The edge of the blade dully reflected the dull artificial lighting of the room, it's handle teasing her, lying but a stride length out of her reach. She felt an ethereal sense of being paralysed. Frozen. She could not reach it.
She half knelt, half crouched on the concrete, clutching her injured ankle with one hand while desperately reaching to grab the dagger with the other. She knew it was no use. Yet still her body moved involuntarily.
Seeing she was injured, he sprinted closer. She looked up to see the blade of the dagger he was holding gleam triumphantly under the light as he swung it downwards, his face expressionless. She closed her eyes and raised her arms in a last ditch attempt to block.
Bang. Bang.
He collapsed. She screamed.
Cassandra let out a sharp gasp and sat up, heart racing. Her eyes darted rapidly, and she let out a breath of relief when she realised she was in her room. One hand had subconsciously clutched her left ankle while the other pressed on her chest. She could hear her both thundering heartbeat in her ears and beating against her palm. After a few shaky but deep breaths she relaxed her grip on her ankle and ran a hand through her hair before checking her watch.
It was 3.47 in the morning. She sighed and got out of bed and walked over to the bathroom.
She looked in the mirror and noticed the rims of her eyes were slightly red. She reached up to touch her cheeks and felt her hand come away wet. I was crying? She scooped up some water with her hands and washed her face a few times before glancing back disdainfully at her reflection.
After putting on her shoes she left the room, closing the door softly behind her.
She decided to go for a walk around the perimeter to clear her head. She wasn't at all sleepy, her mind still reeling from the nightmare. She suffered from frequent nightmares for quite a while, making her sleep oftentimes disrupted and long periods of rest hard to come by. It was because of this she frequently turned to daytime napping, much to the disapproval of both Meghan and Mentor Mac who had, one way or another found out.
Although owing to the sleeping pills she had been prescribed, the frequency of these nightmares had been drastically reduced, becoming more infrequent and less disruptive.
However today was the first time in a long while that she had experienced one so vivid. So real.
It felt real. But don't all nightmares feel real? However one thing weighed on her mind. Today was the first time she had remembered it, even just a segment. She shook her head. Don't overthink it, it's just a bad dream, happens to everyone.
She shook her head and continued walking. As she walked through the courtyard she saw many tables lying in preparation for the day's events. That's right, today's the recreation day isn't it…
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It's finally here, Emily thought, looking in the bathroom mirror. She had already put on the volleyball team's "uniform", that being a long-sleeved white shirt and black shorts and was now in the process of brushing and tying up her hair. Once finished she left the room and headed over to the gymnasium to meet with the others.
The recreation day's schedule was practically non-existent, relying more so on word of mouth as to when different events were occurring rather than sticking to a strict schedule. The volleyball match she was participating in was scheduled to occur a couple hours after noon in one of the courtyards.
Although they termed it beach volleyball, it was played on a court. Emily couldn't help but lament the fact that they didn't have an area of sand large enough to play a beach volleyball properly. However, such things are nothing but far-fetched dreams. As nice as it would be, from a practical standpoint it wasn't worth investing in.
However, since the match was played outside, the relaxed atmosphere was still there and she looked forward to facing the opposition, that being the men's volleyball team set up by the opposite area of the facility.
She saw her team members and they waved her over. Mikaela discussed the plans for the afternoon, specifically when to gather for warm up and drills. After brief discussions they all agreed to meet up at 1.30, seeing as the match was scheduled for 2.30. Mikaela handed them all schedules for the day's events and they all dispersed.
Just as Emily was leaving Mikaela called out, "Emily wait a minute, can I talk to you for a second?"
"Yeah, sure what's up?" Emily asked curiously.
"It's alright if you are a few minutes late alright, you don't have to rush."
Emily cocked her head to the side, slightly puzzled, "I should be able to arrive on time…." Have I really been late that many times? That she needs to remind me-
"It's not about punctuality" Mikaela chuckled, "Cassandra's demonstration is scheduled to start at 1"
"It won't last half an hour right?"
"No no of course not"
"Then…"
"If you want to eat something afterwards feel free" Mikaela raised her eyebrows once and Emily reached out to slap her shoulder.
"Mikaelaaaa don't assume things…" she whined.
"Okay okay, I didn't say nothing, just don't overdo it we have a game at 2.30. See ya around." She gave Emily one final grin and turned back to finish setting up the net.
Emily called out, "Do you need help with that?"
"All good, go enjoy yourself"
"Alright. You too"
Emily glanced at her watch; it was barely 10am. She checked the schedule she had just received and noted that there were a few scattered novelty events throughout the day. Reminds me of school carnivals, she thought nostalgically.
She remembered sitting on the bleachers many years ago, looking at the schedule for the novelty events. Out of all of them her favourite was the egg and spoon race, her least favourite was the three-legged race.
Elatedly Emily realised that there was indeed an egg and spoon race listed on the pamphlet. I'll have to go find Cassandra and Meghan; I'll definitely convince them to join me. She skipped off, heading towards the main courtyard.
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"No absolutely not" Meghan declared.
"Please please please" Cassandra practically begged. "We've done it before and we smashed it lets go again~. Come on~" she pleaded.
"Do you think I wanted to last time? It was a compulsory event" she rolled her eyes, "go convince Emily she'll agree."
Cassandra huffed, "you're no fun, I was going to ask her anyway but I felt like asking you for old time's sake."
Meghan just rolled her eyes again. "speaking of which, shouldn't you go find her."
"She'll come over eventually, she knows where we are setting up. Speaking of which, shouldn't you be out doing your photographer stuff." She raised an eyebrow.
"Righttttt. I'll get to it soon, once the events start" She tauntingly raised her camera, "say cheese".
Cassandra's eyes widened, "you did not just-"
"Hey guys, sorry to arrive so late I was busy sorting things out." Emily walked over.
"No problem, we've just finished sorting things out ourselves so its perfect timing actually." Cassandra stated as she turned around.
As she turned around she saw Emily in her "uniform" and her eyes widened slightly. "Is that a new shirt?"
Emily looked down shyly, "yeah… its borrowed as part of our makeshift uniform…"
"White suits you, looks good, very professional"
"Professional my ass." Meghan chimed in. "Don't you go getting competitive. It does look nice though."
Emily scratched her head and mumbled, "thanks…"
Cassandra clapped her hands together, "Oh right, speaking of which…" she walked over to Emily and looped an arm casually around her shoulder, "what are your thoughts on the three legged race?"
"Three legged race?" Emily asked incredulously.
"Yeah, wanna do it?"
"Ask Meghan."
"Meghan outright refused"
"Then ask someone else"
Cassandra removed her arm and slowly walked in front of Emily, staring pleadingly. "Oh come on, it'll be fun."
Emily sighed, "Fine then but on one condition"
"Which is…?"
"Please do the egg and spoon race with me." Emily looked down, face slightly flushed. Meghan burst out laughing and Cassandra shot her a glare.
Cassandra extended her hand to Emily, "deal?".
Emily shook it, "deal."
Just as she did that the two were confronted with a brief flash. They turned to the side simultaneously to see Meghan pointing her camera towards them. "Nice shot" she commented.
Cassandra rolled her eyes while Emily's eyes widened, "You-"
"I'm the photographer remember; I do what I like. Carry on" Meghan replied smugly.
Cassandra sighed before replying "Great that's sorted then, do you know which one's first?"
Emily shook her head so they both checked the schedule. The egg and spoon race was first, starting in 10 minutes. The event was taking place on the courtyard which was adjacent to their current location, so they felt no need to rush. They leisurely strolled over; casual bickering interlaced with an occasional flash of Meghan's camera.