Julia
Minutes earlier
Looking up from where I sat on the floor, my lips moved slowly, trying to form the name. “Mad-i-son.”
I knew that name, yet my thoughts were easily distracted. With each blink of my eyelids, colors glistened from the bathroom lights.
A prism cast from each bulb with all the colors of the rainbow. Such as the aurora borealis dancing across the night sky, these colors danced over the walls, reflecting from the mirrors, glass, and fixtures.
The light show was stunningly mesmerizing, a kaleidoscope and I was within it.
My palms ran over my stomach.
Lace.
My dress was inside the light show.
No, this wasn’t real.
I needed to stand.
Reaching for the vanity, I willed myself to rise. Before I could stand fully erect, pain twisted my stomach with agony. The colors surrounding me intensified, becoming harsher—more vivid reds. Vibrant blues. “Help.”
Did my word leave me or was it inside my head?
My stomach lurched as I collapsed, my hands and knees once again back to the floor. Acid and bile bubbled within me, their sour toxins threatening my gag reflex. Crawling, I made my way toward the toilet. In a small room by itself, I pushed forward, lifting my face to the basin milliseconds before the contents of my stomach came up. Perspiration coated my skin as heave after heave racked my body. Bile and vomit left my tongue and mouth bitter as I coughed and spit.
“Poor Julia.”
My hands trembled as I turned toward the woman. She’d told me her name, but I couldn’t remember. Oh yes. That’s right, she was from the store. “Help me.”
From the store…
I looked around.
This was Van’s bathroom—ourbathroom within our house.
Why is the lady from the store here?
When she bent down, I saw her diamond necklace and noticed the lace of her dress. It was the same as mine.
I looked toward my lap.
Am I still wearing the dress?
I was.
In her hand, she had a cup. “Take this. Drink. You’ll feel better.”
The liquid swished as I tried to hold the glass in my shaking grasp.
Moving her head from side to side, she took the cup and lifted it to my lips. “Here.”
The cool liquid coated my tongue as I began to drink.
No.
This tasted wrong.