Pale Red (Revised)

“Nora.”

I turned around and removed my earbuds, thinking someone had called my name. There was no one there. I went and checked the hallway. Nothing. I shrugged and put my headphones back in.

“NORA!”

This time it was louder, unmistakable. Someone had to have called for me. Thinking that maybe someone was outside, I looked out my window. Absolutely nothing. I moved the curtain back into place and turned around. Reflected in my mirror was a pale, scared looking me. I brushed it off and sat down to finish my homework.

Later, as I turned off all my lights and laid down to go to sleep, I heard a voice sing-song my name.

“Nor..a!”

Things were seriously freaky. My parents were out and I was home alone. I had to be going insane or something.

“Nora, don’t you hear me?”

As crazy as it sounds, I decided to answer whatever, or whoever had asked.

“Yeah, I hear you. What do you want?”

“Listen Nora, don’t you hear them?”

“Who’s them?” Soon enough my ears were filled with the buzz of a thousand or more voices. They all seemed to be calling my name. I followed the sounds to my window and looked out. On my lawn was….no….I couldn’t be seeing what I thought I saw. On my lawn, was someone who looked exactly like me. She rose into the air. I blinked and when my eyes opened again, she was hovering outside my window. The girl stretched out her hand and touched the glass. Unconsciously, my hand met hers and I could feel the heat of her hand through the cold of the glass. It seemed as though the glass was becoming thinner. Suddenly, I felt her hand wrap around my wrist. She tugged. I fell out of my window and landed on my back in the bushes. Pain shot through my head and I began to cry. I grew lighter. I realized that I was dead. Soon I was looking down at my bed, watching my body. It sat up. It stretched, then laughed, looking directly at me with piercing red eyes. The red faded to my normal mud brown and I heard my mom knock on my door. I pounded as hard as I could on the glass, but to no avail. My fists made no sound. I yelled at the top of my lungs but again, I made no sound.

I heard a distant buzzing, but paid it no attention. My body turned and gave me a smug wave. The buzzing grew louder and pierced my consciousness yet again. It became more insistent. It was eardrum shattering loud now and I heard my name again.

“Nora…...Nora…...NORA!”

My eyes flew open and I was alive again. The restraints which held me in my wheelchair were looser than usual, so my body slumped, giving me the appearance of a shrunken dwarf. I was unable to make a sound, or move any appendage, but that was nothing new. I hadn’t been able to do any of those things since birth.

I saw my mother’s skin tighten over her knuckles as she made a fist. I watched her bring it down and saw it land on my ribs. I could do nothing to stop her constant barrage of abuse. My body refused to obey me and my tongue resisted all attempts to make words. Not even my dreams offered an escape. My body still betrayed me in my sleep.