The Dream That Started It All

So, I wasn't an English or Creative Writing major at university. I wasn't even in the humanities!

But one day, I had this incredibly vivid dream about a boy who was abducted and was being held captive in a dark, stone room. His captors wanted something from him, and he wasn't willing to give it.

I had to find out more about this boy. How did he come to be there? Why was he abducted in the first place? How was I going to get him out?

The very first words that I wrote of my novel were written in 2013 on a laptop that refused to stay connected to the internet (not ideal for my final year of engineering studies, let me tell you!) and were first read by a man that I eventually based my poor kidnapping victim on.

You can read them below, or you can follow this link to read the whole on WattPad.

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Once upon a time, I awoke in a strange place surrounded by creatures with strange faces. This might sound like a fairy tale, but I can assure you there will be no happy-ending here.

At least not for her, my enemy.

I shut my eyes, willing myself to go back to sleep, barely able to remind myself that this is just another false reality being spun for my benefit in an attempt to get me to turncoat. They were using a combination of magic and science to create horrors for me and me alone. If I move too quickly, I feel the pull of the electrodes on my scalp. I know the creatures to be magical projections; the monsters never once pixilated the way the ground sometimes did. Beyond that, I had felt them snap at my flesh, felt it tear from my bones, felt myself weaken from blood loss. There isn’t a computer program anywhere that can simulate that.

Sleep proves impossible. I have no idea how long I have been held hostage; the nights and days bleed together as the only sunlight I see comes from whatever farce is being spun for me at the time. I can hardly remember my own name at this point.

The one thing I remember is the terrified face of my sister and her voice in my ear moments before I was taken.

“I’m so sorry, Pitou, they’re coming.”