11
The girl had never had the experience of being the new kid at school, she always had a group of friends whom she would follow, or they would follow her. It had already been a long day full of old and frightening teachers, so she tried to get the topic out of her mind. It was all her parents fault, they had moved out from her home, and had left her suffering in that old and unknown school. That resentful feeling stayed in her chest. The girl walked through her house at night while everyone was asleep. Her insomnia was getting worst each second, every time she had a nap in the afternoon she wasn’t able to sleep. She remembered how bitter her mother would feel if she knew that her daughter was staying up late, so she walked through the aisle towards her bedroom, got into bed, pulled the sheets up to her shoulders and turned off her light.
In the past, the girl had heard from her friends and family that she opened her eyes a little bit when she fell asleep, like if she was peeking to see everything. Of course she never believed them, until that night. Somehow the girl could see what her room looked at night, with her eyes not totally shut. With the help of the shining of the moon, the silhouettes of her belongings were more visible. The ragged, smelly clothes on top of her chair, the ticking clock in front of her bed and the silky blankets that covered her entirely. After the long time of observing her things she tried to slightly move her hand to her leg because it itched a little, but she couldn’t. The girl was stuck in a weird state, she couldn’t move her body. She tried everything she could but the only thing she was capable of doing was turning her face around her pillow to stay awake. A mysterious idea was implanted in her head to make her believe that she needed to stay awake. Then, squeaky female voices started to talk. “Are there any new kids?” The girl would hear. “There is only one, don’t worry.” While the girl heard the conversation between the women, she turned her head, searching for them, but all she could see was the darkness of her room. All she could feel was her head turning, and her inside cold body suffering to get out.
The girl gave up after a few minutes and decided to close her eyes so she could rest, but instead, she finally found the women. A huge meadow laid below her, the girl stood in the middle, with her pijamas on, staring at the pastureland. The wind danced between the high grass, touching her feet and legs, making her leg even more itchier than before. She could finally move, very slowly, but it was a relief. When she turned around, the two women were there. Still talking. One of them, was an old lady, her long white locks turned into a tall braid, and her thin, pastel dress made her look tired. The other woman was a middle aged women. A normal person you would find on the street. They looked like her teachers that she had seen in school that day. They didn’t even notice that the girl was there. The girl’s heart raced, causing her goosebumps, her molars rattled and she gently but firmly tried to move her frozen fingers. While she quietly stammered good thoughts to herself, she slowly lifted her left leg just a tiny bit, so she could step back. She lifted it, moved it back, and discretely set down her foot on what she thought was a bunch of grass but soon realized it was a dead racoon. That caused both women to notice her. They continued their conversation, the only thing that had changed was that they were talking to her instead of each other. The same words were being calmly repeated. “Are there any new kids?” “There is only one, don’t worry.” The meadow world suddenly became blank. The girl felt heavy and sweaty. Dizzy and debilitated…
She opened her eyes, and she could see her foggy room ceiling. The girl now knew why she needed to open them at all times. She didn’t want to go back to that meadow, but her sleepiness was so strong, she needed to move her head so she wouldn’t close her eyes again. The squeaky voices continued. “Who are the new guys?” “There is only one, don’t worry.” She needed to act quickly, something was wrong, and her heart pumped faster than before. She could feel the drops of warm sweat falling from her forehead, legs, armpits and neck. But before she could try to get up again, her eyes started to close slowly. She fought. She fought every second so she couldn’t close her eyes again and go to that place. Her eyelids touched, and just for a long second, she could see the meadow again, with the women. The girl could know feel her bony fingers shake, touching the sheets of her bed, even though she was at the meadow. When she escaped and finally opened her eyes again, a large black male silhouette was on the side of her bed and a knife was on his hand. The girl’s force finally got to work, her arms and hands rushed directly to her face, covering what would be the last of it. Her sore body cuddled up together for protection, and in one blink of an eye, the male silhouette was gone, and the girl came back to her non movement state. Now, the girl could hear the beats of her heart in her ears, forcing her to move her head back and forth roughly with fear, trying to take away the scene she had just experienced.
The girl was so scared and in such fatigue, she wanted to give up, but decided to give her motionless body one last shot. She could feel every inch of her muscles struggle, but couldn’t make anything move. Finally, with one last stroke of hope, the girl focused all her strength to her chest, forcing it to wake up. In one quick burst, her chest got up, her weird position made the girl believe she wasn’t the one to accomplish her goal. She was sitting down, her legs were still covered in sheets and stretched out, and her head was flopping down, her eyes were wide open now. She tried to move again, but her struggle was real, something was controlling her. In a quick move, her legs turned to the side of the bed, and got up. Her house seemed a little clearer, but all she could see was the floor.
She walked slowly out of her room and stopped in one spot, next to her door. Somehow she knew that she was headed to her parents room. Then, the girl saw something sparkly in her own hand, it wasn’t quite visible, but when she slowly started to walk towards her parents room, the reflection of the moonshine that came from the dome revealed it was a cold, sharp knife. Her heart pump moved slowly to her head, she needed to do something before anything else could happen, so with all her strength, she closed her eyes one last time and went back into the only place she was allowed to move, the pastureland. She opened her eyes, and there she was, with the two women. “Are there any new kids?” “There is only one, don’t worry.” She turned around and started running, a pump hit her forehead, and when she opened her eyes, she was back at her house, she had just ran into a wall. She finally could control her feet, so she ran into that same wall over and over again. That gave her more strength and power over her body. Everytime she bumped into the wall, her forehead got bloodier and bloodier. She could feel the drops falling through her face like sweat. She closed her eyes, and for half a second she was back at the pastureland. Are. Bump There. Bump Any. Bump. New. Bump. Kids? Bump. There. Bump. Is. Bump. Only. Bump. One. Bump. Don’t. Bump. Worry.
The girl gasped loudly and finally woke up. She got up, and turned on the lights of her room. Then, she headed quietly but quickly to the bathroom. She nervously turned the lights on too, closed the door behind her and stared at herself in the mirror. She checked her forehead, looking for any signs of harm and blood, and there wasn’t any. For five minutes, she stared at herself, in mobile. She knew she could move, but she didn’t want to… She was too scared to go back to her nightmare.
Motionless