When I Awakened

Revealed

    I wake up in my bed again, and my mother is  hovering over me like a bee. Sitting up, I feel a pain in my stomach. I clench it, and my mother immediately grabs a ibuprofen. I start to see images of a girl running in the woods. I look closer and realize that she looks like me—my older self. I look back at my mother and the image goes away. I push the covers off of me and stand. My face hits the floor before I can blink.

"Honey, are you okay?!" my mother exclaims.

I nod and rush to the bathroom. Looking at my face, I can see loops under my eyes. I turn on the water and it turns colors, starting with purple. I touch the water but everything feels normal. I must be hallucinating.

"Mom, I need to go to the doctors," I claim.

I hear complete silence and I look at my room from a corner, and there are army men in my room.

"Where is she! We knew she was awake! You know what happens next, so hand her over, or you will be banished from our community," I hear.

My mom looks over to me, and mouths the words, "get out of here"

I mouth back, "no."  My mom's expression then turns to the army men, and they reach out for her arm.

"Wait!" I cry, running into the doorway.

They stand there, shocked, and with their mouths open. For "knowing" I was awake, they seem extremely shocked. The man holding Mom's arm drops it. My mother looks as if she wants to cry.

"If you want me, you're going to have to catch me!" I yell, running down the stairs.

Bolting through the front door, I hear footsteps rushing down the stairs. I quickly open and slam the door, and I rush to hide behind the couch. They fall for it and are running out the door. Half of them go left, and half of them go right. Sighing, I stand from my position behind the couch, and jog up to my mom. She looks shocked as I approach the room.

"What? You look like you just saw a ghost," I states jokingly.

"I'm glad they didn't take you away," she smiles.

She stands frantically, and rushes over to me. She gives me a hug, and doesn't seem to be letting go any time soon.

"Okay, mom, you can let go now," I smile.

"Sorry, honey," she says, backing away.

I walk to my playroom and slowly open the door. I see a blushing color of pink staining the walls, and a grape-looking carpet on the floor. I take a step in and have a vision of me and my best friend. I can remember how she would always twirl her long, wavy, brown hair. Her grayish eyes would always twinkle when she laughed. I look over at my brown guitar, and see the broken string. I remember when me and her would always pretend to be rock-stars. I pick up one of my old stuffed animals, and I kiss its forehead like how I did when I was three.

    I feel a sudden urge to cry. Before I have the chance to choose what to do, a tear is already falling down my face. I wish I can go back, but I can't. That's not how life works. As I wipe a tear from my eye, my mother comes barging in.

    "Hide!" She exclaims.

    Without a question, I get in the closet, and hide behind my pajamas. I can hear marching again and I can feel anger fill inside me. Why won't they just drop it?! I hear my mother screaming and assume that the government has arrived realizing that I had fooled them.

    "We know she's here," they shout, "so tell us where she is!"

    I stand in the closet about to scream when I hear the voice again.

    "Hello, I think I know what's happening!" the voice whispers.

    I want to answer, but can't, or they will catch me. I stay silent, hoping that the voice goes away.

    "How would I know? The last time I saw her was when you guys took her away!" my mother argues.

    I can hear loud grunts, and then footprints walk out of the room. I wait until I hear from my mom.

    "Honey, they're gone, but don't come out of this room, or they will eventually find you." my mother commands, concerned. I hear the door close and walk back out where I see a key on the ground. The military must have dropped it. I rush and pick it up, and I see a man with green eyes and blond hair staring back at me. Shrugging it off, I go to where I would hide all my stuff. I open my secret book and find my lip gloss. My mother always hated it. She thought I was too young for it. I always thought differently. Smiling, I put it back and find my old plastic bag of cookies. I stare at them and laugh slightly. I always would steal cookies and hide them from my mom.

    I put the key inside and hide it in the hole in my wall. I remember that day. Me and my friend were playing with play dough. Seems harmless, right? No, we then argued about what color was better, red or yellow. I said yellow because it represents the sun. She thought it was red because it represented a tomato. She loved tomatoes.

    I stand from the floor and sit on my bean bag. I notice that nothing in this room has changed. I wonder why my mother never changed it. It was a beautiful room, though. I still wouldn't change it. I know this room looks childish, but that's my personality. I don't want to grow up and I never have. Instead, I have lived in a fake world for half of my life, which I think is pretty messed up. Whoever thought of this, they're messed up.

    I stand at the view of my mother in tears. She walks in and slams the door as if blocking someone out. She looks up at me with her watery eyes and sobs.

    "Mother, what happened? Why are you so upset?" I question her.

    "I think you're in trouble. They set up a video camera in your room," she explains.

    She points to a camera on the ceiling. I look at my mom in disbelief.

    "Oh, no...I-I have to get out of here!" I yell.