A Nightmare...

[Rapunzel Frost]

Rapunzel lazily moped about the North Tower searching for something to occupy her precious time. She placed one foot in front of the other, attempting to make an almost perfect line. She teetered from side to side, holding her arms out like a bird in flight, trying to keep her balance. Once Rapunzel clumsily tripped over her foot she took a seat on a bench and watched as very few students strolled by. Most were Ravenclaws since the Ravenclaw house was in the Towers, but several other types of students were wasting time there too.

Rapunzel threw her feet up on the bench and laid down across it to prevent anyone from sitting there. She placed her hands over her eyes and hummed a tune to herself. It eventually faded away when she began to drift off into a light sleep. Dreams took over, nightmares even...

Rapunzel found her self standing in the middle of a meadow, mostly green with a few yellow patches from lack of rain. The sun shone it's rays of light on Rapunzel's cool skin. The breeze was heavenly. I'm in some sort of haven! I think... "Why are you standing up?" said a familiar voice from below her. Startled, Rapunzel looked down to discover the voice came from Valentine, her beloved sister and best friend. She gasped and fell to her knees excitedly to sit beside Val. Val was plucking at the grass and making large piles of it around her and Rapunzel. Rapunzel smiled and gladly joined in the silly task just so she could bond with her sister. "Oh, Val... I feel like I haven't seen you in forever!" Rapunzel wrapped her arms around Valentine and tears rolled down her face. "Why? You've been making grass circles with me all morning...?" Rapunzel pushed away from her sister but still held her by her shoulders and narrowed her eyes, not in a glare but rather a curious way. She tried hard to remember the morning but nothing before her standing up came to mind. After a few moments, she dropped her gaze and let go of Val's shoulders. Val acted as if nothing had happened and continued with her grass-picking job. They sat in silence until Val's head jerked up. Rapunzel looked over worriedly at her sister's face. "Did you hear that?" Val asked. Rapunzel shook her head no and Val placed her hand on her shoulder for support as she stood up. Rapunzel rose too after watching Val, who was intently studying the thick woods surrounding them. Val suddenly took Rapunzel's hand and darted into the trees, dragging Rapunzel behind her. Once she let go, Rapunzel kept running, assuming there was good reason for this. After roughly twenty minutes of running, they stopped at a large tree that blocked the few streams of light coming in from the treetops. "What's going on?" Rapunzel asked in a quiet, out-of-breath voice. Before Val could answer, an arm shot out of nowhere and stole Rapunzel from Valentine and Rapunzel sent a blood-curdling scream at the person or creature taking her away from the most joyful thing Rapunzel ever had. It silenced her by hitting her atop the head with a plank of wood and when she awoke she was in a pitch black room. She felt the presence of creatures such as mice or other prisoners around her. She wasn't trapped but the chills that were sent up her spine told her not to try and escape. She placed her clammy hands against the cold cement floor and jerked them to her chest as she felt a slimy substance reach her fingers. Rapunzel sat in silence until a horrible screech from somewhere in the room was let out. A door slammed hard against the wall and light poured in through the opening. A silhouette stood in front of her for at least a minute as she took in her surroundings. It looked like a jail cell, an ugly terrifying one at that. Strange creatures cowered in the corners as the person snatched up her arm and dragged her out. It threw her on a comfortable chair and sat in one itself. Rapunzel studied his face; she knew him; it was her dad. Her hands came up to her mouth to stifle a scream.

Rapunzel jerked up gasping for breath. The light shining in from the Tower windows blinded her as her eyes shot open revealing to herself it was only a dream. Thankfully, it was only a nightmare, not a memory, but the faces were familiar. The man was her dad and the girl was Val. Rapunzel slowed her breathing and stood up. She walked over to a window and leaned against the windowsill. Her hand was holding her chest as she took in the realization of the man she came across so often being her dad. How had I not recognized him before!?! From all those pictures, you woulda thought... Rapunzel cleared her mind of thoughts of family and listened to the tapping of feet behind her.

