To The Hand of Clawed Fingers

There were only two hints that showed she was having a dream: everything was in black and white, and when she looked down she noticed she was floating. She could feel the chill of the November night as she looked around to find she was back in Ohio. With confused eyes she looked around, but nothing looked familiar.

She seemed to be by a lake, right out where docks were on both her left and her right. Behind her leading to a boat ramp and a parking lot, was her only way out. Large trees scattered around the peninsula of land she seemed to be on, and there were also two picnic tables, on right were she was floating and the other off towards the parking lot.

“Where am I?” She tried to say, only to have it come out sounding like the wind blowing through the trees. Suddenly she heard noise and out of instinct she hid behind a tree. Just as she started to look around a boy came into the clearing.

His curly brown hair hung around his ears in a natural way. His symmetrical face was made up of a perfect nose and bright green eyes that had a dash of blue. He had a crooked smirk and yet it made him look all the cuter.

He was riding a bike, looking cold and tired. But when she cautiously moved closer she could see something that looked like anticipation on his face. As he sat down at the picnic table closest to her, and her now floating over near his shoulder, he confused her by only siting for five minutes before getting up and practically running towards something.

Filled with curiosity as to who he was and what he had been waiting for she decided to follow him.
“Probably only here for drugs.” she thought to herself with a disgusted face, as she floated over to the other picnic table he had run off to. But to her slight surprise he was no longer alone.

Sitting and smiling shyly at him was a girl, with shoulder length blonde hair and glowing brown eyes. The moonlight seemed to make her glow, an as she sat there talking and laughing with the boy she seemed to look more and more at home. She looked no more than fourteen. She noticed that the boy looked a lot older. She started to guess he was just another one of those perverted guys and as she was about to get out of there before she again noticed two things.
1)she had no idea where to go or how to wake up and:
2)she just noticed the boy picking up the girl and swinging her around before kissing her in the most romantic way she had ever seen.

“I love you Marie.” He said after letting her go.
She started to let out an awe until she noticed two lights in the distance. The atmosphere around her suddenly became frantic and sad, and without any pause the boy had Marie by the hand and they started to sprint toward a random dock. Just as they were out of sight the lights came up right in from her where she was floating, showing her their owner to be a very old, out of production,Toyota.

Before she was able to make out anything more, the lights went out, as the car had been shut off, and four people got out with flashlights. Even from where she was and with just the light from their flashlights she could see the murder in their eyes. Both the woman looked something like the boy or the girl in some way and she quickly took them to be their mothers. The two men clung to each woman and she could only guess they were the husbands, and the step fathers.

Floating over to the dock she had seen the two disappear to, she found them well hidden in the mud and underbrush under the dock, right where the water touched the ground. They looked as scared as a rabbit being hunted, knowing it only had a few more minutes to life.

Watching as the parents easily found the dock with the problem, the men reached down without any hesitation or looking and grabbed the boy from the muck. The boy was clinging to Marie for dear life and brought her up with him. As Marie saw her parents among the captors she looked as if she had started to silently sob, while the boy's shifty eyes still seemed to be looking for a way to escape.

“You might as well give it up boy, there's nowhere for you to run this time, and we found you with our daughter red handed, no doubt trying to soil her and breaking her heart.” Marie's step father said. Marie and the boy both looked stunned and angry while the family separated them,. The boy's family holding him back from attacking but still holding the same glare towards girl's father as the son.
Then they turned towards the girl, ready to have their own say.

“And you, we told you to stay away from our son, and yet you tempt him and force him to sneak out and disobey his family. How long did you really think this could go on before we noticed?” The boy's mother evilly cooed at the young girl, on to have the smug look wiped off her face when she noticed Marie wasn't even paying attention.

This was because the whole time the boy was being wrestled by his dad to the toyoto he was calling out to Marie, telling her to run, screaming out her name. At a most nasty punch towards to boy, that left him with a bleeding nose, Marie screamed his name, Ithir, and ran towards him, scratching out of her parents hold.

As she floated over to them, also wondering if Ithir was alright, the boy's father attacked the girl. Only the moment his skin came in contact with hers, the father's became an unhealthy frostbitten color. Ithir's father fell back with a yelp and a string of curses holding his frozen hand to his chest.
All of the sudden everything started to go in a slow motion take. The way movies could only portray.

Ithir's mother ran to grab him at the same time Marie's family went to grab their daughter. The air around Marie and Ithir had gone unnaturally cold and only around them did the cold wind start to pick up. Marie had started to pale in the moonlight, almost the color of the moon itself, and her hair was whipped around frantically. Ithir's on the other hand stayed perfectly still.

That was when it happened. The moment all three of the family member reached them, Marie's eyes shot open, suddenly the color of purple and silver with no pupil noticable. And it was at this moment that Marie let out a hight pitched scream. The sound of the scream sent her plummeting from where she had been floating, hitting the ground without any sound. But she wasnt the only one that had fallen. All the family member were on the ground, moaning and covering their eyes. The screaming suddenly turned to a high pitched chanting . Then with a great bang, Marie and Ithir were gone.

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I woke up to see Laci standing in front of me with a worried expression on her face. As I fully woke up I could feel the cold sweat dripping down my neck and my chest, soaking my clothes to my skin. Sitting up, my body gave a protest but I ignored it and swung my legs over the bed. Looking up I noticed Laci had backed up slowly away from me. Raising my eyebrows I motioned for her to sit beside me, a small warm smile on my face.

“How long have been asleep?” I inquired as she relaxed and settled on the bed beside me.

“About two days now actually Venessa, and four dragons have come by in that time to see how you were doing.” For some reason her voice sounded as if this was the most extraordinary thing that didn't happen every day. 'They live and serve dragons Why would this surprise them anyway.' I mused to myself silently, keeping my thoughts to myself. I looked over at the foot of the bed to see a plain green dress, scarf, and gloves.

“So where am I suppose to go then? I still dont know what me to do, or where.” She smiled at my questioned, which as I looked at her I noticed it lightened up her features immensely.

“You don't have to worry about that. Another dragon should be by in a few to see if your awake yet. Just hurry up and get dressed and make sure you are ready to go when you escort arrives.”

She motioned towards the clothes I had just been staring at. With a siggh that could have gone on for miles I started to strip out of my clothes as Laci did the same while climbing into the bed on the side that wasn't drenched with my cold sweat.

I shook my head and tried to get the images from my dream to go away. 'It was just a dream. You have more things to worry about then what your imagination can come up with.' But even my own nagging voice couldn't stop the feeling of uncertainty the dream had brought me. As I pulled on the dress and gloves I couldn't help but feel I had missed something.

I already know I've gone insane, but does my mind have to hate on me too?” Whoever said your mind is your greatest enemy had no idea just to what extent he had been right.