Inside of My Head

Orchid was in her hospital room, watching TV.... No... Not exactly 'watching'... More like 'listening' to the TV. Orchid was blind afterall, how could she 'watch'? She had just ate the breakfast the nurse staff had given her, it was a bit bland, but Orchid had gotten used to it with the time she was there.

There wasn't a lot to do inside the hospital room, but just enough to keep occupied. It wouldn't be too long before one of the doctors came to give her her medication. Orchid never took medication without knowing what it did first, and if course she already knew what it did, the doctors learned more about the infection in her eye, so they gave her medication to stabilize the infection from spreading any further through her body. In fact, the nurse came in just now with the drugs. And Orchid took them without much hesitation.

After a while, she began to feel a bit sleepy. The drugs always did this to her, and it didn't hurt to nap every now and then, besides that her dream world was much more fun and open than the real world around her. So Orchid turned off the TV and began to dose off on the bed.

In her dreams, Orchid found herself inside a world known as The Nexas. Inside this odd void were several doors, each one quite distinct. Orchid wasn't very sure about most of the doors, so she usually kept to the door she was most fond of. It was a nice, wooden door with many nice engravings on it. Upon opening the door, Orchid found herself in a large, open meadow, with a dirt path way stretching over the hills. It was morning in this land, and the climate seemed to be a mix of spring and summer. Overall, it was a beautiful sight for many.

Orchid had been here many times before, on all kinds of adventures. And she knew just where to go to have those adventures. She pulled a whistle out of her pocket. It was a small whistle in the shape of a rabbit. With one, sharp blow, something could be heard bounding over the tall grass, coming for her. It was Hops, the large rabbit that was like Orchid's pet in this world. He had a saddle on his back, for he also served as her mount. Orchid pet her riding rabbit, and greeted him before she hopped onto his back. The rabbit made sure she was on securely before he began sprinting down the dirt path, to where Orchid would have her next adventure.

"And that was how Peter, got back his spagetti." Maydelle bounced Peter over to the area where her favourite toys lived. Sophie looked up from her book, smiling. The girls took turns to look after, well, those that they could trust not to hurt her.

"I'm glad to hear that May. Now, what do you want for lunch?" Maydelle turned to her, her vibrant red streaks making her look like a vampire princess.

"Sandwiches." Sophie stood up and patted her on the shoulder. They had gotten used to treating a 17 year old girl like she was five. She waved goodbye and pulled the door shut. Maydelle sat there for a moment, looking at her toys. She started to feel dizzy. Thinking that she was just tired, she lay down among her toys, and closed her eyes.

Thur'Goral. The name echoed around her mind, in the voice of something that sounded infinitely ancient. For a moment, Maydelle was there, in nothing. Then, she arrived, at the place where she could see clearly, at the place that haunted her at night. A place where her actual mind could be free, the Nexas.

She stepped forward, towards the door. The runes formed into images of a girl, being grabbed by hidden enemies. The night her torture began, when she started losing her mind. The imprint of a hand glowed bright red on the wall. She placed her right hand in it.

Blood seeped from beneath her touch, running down the screaming runes in little trails, until they pooled on the ground. The door slowly swung away from her touch, making a deep grind in the process. She stepped over the pool of blood, past the door, and out of the cave, into a world full of colour.

"M... May..." Ferri was learning from Maydelle how to speak, but from his growling attempt, he had a lot of work ahead of him. She ran over and hugged him, her best friend. Time to see if Peter needed help recovering his spagetti.

Gabriel shuddered unintentionally as a car revved its engine outside. He closed the curtains, plunging the room into temporary darkness.

Flicking on the lightbulb, he returned to his drawing. Rarely were these sketches of anything in particular, however, this was an exception. It was of five identical men standing under a lightpost, each one neatly dressed in a suit and holding five identical briefcases.

Perhaps it meant something to Gabriel; he really didn't know. All he knew was, he didn't want to draw it, but the idea had been sitting there at the back of his mind and he needed to get rid of it. It was not long before he dozed off.

He felt himself sink into the bedsheets, then falling into nothingness... how he enjoyed these moments of comfor-

Knock knock knock.

Who with the what nowknockknockknock.

Oh, right. It was lunchtime.

Gabriel lifted himself from the bed and shuffled over to the door, where the Master handed him a plate of peas, rice, and a dry roll, along with a glass of milk. He nodded thanks and quickly consumed the meal. Leaving the plates outside, he did his best to go back to sleep.

Falling, falling...

He felt cold concrete on his fingers. Rising to his feet, the doors stood before him, daring him to enter. He spun to find the one he always went to, never daring to stray from...

There it was. Simply coated in levers and buttons and all the sort of detestable widgets of the modern machine. Revolting as ever.

He gave the warm wood a light push, and was swept into oblivion...

May turned to Peter, who was cleaning his left ear in a comical way, blocking his face as it flapped down. "Oh Peter, we're on a mission. Can we worry about the ear later?" Peter looked up and twitched his nose in typical rabbit fashion.

"I'm sorry Miss May, but you see, the itches are so bothersome." He used a paw to flop his ears back once more, then brushed his waistcoat off. May pulled out a mirror and used it to look around the corner. As she thought, two of the dark men with tails. She gritted her teeth at the sight of them. Ferri ducked his head to indicate danger.

"Ferri, go keep an eye on the hall. Peter, time to whip up some of that rabbity magic." She giggled as he rubbed his paws together. He pulled out his watch and breathed on it. A wave of light rushed out of it, moving down the hall like a ribbon. It twirled around the demons, making them vanish.

