Fated to Meet You

A young girl sits silently on her bead, the radio playing softly when the music starts to fade away. A soft buzzing begins to take residence in her ears causing her stomach to drop, knowing what this will mean. Tomorrow was an important day and all she wished for was a nice, calm moment to fall asleep. But the way everything faded except that little nose? She knew it was not going to happen. Allowing her eyes to drift shut, she braces herself to get it over with. A dizzying sensation fills her head, and as it fades she takes a deep breath before forcing herself to look at her surroundings. What was once her familiar, cozy bedroom was now cold, stone walls. A cement door sat at one end of it, a window with steel bars towards the top. Although most would venture to look out of them, she knew it wouldn’t be long before whatever was outside came in. The sound of echoing footsteps proves her right, the noise approaching. Only a few more seconds pass before the rusty door hinges squeal as it creaks open. A body, thrown like a ragdoll, drops to the floor in the middle of the room. Skin pale and covered in dried blood, she briefly wonders if it is a corpse. But while hesitating to approach, the chest moves, heaving in a big breath of air before hacking out a cough. A small groan exits its mouth before it sits up, lifting a hand to its forehead. The silent observer slowly approaches, kneeling down to get a better look at who the person is, but as she does so a shrill scream exits its mouth, causing her to lurch back. The bloodied girl throws her head back before releasing the laugh of a mad woman, finally giving a glimpse of her face. What the watcher sees shocks her, the girl looking much like herself, only a few years older. She finds herself backing further away in terror before the dizzying sensation enters her mind again. In a blink, she returns to her warm room again, radio picking up at the end of the song she had been listening to. She takes a moment before reaching for her nightstand, pulling out a book. Not hesitating for a moment, she opens to a new page and sketches furiously. Sketching herself as she had seen, bruised and broken in a cell. A crazed glint in her eyes, but otherwise looking like a corpse. After finishing the drawing, she stares at it for several minutes. Was this how she was going to die? Going insane while being tortured in some kind of dungeon? What happened in her life to get her there? Nobody had dungeons in this day and age. Slowly, she closes the book and returns it to the nightstand, laying down and pulling the covers over her head. “Just go to sleep, Katryna. Forget this happened just like you do every other time. Tomorrow is going to be great, you can’t let this ruin that.” But even after her little pep talk, sleep refused to come. The scenes were becoming more frequent, after all. And as the clock strikes midnight, signaling it to be her 18th birthday? Well, let’s just say it will be a long time before a good night's sleep will present itself to Katryna Jepetski.