made myself commfortable on the hammock, its green concealed by the dark, and started to doze off to sleep. 

        

        Axel? 

        My instructor walked up to me not with a bow and a bundle of arrows, but...a scroll? I felt my shoulders start to slump. "Oh God, not another scroll." 

        I noticed he was wearing black. By wearing black, I meant his entire outfit from his shoes up to his hat was black. He wore black t-shirts once in awhile, but I never saw him completely dressed in black. The color combined all together looked rather odd on him, but it would look odd on almost everyone if they had to wear all black as well. My stomach twinged. What was with the outfit? 

        It didn't take me very long to realize. I'd never seen his face alive with expressions. I studied him for awhile, and saw that the expression that stood out the most was sympathy. I stepped a little closer to him, my feet feeling heavier every step I took. He unfurled the scroll and gave me a pained look, as if he was a wounded puppy. "I'm sorry, Charlotte." 

        He reached out to stroke my hair, and all I could do was stand completely still, unaffected by the gesture. He wasn't the wounded puppy, I was. I let out a soft whimper as the scene started to change. 

        I was now standing in the middle of a huge field. I saw men scrambling around the field, some even running through me like I was a ghost. Out of all the men, one stepped closer to me and placed a hand on my shoulder. I looked up from my jeans and saw a beautiful pair of green eyes. Similar to mine, but even wider and greener. I started to feel tears pooling up inside my eyes. "Dad?"