Chapter 3: Curiouser and curiouser

She awoke in a cold sweat. She must've fallen asleep. It's hard to tell the difference between daydreams and sleep when you can't see. She stood to touch around the room. Hearing nothing but the cold silence of the night. Nothing, not even the smallest cricket, would dare make noise to disrupt the Mother. Senkina sighed with disappointment. She had hoped to hear more talking from the siblings, especially if it was less forced. Then silence must be the playlist of her life now. 

Senkina heard her bedroom door open. Senkina tried to not move a muscle as if she was prey hoping she could play dead for protection against her predator. 

Someone came in and pulled her arm. The arm was trying to urgently move her. When Senkina didn't move an inch it tugged harder. Senkina pulled back, breaking from what she was conditioned to do. She was not gonna take being used like this by the Mother. 

The arm tried again but all it got in return was Senkina giving the shoulder, connected to the arm, a good hit. Senkina was ready to fight. She was sick and tired of being a defenseless doll. Now she was gonna show the mother what she was made of.  

The arm yelped from the pain and began to speak, it was not the Mother's voice. It sounded like a teenage boy's, it was deep but it was cracking, "Please stop."

Senkina stopped. "Oh I'm sorry I thought you were Mother. Why are you waking me up and tugging on my arm?"

"You can hear? That makes this easier." The voice spoke half surprised, half relieved, "Follow me. I need to show you somewhere."

Senkina, a little skeptical, but she put out her hand. The arm grabbed hers and began to lead her. The arm was moving fast, almost like he was in a hurry to get somewhere. The pavement of the sidewalk was smooth and cold beneath her bare feet, Their footsteps echoing through the neighborhood walls of stone. The stone turned to grass that was wet with morning dew. The arm continued on pulling Senkina along. The arm only stopped when Senkina started to feel sticks and branches under her feet. Senkina lifted her head up to face the arm, instead she was greeted with a wonderful warmth. The arm let go of her but Senkina didn't mind. She felt drawn to it like a moth to light. The pain from the branches disappeared, slowly she felt everything slowly melt away. Her grief, her pain, her wants, her dreams. They all seemed to melt off her back dripping down onto the soil of the wooded area. After what felt like an eternity of peace, she tripped over a piece of metal of some kind.

She sat up and blinked a couple of times. And saw a desert-like landscape.

She looked around...

She could see?

SHE COULD SEE?

Where was she? They only traveled to the woods. They shouldn't be in the desert. The desert was also colored wrong. This desert was not orange and brown, but purple and gold. She looked around to see if she could see who took her there. A person that was to Senkina's forhead at most, pointed a sword at her. The short person was wearing blue armor with a raven across the chest. The raven glared at her, this glare became more intense when the purple sun shown on the metal. Senkina was ready to fight them but their sword showed that they had the upper hand for now. Now wasn't the best time to make stupid reasons. They walked around her and tied her hands together.

They grabbed her arm and marched her to a clearing with orange grass. They then pressed one of the green gems on their sword. It shot out a little tic-tac size object in front of them. The object then began to ooze a green smoke. The smoke began to crawl towards them. The person seemed unfazed, probably to do with the helmet, that looked like a a bird's head, that covered their face. 

The smoke surrounded them. Senkina tried to not breathe it in.

When the smoke cleared they were surrounded by people. The people were a range of heights and sizes. Their outfits were dress-like, even on the people who looked like men. The outfits ranged from white to black, in various vibrant shades, and ranged in lengths, seeming to allow people to choose what length they preferred to be in. Their hair was also a bit odd, all braided in a variety of different ways but one thing just seemed especially odd to Senkina. The thing that was odd was the hair color, almost all the people had completely unnatural hair colors. 

One person stepped forward, a teenage girl, she had chocolate colored skin, that contrasted with her lavender hair and highlighter pink eyes. Her hair was neatly braided in two braids that crossed each other, one crossing completely over the other. She wore a orange dress that covered everything if she had the hood on.

The teenage girl nodded to the person that captured Senkina. They untied her. Senkina wasn't sure what to do, so she stood in awe of this teenage girl.

"Do you speak English?" The teenage girl commanded in an English accent.

"Yes, ma'am." Senkina responded.

"Perfect, what is your name?" She asked.

"Senkina." Senkina reported.

"Okay, See-kin-a? I need you to put this on then I need to braid your hair." The teenage girl commanded. 

Senkina was handed a dress that felt like it was made with velvet. It was a green-yellow and reached the floor with a few inches to spare. It felt more like a cloak then a dress. She decided just to put it over her clothes.

"Why do I have to put this on?" Senkina began to question, "And why does my hair need to be braided?"

The girl looked at Senkina, a bit of surprise on her face. "Well I suggest that if you want to live to tomorrow you just follow what we do and don't talk." The girl harshly retorted. Shutting up Senkina sharply. 

After she pulled the dress over her head, the teenage girl braided her hair to a flower crown style and lead her to a dazzling blue palanquin. "Sit in here and don't say a word until you see me again. Got it?" The girl snipped.

Senkina nodded and sat in the palanquin, making to sure she was completely still. Four strong people lifted her up. She heard hinges squeak under her, then a door slamming shut. Senkina wanted to ask where they were going but it would have been pointless. The girl would have been mad at her for talking and even if she was told where they were going to she wouldn't know where that was. All Senkina knew was that if she survived this whole thing, she better be able to get back home at the same time she left. Because she wasn't going to deal with the Mother after all of this.