You've Got Another Thing Coming

Déjà vu is a funny thing.

Again, I woke up to the scent of lavender and roses.
Again, I saw the whiteness of my ceiling above me, and, yet again, the girl that grew out of my dress was sitting by my side.
This time, though, I had my dress on.
This time, there was a smoky pile of ashes lying on my bedroom floor, and this time, my throat hurt like someone had just snapped it in two.

The girl by my side grabbed my arm and pulled me up into sitting position. I jerked my hand away from her, and stared at her accusingly.

“It is okay, Callie”, she said. “Don’t worry; I understand you don’t trust me.”

“No kidding?” I said in a voice that I hoped was strong and confident. Sadly, it came out as a hushed whisper, dark and raspy as if I had just slept in some one-hundred years.

She eyed me. Her lilac eyes travelled across my body, up and down and left and right.
“It’s nice to see you again, Callie. Although I must say you’ve changed since the last time.”

I felt my temper flare. “Could you please stop that?” I hissed, my voice so thick with anger it rumbled low in my chest. “I have never met you before; I’ve never even seen you! Can’t you just leave?”

Her eyes met mine, and she sighed.

“Look, Cal”, she began. “This is going to be hard for you to understand, okay? The person that you met before, that looked like me, that wasn’t me.”

“That’s not too hard to understand”, I said sourly. “I think you’ve underestimated my intelligence.”

The girl in front of me blinked. “What?” she said and I sighed.

“You have a different voice. Yours is lighter than the voice of the person, or thing”, at this I grimaced badly, “and you’re a different personality. Not to mention, you’re not hideous.”

At this, the girl grinned.

“That’s true. It awful when a demon of nightmares tries to imitate you”, she grimaced vividly, too, “especially when said demon is male. They always have this fixed impression of what girls are supposed to be like, and they never get it straight.”

I could feel my eyes get wide. “Demon of nightmares?” I choked.

“Yeah”, the girl waved her hand in a gesture that said ‘don’t think anything of it’. “They’re a real pain. I swear, most of them need to get laid, or something. They’re always trying to mess up human lives, and they don’t even get anything out of it.”

My eyes grew even wider, and my mouth dropped. I was certain I looked very intelligent at the moment.

“Who are you?” I choked out in sudden desperation. Everything was swirling dangerously around me, and things were so confusing and I didn’t know where to start to sort it all out.

The blonde, beautiful girl smiled.
“I’m Rose”, she said and reached out her hand. She grabbed mine and shook it furiously. It felt very tiny and fragile, and it almost disappeared in mine.

“I’m a fairy”, she continued without mercy, “and currently, you’re male. That’s a bit of a problem.”

I stared at her. Then I stared at our entwined hands. I then looked down my dress.

I screamed, and my voice was deep and dark until I heard how rich and powerful I sounded even when I was screaming for my life. Then it went up a notch, and the squeaky falsetto took over.

Rose covered her delicate ears, which were somewhat pointed beneath her thick hair. When I was done screaming and running around in my room while trying to rip my chest hair out, she grabbed my hand as I gasped for breath.

“Calm down, Callie”, she told me sternly. “It’s just a little trick by the nightmare demon. We’ll get this sorted out quickly!”

“But-but!” I stuttered between deep intakes of breath. “I’m a girl!”

“Don’t you think I know that?” Rose said and wiggled one eyebrow up and down. “Look, you’re going to have to come with me.”

“Where are we going?” I was on the verge of tears, and my powerful man’s voice broke at the last word.

“You’ve been there before”, she smiled soothingly. “It’s in the world of dreams, and Lord knows you dream a lot, so you shouldn’t be worried.”

I hiccupped slightly. “Have I met you before, Rose?” I wondered, silently wishing I knew where I had put my handkerchief.

“Sure you have, sweetie”, she grabbed my large hands and pulled me towards the window in my bedroom. “In our world, you and I are the best of friends.”

She flung the window open and let the fresh air sweep into the room. It smelled of rain and wet asphalt. Her lilac eyes glistened.

“Hold on to me”, she told me sternly, and I clamped my long arms around her small waist. “When I count to three, you just jump, okay?”

I closed my eyes, thinking I was probably more stupid than I ever could have imagined.

When I heard Rose shout “Three”, I tightened my grip on her, and jumped.