~Dessa~

After her captors' footsteps receded, Dessa examined the dark cell that she had been locked away in. In one corner, there was a basin of water and a long strip of black fabric. She crawled over to it and scooped a small pool of the water in her hands. She did her best to wash the dried blood from her face. The gash still oozed, but the flow of blood streaming from it had slowed significantly. She eyed the fabric, realizing that it was meant to be used as a blindfold. She refused to oblige the urge to start crying again as she picked it up. Beholding her surroundings made her dizzy and her eyes ached terribly. She didn't want to believe what that monster/man had told her - that if she kept trying to see, she would lose her mind, that she could lose her ability to see anything ever again. But she was scared enough to put on the blindfold anyway, and once she had tied it on, her eyes finally stopped feeling like they would burst, and her brain stopped feeling like it was seconds away from melting and dripping out of her ears.

The absolute darkness that the blindfold offered her reminded her how at peace she had been in that short-lived moment that felt like death. She would choose that over being trapped in one of her nightmares - in a world filled with horrifying faeries. She would prefer that mercy over imprisonment and torture. What if she was in a coma now? Laying on her bathroom floor, stuck in this non-reality for longer than she ever had been before?

"No," Dessa sobbed brokenly.

She could only hope that Mr. Talon would send someone to check on her, when she didn't show up for work. But would that take hours or days? Would she survive that long? What if she was taken to the hospital and put on life support, and her coma lasted years or decades? That thought made her hope that her lack of health insurance would prevent that from happening. Certainly, they would pull the plug and end this miserable existence. Even with the blindfold, Dessa would surely go insane here. The longer that she remained in this cruel dreamscape, the less likely it was that she would come out of this as a functional human being. She would end up in a straitjacket, and perhaps she would belong in one. 

If only she had read more about lucid dreaming. She might have learned how to get herself out of these traps. She could snap her fingers and render this world to a pile of ash. At the very least, she could materialize someone who could help her in some way. Dessa wasn't sure if hours had passed since she had put on the blindfold or only minutes, when a small voice echoed from the other side of the bars.

"Psst!"

Dessa gasped and scrambled up to stand, holding her arms out to find one of the stone walls.

"Are you really an unbound mortal?" A girlish whisper asked her with an inflection of curiosity.

"I-I don't know," Dessa mumbled feebly, as her fingertips skimmed a wall. As she slid alongside it to get closer to the bars, she said, "I'm a human."

"You do not have a Mark," the tiny voice noted, sounding surprised. "I have never seen one like you before. I am not allowed to cross the Veil. My mama says I am too little."

Dessa's mind raced with a hundred thoughts of what to ask this keen little being that sounded like a girl.

"Wh-what is the Veil? Where are we?" Her words came out shaky, as she pressed her back against the wall and slid down to sit. 

"The Veil is what separates the mortal world from Faerie," the voice answered with a cautious tone, as if she wasn't sure that she should. 

"So this place is called Faerie?" Dessa nearly whimpered, only just remembering that she was naked in front of a young child, and she did her best to cover her shame by curling into a tight ball.

"This is the Dark Realm of Faerie," the voice offered a hushed clarification.

"Are you  a faerie?" Dessa asked fearfully. To her surprise, her question elicited a muffled giggle.

"No," the voice told her, and Dessa was momentarily relieved until they added, "We are called Fae, not faeries. I am a Dark Fae."

"Oh," Dessa squeaked, her terror surging back up. This was not a little girl at all, but a creature like the ones that had attacked her in her nightmares far too many times. Did this child-like being have claws, too? Horns, wings, or fangs? Dessa shuddered, imagining herself being torn apart by a little faerie with pigtails - Dessa's blood dripping from a child's mouth while she played jump rope with her intestines. Fae, Dessa amended silently. Not a faerie. 

"You mustn't be afraid of me," the girl/creature sounded apologetic. "I will not hurt you. I just wanted to see if it was true - what they say that you are." The little Dark Fae paused apprehensively. "It is not safe for you in Faerie without a Mark. You are not meant to be here."

"I don't want to be here," Dessa cried softly and before she could stop herself, she begged, "Can you help me?"

"I am sorry, I cannot get you out. No one is supposed to know that they took you, or where they are keeping you, but I overhear a lot of things that I am not supposed to. I am very sneaky. I could get in trouble just for trying to talk to you, but . . . " The Fae's whisper was tinged with a mixture of pity, trepidation, and curiosity. Then Dessa heard the sound of her tiny feet padding away in a hurry.

"Wait! Please, come back!" Dessa hissed, reaching blindly to clutch the bars of her cell.

She cursed herself inwardly for assuming that a Fae would help her in her nightmare. For a moment, she almost thought that she had conjured a magical helper that would aid her escape. She shouldn't have gotten overzealous. She should have just appreciated that at least one Fae creature didn't want to hurt her. She had someone to talk to, and she already pushed them away. She sobbed into her knees, wishing that she hadn't asked for her help. How could she have expected a tiny Fae girl to execute a prison break for a mortal  that she had just met? What a selfish thing to ask of a seemingly innocent child! Once more, Dessa was surrounded by the silence and darkness for an immeasurable amount of time, when she heard tiny footsteps approaching again, breaking Dessa free from her internal guilt trip.

"Here," the little Fae whispered conspiratorially as Dessa heard a soft thump near her feet.

Dessa reached out for whatever the Fae child had brought her, and her fingertips grazed something smooth that felt like an animal's hide. She stifled a yelp, wondering if the girl had brought her a dead creature to eat.

"It might be a little small, but it is the biggest dress I have," the girl told her. "I hope it keeps you warm."

A rush of relief washed over Dessa, and she picked it up with her trembling hands.

"Th-thank you," Dessa mumbled stiffly. "What can I call you?"

The Fae giggled again and introduced herself, "I am Koi! What is your name?"

"I'm Dessa," she told her meekly, clutching the dress to her chest. 

"W-will you come back to see me, Koi?"

Koi was quiet for a moment, and Dessa could hear her feet shuffling in the dirt like she was nervous.

"I heard them say that they were going to keep moving you, so you will be hard to find," Koi murmured dejectedly. 

Dessa sniffled and forced back a sob as she nodded. The Fae were trying to keep her hidden, so no one could rescue her. But who would even bother in this world of vindictive magical beings? Surely there would be no one to care what they did with a pathetic human here. Her captor's words echoed in her mind,

"You do not want to find out what happens to mortals in Faerie that are no longer useful."

"I am good at finding things. You still smell like a mortal, so I might be able to sniff you out. If I can, I will come." Koi tried to assure her. "I have to go now, or my mama will catch me."

Dessa wilted with disappointment and remorse as she whispered, "I understand."

"If they ask you about the dress, please do not tell on me. Just say that you found it here when you woke up."

"I promise I won't tell on you," Dessa forced a wobbly smile. For a moment, she could pretend that she was in the "mortal" world, that she was babysitting a human girl, and everything was normal. She could hear Koi's retreating footsteps, but then they stopped.

"I like you. I hope that they do not kill you."

Dessa's heart sank to the pit of her stomach, like a heavy stone tossed into a lake. She was too stunned by the way that Koi had so casually mentioned her potential murder, that she was only able to whisper, "I like you, too," after the little Fae girl was long gone.