Nightmares

Footsteps paced on the wooden floor, accompanied by the creak of an old door and the whispers of the cool afternoon breeze. At one side of the room, silhouetted against the light from the window, stood a young woman, her hands folded behind her back as she gazed out onto the great expanse of dark grey clouds. A storm was approaching.
In the centre of the room sat a young girl on a simple wooden chair. Her hands were clenched into fists on her legs, pulling at her pretty little dress. Auburn curls laced around her ears and her green gaze fluttered towards the young woman and then flew back to stare at the wall, a hint of fear dancing within her big, young eyes.
"The other kids are here again, I see." The young woman spoke, still staring out. "How... lonely it must be, not to be able to join them. Am I right, Cecilia?" The girl said nothing, her mouth pressed into a thin white line, and the woman sighed. "You seem to be under the impression that I am here to punish you..." The woman turned from the window and faced the girl. Her face was beautiful - a dainty nose, red lips, dark eyes. Her dark curly hair was pinned back and swept away from her face. She walked towards the girl with deliberate, careful steps and stooped down to the girl's level.
They stared at each other for a while before a smile spread slowly across the woman's face, revealing perfectly white teeth. "I am here to help you, Cecilia, so you can go back to your friends, and... you can make amends with your family."
"But..." The young girl said, her lip trembling a little bit as she held the woman's gaze. "But... I didn't do anything wrong, nor did Byron."
"Shh..." The woman placed a finger to the girl's lips, silencing her, before her hand moved up to brush the auburn hair away from the young girl's forehead. "You don't know what you did wrong, you poor child. But do not worry..." The smile was back.
"Because I am here to teach you."


Cecilia Nott jolted awake, her hair plastered to her forehead, and her eyes large with fright. She gasped for air, kicking the blanket off of her as she moved to the side of her bed. She pressed her face into her knees, trying to calm her heart. "Water," she murmured to herself, her throat felt like sandpaper, and after a few moments, she rose to her feet and headed to the common room to get herself a glass.

Leo was lying, spread-eagled, on her bed, face in her pillow. To anyone looking on the outside, it would appear that she was in the midst of a nice, peaceful sleep. But Leo was falling. A few twitches of her eye could have given it away, as she tried to grab a hold of something, anything, to halt her increasingly rapid descent.
But there was nothing around her - nothing but air. Leo's heart jolted a little as she saw a face above her - it was a twisted face, a cruel, mocking grin floating above her.
It was Leo's face. It hardly looked anything like her - that grin did not suit her, at all - but Leo could recognise it for what it was. That frightened her more than anything else.
A wand appeared, held by the phantom Leo. 'No,' Leo muttered, 'don't do it - don't -'

A flash of white, a heart-stopping jolt, and Leo woke up. For a moment, she couldn't remember anything, so she didn't understand the sick feeling in her mouth.
Then it all came swarming back to her. Leo sat up in bed, her face in her hands. In the distance there was the sound of a door closing, but, almost as if she was still in her dream, Leo was lost to the world.
Leo got up shakily, hoping to return some sort of feeling to her limbs. She bent down to return her wand to her bedside table - it had fallen off when she had jolted awake from her fall - but as she replaced it, she realised that the bed next to her was empty.
Frowning slightly, Leo glanced at the other beds. The sleeping forms of their dorm mates were clearly visible, but Cel was nowhere to be seen.
Leo was overcome with a sense of worry. Probably irrational, but she was still waking up and her brain wasn't exactly working just yet. And yet not entirely unfounded, given the general scare the castle was under. Picking up her wand again and holding it carefully in front of her, Leo exited the dorm and headed to the common room. 'Cel?' she hissed. 'Where are you?'

Cel spun around at the very slight sound, causing her to spill some water from the glass onto herself and the floor. She cursed and uttered a small, "I'm here." She took a sip from the glass, relishing the feeling of the cool water sliding down her throat and washing away the feelings from the... dream. Water, such an underrated substance. She finished the glass and set it down onto the table with a quiet tap and went about wiping the water off of her jumper.
A vague light caught her attention and she turned her head to gaze out the window at the pale blue sky on the horizon. Dawn was near.
She glanced back towards the stairwell when Leo entered the room and titled her head, "What are you doing down here?"

'Could ask you the same question,' Leo replied. She realised her wand was still held as though she was about to attack someone, and she lowered it, somewhat sheepishly. 'I was ... looking for you. I woke up ... you weren't in bed ... I got worried.' Leo paused. 'Being stupid, don't worry.'
Leo grabbed the water jug and a glass, filling it up to the brim. She restrained the urge to dump the whole thing over her head to wake her up. Instead she contented herself with dipping her fingers in and flicking her face. She glanced out the window for a moment, staring at the sky. This moment, just before dawn, never ceased to relax her.
Even still ... 'I hate being up this early,' Leo muttered. 'But I don't think I'll be going back to bed any time soon.' Leo sighed.