Dreamland Luna

Celia POV "Celia is delusional and needs help. We are not equipped to deal with her at the orphanage," the headmistress shouted over the phone while driving. In the backseat, I nervously fiddled with my hands, fully aware that I was moments away from being dropped off at a residence designated for individuals with mental health conditions. "I demand you make room for her. The girl thinks she's a wolf. The children in the orphanage are scared of her," she shouted. I was completely indifferent to the specific place she had chosen to bring me. I had a strong understanding that nobody would ever believe anything I said. Let it be known that I was not crazy. "I'm not turning around. The girl is getting dropped off right now," the headmistress snapped angrily as her phone slipped from her hands. With a sense of indifference towards my own fate, I gazed out the window, oblivious to the impending consequences, until I suddenly felt the car abruptly lurch forward. "Watch the road," I muttered as she dug around the side of her seat before ducking her head to search for her phone. "Watch out," I screamed; the loud sound of a blaring horn filled the car. My ears were pierced by a high pitch squeal of metal, causing a sharp and intense sensation. The car was propelled into the air, defying gravity, and subsequently came crashing down to the ground. ‘What a way to die,’ I thought to myself as red filled my vision. The taste of copper was intense as I choked on my blood before darkness took over. ----- "She's alive," a woman yelled in the distance. "I doubt she will wake up," another voice replied. My eyes were closed. The feeling of being immobile overwhelmed me, accompanied by the unsettling sensation of a tube being inserted into my mouth and extending down my throat. Several machines hissed and beeped around me, and something was attached to my arm. ‘Where am I? What happened to me?’ “The girl is in a coma. Chances are she will never wake up. Her guardian wants to keep her on life support,” a voice full of authority ordered. ‘Guardian,’ I muttered as I floated in a dark void. ‘What guardian? I had no one.’ ----- Three months later I lost count of the days. The dark void turned into an endless field with a small cabin. I knew none of this was real. The sound of the machines plugged into me was still audible, albeit faintly, in the background. "f**k you, mysterious guardian,” I screamed. I knew no one would hear me; this place was an empty prison. It was cruel forcing me to stay alive like this. Why couldn’t they just leave me in peace? "Celia, we will find a way out," Stormy, my wolf, tried to console me. "You're a figment of my imagination. Go away," I ordered. I heard a faint whimper and then silence again. ‘They were right; I was insane. I guess it just took being trapped in this endless sleep to come to my senses.’ It's always daytime here. I never sleep because my natural body is resting. I'm stuck in a virtual waiting room until they decide to pull the plug. The small cabin has a bathroom, kitchen, bedroom, and living room. The pantry is magical, so the kitchen has an endless food supply. Besides a bed, the bedroom has a full-length mirror and a fully stocked closet. "I f*****g look like a corpse,” I glowered at myself in the mirror. "Your image is a projection of how you feel," Stormy murmured. "I feel this way because that is reality. I'm being kept alive by machines," I insisted. ‘Great, now I’m talking to an imaginary character.’ Stormy huffed. "You are alive because we are stronger than you credit us for," she rebuked. "If I was so strong, if I was a shifter like you say we are. Why am I in a coma in the real world? You told me you could heal us from almost anything? So, explain why we are here," I demanded. "We are here because someone knows who we truly are and that someone is preventing me from healing us," Stormy insisted. "Whatever," I mumbled as I threw myself onto the bed. I lay silently in contemplation, time slowly passing until I heard grass crunching outside. "We are no longer alone," Stormy alerted me. "Maybe it's death finally coming to claim us," I joked. I pushed myself out of the bed and looked outside. "Nothing, as usual," I whispered. But as I started moving away from the window, I saw a large, majestic black wolf with bright blue eyes staring directly at me. "What the f**k," I said, startled. I forced myself to look again, but the wolf vanished. "Mate," Stormy declared. "Mate?" I asked. "Yes, Celia, that's our mate. I don't know how he found us, but that was our mate. You must go find him," Stormy commanded. Despite feeling foolish, I hastily left the house as I couldn't bring myself to believe any of the nonsense being said. However, given the lack of other options, I figured I might as well go along with it. The fields were empty. "Whoever it was, they are gone now," I sighed.