Twisting Our Minds

Chapter Two

Yelling. Screaming. Shouting. Harper came back into consciousness to the sounds, and it shocked her. Was she dreaming of her father again? She kept her eyes clenched shut, trying to figure out the words being said amongst the sudden panic.

"Calm down!" It sounded like a girl's voice, though it wasn't identifiable, not yet. "Please!" Could it belong to her mother? But, who was she arguing with? Samuel?

Another voice reached Harper's ears. "How could I calm down?" It was quite a level voice, not high or low pitched. It definitely didn't belong to Samuel, though. "How could I calm down when I wake up in a place... when I wake up here?"

Where was here? Harper was growing more and more curious, so she decided to peel her eyes open. She had expected to look out into the familiarity of her bedroom, her limbs and torso tangled in the bedsheets, a pillow under her head. The little gap in her curtains with a stream of the morning sunlight pouring through, bouncing off the full length mirror on her wall to the floor.

But no, she woke up with trees the height of skyscrapers swaying above her head, laying on damp green grass from the morning dew, and a blue sky on top of it all, fluffy white clouds dotting it's surface. It seemed like she had woken up in a painting, for it was picture perfect. For a moment she thought she was still dreaming.

She sat up, and knelt on her elbows. There was more to the scenery. People. Six of them, all around the same age. They were arranged in some sort of small circle in a clearing of the trees. Four were sitting up like Harper, and two were standing in the middle of the circle, arguing. It seemed one sided.

"I'm asking you- no, I'm begging you." A platinum blonde girl pleaded. "Please, be quiet-"

The other girl; pale skinned, ginger haired, freckled all over, her cheeks red to match her lipstick, was fuming with anger. She wore quite a glamorous, revealing party dress. It was skin tight and pink - the kind of pale pink that's subtle yet luminous and eye-catching. It had a low V-neck that left her breasts mostly bare, and the dress ended just above her knees. It was also torn along the side of her leg. At least the rip hadn't ended higher.

"No!" The girl screamed. "You seem to know pretty damn well where we are, and what we're doing here! So tell me right now, why am I here?!"

The blonde girl just stood there, shocked. "I-I-" She shook her head, and her long hair swung around her petite frame, making her look like some sort of mythical creature of beauty.

Freckles put her hands on her hips, and she looked like she was one of those basic mean girls from a typical American high school drama. "You can't tell me, can you?"

The blonde girl sighed, a sad look in her eyes. "No... But I promise you'll be safe if you come with me."

Freckles shook her head, like she was disappointed. Maybe she was? She spun on her heel and stormed off into the trees, leaving high heeled shoe marks in the dirt.

"Adelyn! Wait!" This time a young boy stood up. How long was this drama going to drag on? The boy had the same skin tone and ginger hair as this Adelyn girl. His face was also covered in freckles. Harper supposed they were siblings.

Adelyn stopped. "If you're coming, Sam, then come."

Harper knew for sure that she wouldn't be following Adelyn, even if her life depended on it. Nevertheless, Sam scurried over to her, like some sort of dog on a leash. His black suit jacket whipped in the wind as he chased after her.

The clearing was eerily quiet for the next minutes. The blonde girl still stood in the middle, staring into the trees where a dramatic Adelyn had just been. The silence was haunting, not only because Harper had no clue where she was, but because the sun was still rising, and not one single bird was chirping, and the sky was already blue. There wasn't even any sound of trees rustling against each other in the wind as they swayed.