In the Dark She Hides

Some of this story is very true and told from the heavy heart of experience.
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Mara trudged through the long days of her childhood with only sleep to look forward to. Her mother Danielle was an angry schizophrenic with a dual diagnosis of bipolar disorder who refused treatment. She quit taking her meds after only three days, giving her family 72 brief hours of peace from her endless rants of rage and rampage while she slept in a medicated stupor. After throwing the pills away, Danielle's reign of terror was worse than ever before in the Pratt household. Mara's only escape from this hell was in her dreams, and she lived for those short hours in the place she went when she slept.
By her teenage years Mara had learned how to control her dreams and used them not only as a refuge from her life, but as the inspiration for many of the stories she wrote in her free time. But how real was this dream world? The more out of control her life became, the further she retreated into her secret world. The deeper she delved into this place, the less control she had over what happened there. It was as if she was no longer alone in creating this realm...