15 Stories for 15 Days: Day Five

The 15 for 15 contest is held about once every nine months or so. The way it works is that every day at 8:30 WDC time, a picture prompt is posted. You have 24 hours to post your story that the prompt inspires. Here is the interesting part: You only have 15 minutes to write your story. You can think about it all day but once you start writing, 15 minutes is what you get.

ID: 994771   (Rated: 18+) 15 for 15 Contest   Do you have 15 minutes? Come in and join this contest! by Legerdemain (222)

The contest is limited to 50 competitors. Each day, there are 5 winners. First place will get 1004 points, second place will get 1003 points etc. The person with the most total points at the end of the 15 day contest is the winner.

The prompt for this story is this picture:

My Entry

They were back – the dreams.

The dreams that had started it all were back and Sadie knew now that she’d better just keep her mouth shut. Besides, these dreams were different somehow. The settings were the same but the feelings…

These dreams felt different.

They didn’t make her scream in the night or make her run down the street with no clothes on. They didn’t make her draw strange winged creatures so she could tear up the pictures in hopes of being rid of the dream-beasts. These new dreams didn’t make her feel certain that everyone was out to get her; that she was in constant danger of being discovered and killed.

That had been back then; back when she’d asked, “Mama, how can I tell if I’m awake or dreaming?”

Her mama had just looked at her and said, “Sadie, I swear you are not quite right.”

Unhelpful at best.

They’d eventually locked her up. That had been more than fifteen years ago.

Sadie had been happy ever since.

It was safe here. There were no prying eyes. She was anonymous; a white robe walking amongst other white robes.

Then the dreams returned; the same dreams that were now different.

That afternoon, at social time, she became aware. It was as if a switch had been thrown and now she understood. She looked around at the lost souls, whispering secrets to themselves or grasping at invisible butterflies. She knew that she no longer belonged here. She no longer had to hide.

Back at her room, the door was stuck.

She tossed off her white robe for the last time, stepped back, and then kicked the door open.

It flew back off its hinges, so mighty was the blow.

Inside, her room was gone, replaced by a world of darkness and magic. She stepped purposefully through the door and waited as a minion draped a black cape over her shoulders.

“My queen, he awaits,” said the troll-like figure.

Sadie, Dragon Queen of the underworld, walked over to the giant winged beast, placed her hand on it head and said, “I missed you too, my King.”