 

[Alice Hills]

Alice had left the common room in a bad mood. Everyone had been chatting loudly about Quidditch and she couldn't seem to get away from it. She hated the sport and found it humiliating to even think about her bad experience in the lesson. She had found out that it had become the time of year when everyone ended up auditioning for the team so it was the talk of the school. If that wasn't bad enough for Alice, she found that all the rooms were busy and people seemed to be practising spells in them, meaning Alice couldn't join them because she hadn't been taught them properly at the present time. Sighing, she found herself climbing up a set of stairs that she vaguely recognised as the ones leading to the North tower. She hadn't been up here before, but had heard about people's experiences in them. Her legs started to ache as she climbed the tedious stairs. Finally reaching the top, she looked around and felt disappointed. There was hardly much up there and nothing to do. Looking out of the vast window, she surveyed the land and forests that were part of her new home. It felt weird at the present moment to call the castle home, but she assumed that it would soon come naturally, as it did with the older students. Smiling as she watched some birds fly around and around each other, trying to catch each other in a fun game. Suddenly, she heard a panicked noise behind her, and spun around, pulling out her wand even though it would be useless to her. It had become natural to do ever since she had seen older students frequently drawing their wands to feel safer. It had the same effect with Alice, even though she wasn't properly sure how to use it yet. "Hello. Who's there?" She asked, praying that it wouldn't be someone mean or a Slytherin. It would be just her luck to meet a Slytherin up in the tower where no one could hear her, and where she would be at their mercy. Ok, so maybe her opinion of Slytherins was a little exaggerated, but everyone had to have an opinion somewhere along the line, before they could develop a proper idea of the house. Returning from her thoughts, she walked around the rafters and saw Rapunzel, a girl from her dorm, sitting asleep on a bench. Walking over, she lit her wand up with the common spell Lumos and gently shook the girl, to see if she was ok. Stepping back behind a rafter as the girl awoke, she waited for her senses to come before approaching her. "Hey Rapunzel, are you ok? You seemed upset. Rapunzel?" She asked, gently taking a few more steps towards the girl.

 

[Rapunzel Frost]

Rapunzel relaxed when she recognized the person who shook her. It was Alice Hills, a girl she knew from her house. She had seen her around, but never really said anything more than a passing "hi" to her. Rapunzel sighed, letting the stress of her frightening nightmare release. Alice seemed genuinely concerned and Rapunzel tried to reassure her she was fine, "Oh... Yes, I'm fine. Thank you for asking. It was only a nightmare..." Rapunzel honestly convinced herself, by her tone of voice, that it was a regular nightmare, as if anyone could've had such terrible dreams. It had been nice at first, being able to see Val's beautiful face again, but then it turned evil in an instant. Rapunzel looked up, slightly worried, to check if Alice believed her.

 

[Alice Hills]

Alice raised her eyebrows. "Are you sure? You seemed really panicked. And dreams like that come from thought processes in your mind. It means that you are either subconsciously or consciously worried about something. If you don't mind me asking, would you like to talk about it?" She asked, unsure whether the girl would want to talk about it or not. She hoped that she would, because Alice felt in the mood to console someone else and take her mind off her own worries. She felt that it would be generally better to think about someone else's problems, rather than her own. She normally turned to books for this reason, but at that moment, a book was the last thing that she felt like looking at. She had read all of the ones that she had brought with her, and had started to find that her mind wasn't fully focused when she was reading, because she knew the story lines so well that she hardly had to concentrate.

 

[Rapunzel Frost]

Rapunzel was a little stunned with the fact that Alice stated, than she remembered Alice was a fellow Ravenclaw. Rapunzel frowned, knowing she had not tricked her and looked down. "I had been standing in a meadow with my sister, Val, plucking grass on the ground and I was so happy to see her because she's like my best friend of all time! I plucked at the ground with her until she became frightened... She stood up and surveyed the forest surrounding the two of us as if something was there. The setting had become so... creepy. Like, I was happily spending time with Val then the mood changed very suddenly. I stood up and she took my hand; she gripped it tight. We ran for a long time and ended up at a huge tree where there was barely any light and I asked Val why we ran but this hand shot out of nowhere and it snatched me away from Valentine!" Tears began gushing from Rapunzel's dark brown eyes and her voice grew frantic, "A-a-and the next thing I knew I was in some sort of-of uh a dungeon! There was slimy stuff and scary creatures and then the door opened and I was taken from that creepy place an-and I was thrown into a chair in front of a fire and a man sat in another chair adjacent to me... And I studied his face and I-I recognized him! He... It... was my dad..." Rapunzel buried her tear-stained face in her clammy hands and sobbed.

