Lapsus Memoriae [Rávamë's Bane: Book 1]

Part I : Chapter 2 ~ Down The Rabbit Hole

Part I : Chapter 2

Down The Rabbit Hole 

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The last time I’d had a dream that vivid, I’d ended up sleepwalking and been found facedown on the front lawn the next morning by my brother.

It had been years ago, not since I’d been twelve years old. But recently my sleep had become more and more restless — the substance of my dreams containing far less fluffy bunnies and a lot more Weeping Angels from Dr. Who. A metaphor for all the stresses that come with being a final year degree student a psychologist might say, if I ever cared to ask for one’s opinion.

My breath hitched and my heart beat surged painfully as I pulled myself out of the dream turned nightmare. I gasped and coughed through the sudden throbbing ache in my chest. My eyelids felt like they’d been glued together. My mouth was dry and I felt strangely dizzy, a little like the time I’d been persuaded to drink too much rum at a party during my first year.

Funny, I couldn’t remember drinking enough to get a hangover. Actually… I couldn’t seem to remember much of anything…

I searched my head, trying to recall the memories of arriving home, but they wouldn’t come. I could remember leaving the student bar, and walking towards the bus stop, staring at myself in a shop window…

Then nothing. 

Did I make it home? Did I even reach the bus stop? A worryingly large chunk of my memory was just gone. The more I struggled to retrieve it, the more it seemed to slide away. Had my drink been spiked? No, I didn’t think so, or it would have kicked in sooner. Maybe I slipped and hit my head? A concussion would certainly account for the splitting headache I had.

With an irritated groan, I decided it didn’t matter. I rolled over and tried to feel around the nightstand for my phone. 

At least, I tired to roll over. I only got about half way before a sharp pulling sensation on my left arm and leg stopped me. Baffled, I peeled open my sticky eyes and craned my neck to look down at myself. It was almost too dark to see at all, but there was just enough dim light to see that whatever I was lying on was definitely not my bed. It felt hard and uncomfortable, but not nearly as uncomfortably as the tree roots that were pinning my other arm and both my legs to the floor.

Hang on… tree roots?

I was supposed to be in my bed at home, not lying on a stone floor in the dark covered in tree roots. I forced myself to breathe. Dream or not, at the very least I wanted the option of moving my limbs. 

“Ok. You can worry about the ‘why’ and ‘how’ later. Get your arms and legs free first, Eleanor.”

I sat up a little more carefully. My eyes had adjusted enough to see the roots that were keeping me pinned. Two were coiled tightly around my left arm while three were bound even more tightly around my lower legs. At first it looked as if someone had tied them to me, but the more I struggled to free myself, the more I saw that they’d must have grown around me while I’d been asleep. Not that that was possible.

My hand were shaking as I worked to pull the stems away. By the time I managed to get the last roots off, my fingers were bruised and sore. When my legs were finally free too I had to keep from jumping to my feet as the rest of my environment finally began to sink in. 

I was in a cave. A cave. And I wasn’t dreaming. The continuous pain in my head, chest and hands was making that obvious. 

It was so damn dark, but my eyes had adjusted just enough to see the tunnel wall. I began to follow it towards what I hoped was the exit, trying to stay calm. I couldn’t help but feel a rush of relief when I finally saw sunlight streaming in from just around the next corner. I ran for it.