Perhaps I had fallen out of bed. The ground felt different though; different from the well-worn rug that covered the wooden floor of my bedroom. There were different sounds, too. Wind moving through trees, perhaps a storm was coming. I did not want to open my eyes. I was not wanting to repeat the dream I had just had. The shadow, moving across my dark room, the cloth over my mouth, the stringent odor emitting from it as my lips went numb. I had felt myself fall to the floor and felt my arms pulled behind me and tied. It was all so odd, though, because I had not been afraid, only peaceful and relaxed. Tired, so tired as I drifted into the blackness of sleep. I stretched my leg out and I was then certain I was not on my wool rug in the small bedroom of my apartment. There was dirt here, I felt the grains scrape against my leg. My eyes still not wanting to open, I moved my hand and it felt, too, the gritty dirt beneath me. Everything seemed wrong, perhaps I was still dreaming. Inhaling deep I noticed the crispness of the air, it was cool through my nostrils, and clean and fresh. As I took in a deeper breath, there was the unmistakeable smell of smoke! At the same moment I identified it, I heard the crackling of wood, and yet still the movement of trees. With all my strength, lazy eyelids fluttered open. My cheek, heavy against the ground as my eyes focused. It was dark and so very quiet, except for the crackling of wood and a soft breeze. It was all wrong! I could not possibly be outside somewhere - I had been in my room. I had been getting ready for bed! I shut my eyes tightly closed again, knowing I must still be dreaming. Opening them more hesitantly this time, the scene around me not changing. My forearms coming beneath me and pressing upward against the barren ground, my head turning as my eyes gaze in astonishment at the crackling campfire. I had on only the undergarments I had worn that night under the silky tight black dress on a blind date. But there was something else - something around my neck. My fingers reaching up and pressing lightly to it, I could not identify it but it seemed there was no way to remove it. Feeling back against my neck, under my hair, my fingers fell across a tiny lock at the back of the leather choker. Where had that come from? I certainly owned nothing like that. Pulling myself up into a kneel, the warmth of the fire giving me little comfort. How had I gotten here? Was I still dreaming? I had taken my dress off and carefully hung it in my closet. As I had turned I had seen a shadow move across my wall out of the corner of my eye. It had roughly resembled a man. A cloth had gone over my mouth as a strong muscular arm had seized my shoulders and around my neck. Everything had begun to grow black and I was falling, falling. I do not remember hitting the ground. And now, I find myself here, in this place. It seems so different, even from the woods near my apartment. Something about this place seems so foreign. For a moment I think to get up, to scream, to yell, to run. But to where? Someone had built the fire, but where were they now? Where am I? ************** Victoria 4.2 Hair: Regency Hair Campfire: Kings Kreations bowl and basket: RDNA Freebies/Transpond