"Bolognese here I come!" Peter flopped down the hallway, sniffing the air for signs of his missing dinner. Maydelle followed right behind him, keeping a lookout for any more evil men. Ferri hurried up behind them.

"Many. Come. Leave now. Too danger." Maydelle touched his long snout, the scales reflecting in soft blues, then looked over at Peter. He was fiddling with the combination lock on a big door.

"Ferri, this means a lot to Peter. We'll get the spagetti and go. We'll always be fine." She turned and walked over to Peter. He had a stethescope to listen to the clicking of the tumblers.

"Almost got it, I..." Maydelle... Whisperer... with demons... She spun around. Where had that voice come from? It was in a soft whisper, like the blowing of the wind. Peter cracked the code and fumbled into the room. Maydelle picked up the infinite bag and carefully placed the plate of spagetti into it.

"Ok, we can go. Take us home Ferri." He nodded, and allowed them both to climb on his back. Turning towards the window, he released his leathery wings, and took off, vanishing in a flash of dust, which slowly drifted to the ground.

As with many things in the land of the dreaming, the strange world that presented itself to Gabriel was familiar, but not quite the same as the last time he visited. He was standing on a slim thread of metal that stretched for miles in one direction and infinity in the other. An electric jolt coursed through his body as he entered the realm, paralyzing him momentarily. He felt his heart, beating powerfully inside of his chest. The effect wore off after a second or two.

A feeling of dizziness overcame Gabriel, and the world seemed to spin. A quick movement, grabbing the rough cable with his hands, was all that saved Gabriel from plummeting... upwards?

The center of gravity sure liked to change a lot in this hellhole.

Breathing heavily, he strained his (partially existent) muscles and managed to coil his sticklike legs around the strand. He took a moment to dangle by his knees, and suddenly, he was right-side-up-again, straddling the cable as a small child might a toy horse.

With less care than he should have exercised, Gabriel rose to a standing position. He looked around the open world of intertwined, weblike cables, focused on the largest spherical nexus he could see, and closed his eyes.

Orchid road on her riding rabbit of the meadows and down the trail. The scenery zooming by so quickly that it all seemed like huge splashes of color! Soon enough though, she was in Pupil, the town in Optopia in which she had visited many times before. The buildings were quite normal, and a tad old fashioned, the towns people however, were peculiar. Many of them were odd, animal or alien like creatures that all had one thing in common: Their eyes were outstanding! Some had huge eyes, some had many eyes, some had eyes with an interesting appearance, they all had amazing eyes!

Dismounting from Hops, she hugged and pet the giant rabbit good bye before it vanished back into the wilderness. Orchid knew he was still close though, always watching, always ready to assist her. Orchid entered Town Hall to visit Mayor Iris, the female creature with 3 eyes, who had been so kind to her over the past few years. The two were wonderful friends, and Iris always had some spare tea incase any guest asked for some. And she enjoyed talking to Orchid, and even felt a bit sorry for the girl.

Orchid came in slowly, not to disturb the mayor if she was busy. Iris looked up from the paper work on her desk and smiled, "Orchid dear! Is that you? Please come in! I have tea on the stove and it's almost ready!"

Orchid did so, again, with an attitude of trying to still respect Iris and whatever she was doing. You may be asking how a blind girl can see all this, but here, she is not blind, she still however refuses to take off her blindfold. Orchid sat on a small green chair that had designs of golden ivory on it, as Iris ran to the Kitchen and brought some tea. Though Iris was mayor, many in the town worked out of their homes, and so did she.

The two began having a nice chat with each other. Orchid enjoyed hearing Iris's voice, it was calm and elegant, like a polite lady in her older years. The discussion would not last forever though, for a doctor rushed in, and catching his breath, exclaimed to Iris "Mayor! We need help! Lens is I'll with spider poison, but we don't have enough Eye Blossom to make an antidote!"

Lens was a small boy that Iris found charming, the way he so eagerly watched his father work at the Inn, cooking food daily for travelers far and wide, there was no way this child was dying today! "Orchid, could you perhaps go get some Eye Blossom? It can be found on the outskirts of those spider infested woods. I need you to be quick."

Orchid nodded, and rushed outside. She once again summoned Hops, and mounted. People here were nice like Iris, but there were people who thought of Orchid as a freak, a freak that would not show her eyes! How ironic it was for her to parade with that blindfold when everyone walked with magnificent eyes! Orchid tried to ignore this though, and think of Iris, as she traveled to the outskirts of the webbed woods as fast as possible.

A moment later, Gabriel opened his eyes to find himself in a completely different landscape. The thin cable was gone, though many were visible overhead in complex web formations, replaced by a landscape of fantastic variation.

At present, the boy stood in a small grove of grass-like plants, which seemed to whisper and curl gently around his ankles, their gentle hairs soothing his skin. He was reluctant to leave, so he simply took a moment to observe his surroundings. Not fifty feet away was the shore of a vast lake of pure-white water, which was disturbingly still despite the formidable winds. Beyond that rose mountains of reddish stone.

Behind Gabriel was a forest of silvery trees which hummed with unearthly resonance. Their leaves were razor sharp. Deep inside the darkness of the metallic canopy, shapes moved of unnatural accord... Disturbed, the boy freed himself from the comforting embrace of the grass-plants and strode along the beach, hoping to circumnavigate the lake.

The warm sand felt oddly porous beneath his feet. Looking down, Gabriel found himself walking on a plain of eyes, which gazed up at him with their multicolored curiosity.