Night Mares, Stallions, and Ruby Red Slippers

Image from Salvadhor

“To Sleep, Perchance To Dream; Aye, There’s The Rub”

I woke up to the soft pitter-patter of rain on a roof and a thick, cold fog swirling around my brain.

I rubbed my eyes and tried to get my bearing, but it soon became crystal clear that I had never been to this place before. It was a tiny room, much smaller than my bedroom at home, but it did have a bed upon which I was currently sprawled. There was a large pot in one corner, which I assumed was to be used as a toilet, but other than that it was a very sparse room.

I began to feel uneasy and queer in my stomach when I noticed the door; it had no doorknob. I appeared to be a prisoner.

Where on earth could I possibly be, and how did I get here? I cautiously walked over to the one small window in the room and tried to open it. It wouldn’t budge. There was no way to open it from the inside. So I started pounding on it to see if someone, anyone, would hear and help me.

I could hear my trembling voice echoing in the tiny room but nothing else. I was completely alone.

Nightmares and Stallions

Suddenly, there was a big bay mare walking by my room, and she had a rope in her mouth. She was leading what looked like a young girl…I couldn’t quite see at first…then I strained a bit to catch the face of the little girl…that face…yes, I knew it, of course I knew it, even through my fuzzy vision.

It was my own daughter!

I started pounding loudly on the window and yelling at the top of my lungs.

This was absolutely crazy. Who put me in here and then took my daughter, letting a horse lead her around? I kept pounding on the door until I was completely exhausted and slid helplessly to the floor.

My claustrophobia was nothing now compared to the longing for my daughter.

I sank onto the bed, tears pouring down my face. All I could hear now was the alarmingly loud pounding of my heart and the questions that kept screaming through my muddled, foggy brain. For a while I lay there contemplating all this through my tears and my fears; I have no idea how much time had passed since awakening. There was no clock in the room.

Image from *spudballoo*

All of a sudden I heard a loud screech. I jumped a bit when the door creaked open and a large grey horse strode part-way into the small room. He looked at me and snorted, almost with disdain. He tossed me a rope with a contraption at the end of it like the one I had seen on my daughter.

Was he expecting me to wear this thing? He strode towards me, gave me a menacing look of disdain, flashed his white teeth, and tossed his head. Yes, he was expecting me to wear it; that much of this whole confusing mess was clear.

I felt excruciatingly powerless and decided I would put on the contraption. I didn’t like the way he was glaring at me with those big white teeth.

Resistance Is Futile

As soon as it was on my head, the big grey horse grabbed the end of the rope in his teeth and started backing out of the room, pulling me with him. I wondered where we were going. I felt dazed and confused, and when I stumbled and veered away from the big grey, he gave me a sharp yank on the rope.

“OW!” I yelled indignantly. How dare he? This time I stood my ground.

I was promptly yanked again. I felt the rebelling pop of my neck vertebra and the scrape of the contraption’s cold metal on my cheek. It didn’t take long to realize that I was not in a position to put up any kind of a fight, as outraged as my apparent captor was making me.

We walked a short ways to a very large field that had been grazed down to stubble. I was giddily aware all of a sudden that there were other humans out there on the field.

What’s Coming Next?

Be sure to tune in next Thursday for part 2 to find out what happens to Eleanor and her daughter.