Red Rebellion

Chapter 16

"Lizzie," she felt an arm shake her. "Wake up, you're dreaming... C'mon open your eyes."

Elizabeth swallowed a sharp pain and forced it far down into her gut. Another bright light flashed on, alighting the backs of her eyelids to reveal a flush pink glow.

Something cold pressed against her forehead. A trickle of water dribbled down her temple. The abrupt change from scorching hot to ice cold returned her back to her senses. She opened her eyes as a hand gently cradled under her head to lift her a small ways up from her pillow. Elizabeth squinted at the bright central light from her ceiling fan, which was whirling round at top speed above her.

Beneath the heaviness of her eyelids, Emma worried as she frowned down at her daughter.

With the help of the Blue Fairy, the three of them were given back the strength and mobility they had lost from the magical pull of the cuff. Yet despite the success of the rejuvenation charm, they were still suffering from exhaustion. It was a gradual recovery that everyone of the expedition were undergoing even a week later.

Emma and Killian were recovering much faster than Elizabeth, who for the following week could barely manage to drag herself out of her room. Emma placed a dry, cool hand over her daughter's sweating brows. "Lizzie?"

The teenage girl looked around, disorientated by the scarring images that still lingered from her nightmare. She stared up at her mother, "Mom..."

Emma dropped her shoulders with a heavy sigh. The white fluffy robe Elizabeth had given her mother on her last birthday draped over her lean curves. Emma's long blonde hair had been hastily pulled back in a loose ponytail, which Elizabeth suspected was the result of Emma scurrying out of bed the second she heard the screams from across the hall. "You okay?" Elizabeth propped her weight on her elbows to sit up from her bed while Emma straightened herself out. "Was it another nightmare?"

Elizabeth nodded her head while wiping the built-up crusts of dried tears out from the corners of her eyes.

"You want to talk about it?"

She shook her head quickly, dropping her eyes down to the stitchings of her worn bed comforter.

Emma slowly pulled back a loose blonde curl dangling over her daughter's face.

"Whatever it is, you know you can tell me."

She shook her head again, adamant not to call on her shattered voice to squeak out a pathetic 'no' to appease her mother's curiosity.

"Hey," Emma rubbed her forearms. "You have to eventually let us in, Lizzie. Whatever's going on isn't good for you. It's okay to talk about it...-"

"I don't want to talk," she mumbled lowly. "I can't... not right now."

Emma battled her urge to press the issue further. It had been a week since they returned home to find Elizabeth crying in her sleep. There hadn't been an easy night since then. No matter what they tried, nothing could put Elizabeth at ease nor keep her safe from the mysterious nightmares that continued to ravage the confines of her mind. Emma and Killian slept with one eye open, waiting for Elizabeth to scream out in another fit. She hadn't been able to get more than three hours a night.

"Alright well I'm not going to force it. I just want you to know that we're worried about you. Since you won't tell us what happened between you and Pan, we can only assume the worst."

Why did she have to bring him up? Elizabeth felt her stomach twist in a knot. She shriveled her nose at the mere mentioning of him, resulting in Emma feeling a mass of regret for speaking the word.