Her Vengeance

A Waking Nightmare

Haydee’s eyes flew open. She rubbed her eyes with a groan. Her neck was stiff. I must have slept on it wrong. Her body protested in pain as she sat up slowly. Her arms and legs felt heavy and sore; her joints ached.

Slowly sitting up, Haydee wrinkled her nose when her sense of taste kicked in. Was that metal? Why did her mouth taste of metal?

“Oww,” Haydee moaned while rubbing her temples. Her head was pounding; her ears were ringing; she was naked. Naked! Now she was wide awake. Why was she naked…in her bathtub?

Her heart began to race as she fought the rising panic. Looking around, Haydee tried to slow her breathing. She was in her bathroom, in her bathtub, to be exact. And she was naked. (Haydee used to sleepwalk, but she’d never woken naked in a bathtub before.) Her entire body was burning. And where was Monte?

Haydee looked around in a panic. “Monte!” she called out. Stumbling out of the tub, Haydee ran through her small house, screaming for Monte at the top of her lungs. “Monte!!!!” she panicked, throwing open every door, looking through every crevice. “Monte!!!!” she gasped.

Haydee doubled over as tears clouded her vision. What was going on? What was happening? The blackouts…were they starting again. Pulling her fingers through her braids, Haydee began to sob. She didn’t know what to do or where to look. There was no way Monte would have left her. She would have known! She would have – Bang! Bang! Bang! Haydee looked at her front door sharply. There was no way she was going to – “Haydee!”

“Aiden?” Haydee ran to the door, forgetting she was naked. “Aiden?” she threw the door open.

“Woah!” Aiden threw his hands over his eyes. “Haydee, what the hell?”

“I – Monte!” Haydee squealed, falling to her knees as Monte bounded into her arms. “Where were you? How’d you get out?” she kissed and rubbed him all over.

“Yeah,” Aiden spoke, still averting his eyes as Monte basked in Haydee’s kisses. “I was trying to reach you. He showed up at our backdoor almost 30 minutes ago.”

“I don’t understand,” Haydee remained on her knees. “How did he get out?”

“Well, I’d love to discuss this with you, but can you please put on some clothes?”

Haydee then remembered she was naked. “Omigosh! Aiden!” she immediately dashed into her bedroom. “I’ll be right out!”

Haydee grabbed the closest shirt and pair of shorts she could find, dressing in ten seconds. She quickly made her way back to Aiden, who was now standing in her living room. “Hey,” she breathed.

“Haydee,” Aiden looked at her from head to toe. Worry, shock, and confusion were displayed on his face. “What…” he took a step back. “Have you…what happened?”

“What are you talking about?” Haydee asked. “And why are you looking at me like that?”

“Haydee,” Aiden’s voice broke. “I – have you looked in the mirror?”

“What? Why?”

“Because you’re either covered in blood or red paint…and I’m really hoping it’s the latter.”

“What?” Haydee slowly looked down at her hands. “What the- “her voice broke as her eyes homed in on the red streaks nearly blending into her dark skin. Haydee turned and quickly walked into her bathroom in a daze. She didn’t even register Aiden calling her name.

Locking herself in her bathroom, Haydee began scrubbing her hands over the faucet, watching in horror as red water swirled down the drain. Was that blood? A wave of nausea crashed over her. She grabbed the edge of the sink and finally stared at her reflection in the mirror.

Red splotches decorated her face. She looked like a child with dry mud on her face. “What the hell?” she muttered as she slowly lifted a shaky hand to her face. Images and scenes flashed through her mind. Big eyes. Sharp teeth. “…coward…” Claws slicing through the air.

“Ugh!” Haydee gasped as a sharp pain shot through her abdomen. Looking down, Haydee begrudgingly pulled her shirt up and finally took a good look at her stomach. Someway, somehow, she knew what to expect.

Several bloody gashes streaked across her stomach. “Uh! What!” she began to panic. Monte must have sensed the drastic change in her emotions because she could hear him whining and huffing on the other side of the bathroom door. “Haydee?” Aiden called from the other side of the door. “Are you okay?”

“Y-Y-Yeah,” Haydee answered weakly as she gently touched the angry marks. “Ow!” she yelped.

“Haydee?” Aiden jiggled the doorknob as Monte pawed at the door, his whines growing louder.

“I’m…” Haydee felt dizzy. She needed to sit. “I…” she lifted her head. “Aah!” she gasped loudly. A pair of big, round, red eyes stared back at her. And that was the last thing Haydee remembered before her body hit the bathroom floor.

Haydee was barely present for what followed. Aiden and Monte had successfully broken through her bathroom door just as she hit the floor. “Monte began to howl,” she remembered Aiden saying as he helped her sit up.

Aiden had ushered her to his car with Monte at their heels. Haydee didn’t remember the ride to her foster family’s house, but she did remember Aiden breaking every traffic law.

Wrapping an arm around her waist, Haydee remembered Aiden escorting her into the house. Sarah had been waiting and all but pushed her upstairs.

Sarah began cleaning the multiple wounds on Haydee’s body, wounds she hadn’t been aware of until that moment.

Haydee remembered showing Sarah how to cut her braids without damaging her natural hair. Unfortunately, she felt numb the entire time, and, thankfully, Sarah didn’t try to make conversation.

Unbraiding her hair took a little over two hours. Then, still feeling like an alien in her own body, Haydee remembered walking into the bathroom. She took a shower. She washed her hair. She scrubbed her body, then rewashed her hair. And then rewashed it a third time.

She dressed, dried her hair, and now she was here – staring at the ceiling of her old bedroom. She didn’t even care that her hair was in a big afro. She was tired and scared. Rolling to her side, she decided to sleep. Maybe this was just a bad dream. A nightmare. Hopefully, she was about to wake up.

Sirena finished putting her hair into two ponytails. “Puff balls,” she remembered what she and Silena used to call them. They didn’t mirror the pigtails of their classmates – long, loose, and flowy. Instead, Sirena and Silena’s ponytails resembled two fluffy “puff balls.”

Sirena held back tears, smiling bitterly at that memory. Then, standing to her feet, Sirena exited the bedroom and began to sneak down the stairs. Her family was playing in the front yard and unaware of her presence.

Closing her eyes, she silently commanded Monte to stay where he was. She needed to be quick.

Slipping out the back, Sirena broke into an inhumanly fast sprint. First, she needed to check something, but then she’d be back. And finally, finally, this whole switching thing would be over.