 

[Alice Hills]

Alice looked up at Rapuzel as she started to speak. She hadn't been prepared and after she had got over the momentary shock, she paused, trying to catch up. Finally she got into the right time frame and went over it in her head. Suddenly realising that Rapuzel was crying, she walked over, and gave her a big hug. She listened to the rest of the story and just stood there, uncertain of what to do. "Sit." She said softly, wondering if the girl was still in a fit state to talk to her, or whether she just wanted to be alone. "Do you live with your dad then?" She asked, feeling the need to know more facts about the girl before she could offer advice or help.

(OOC: Sorry for the lame post....)

 

[Rapunzel Frost]

The tears were still streaming down her face when Alice pulled her into a hug. Her vision was blurry due to the tears and she couldn't tell what was going on, but she went with the flow. She sat down on the bench where she took her nap only an hour ago. Rapunzel twidled her thumbs as she tried hard to concentrate on the question but her mind was foggy and was throwing random subjects and memories at her. After a couple of long-lasting seconds, Rapunzel answered, "No, I live with my mother and stepdad and siblings... I haven't seen my dad my whole life, with the exception of very recently and when I was two and under. Even when I saw him before the school year had begun, I didn't recognize him! That is, until now..." Rapunzel's bottom lip quivered and in another instant tears were cascading down her face from her deep brown eyes.

(OOC: It's kaaay! I didn't give you much to work with )

 

[Alice Hills]

Alice sat for a while, wondering what to say. Her brain felt foggy and she couldn't think of what to say to comfort the sobbing girl. "So has there been anything that has happened to make you view him in an evil light?" She asked, unsure whether her questions would seem rude and unsympathetic. She was normally quite good in situations such as this, but today she felt so angry that her head felt dizzy and she couldn't think clearly. A feeling of hatred for quidditch came over her, as she realised that it was because of this that she felt so angry and annoyed. Sighing, she gave Rapunzel another hug and felt bad that such a lovely girl such as her was feeling upset and low.

(OOC: No, its not you. My muse is running low )

 

[Rapunzel Frost]

Rapunzel's chocolate brown eyes were once again blurry and Alice gave her another friendly hug. She cleared her throat and answered, "He walked out on me and my sister when we were little... I suppose that's part of it..." Rapunzel hesitated than continued, "Everytime he called us he promised he would take us somewhere special soon... He would tell us to wait a week or two and he'd be there... But he never showed up. And he always called from blocked numbers and pay phones, so we never could call him back... I think the biggest thing is that he broke all his promises." Rapunzel sighed and fought back the third wave of tears. She was very appreciative of being able to talk about her troubles to someone as caring and helpful as Alice.

 

[Alice Hills]

Alice sat there thoughtfully. From what Rapunzel had said, she realised that her relationship with her dad wasn't as bad as others. "Ok. Well i know about dad's breaking promises. My dad didn't even turn up to a birthday party, because he had a party at his work. I hardly ever see him, so i can't really talk about how good dad's should be." She said sadly, wishing that like some of her friends, she had a normal relationship with her dad and could chat to him easily. It was the first time that she had found someone who truly appreciated her anger towards fathers. Smiling warmly, she pulled back from the hug that she quickly gave. "How long ago did he make contact with you?" She asked, feeling slightly like a detective. She knew from her dad that if someone was on your mind consciously or sub-consciously, you could dream about them in the light that you truly saw them in. She sat there still, thinking. Her thoughts were muddled between this image that she had conjured up of an evil man, (in her mind, Rapunzel's dad ) and her own dad, sitting there chatting about their daughters but with no love at all. Pulling herself away from these thoughts, she made up her mind to write to her dad and mum, seeing as they hadn't spoken in ages.