"Natalie..."

A waking dream, rolling in a rough growl.

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She opened her eyes slowly, feeling the grime of the space clinging to her like a soft dusting. The haze of sleep fogging her still cloudy memory.

The slate grey walls didn't seem at all familiar. Neither did the sooty and damp bed she found herself laying on. Her eyes bounced around the room, easing slowly over scorched furnishings and the dirty bedside table.

The room felt comfortable like she had been here before, but as far as a recollection, it was faded.

Like a muffled chime.

She turned her head slowly, listening to the resonant voice from a moment ago echo into a small hiss, fading into the distance. Seeping into the walls of the room itself.

Her eyes found their way back to the blackened, flame-licked ceiling and the crumbled, gaping boards that had given way in places to the night sky.

The wash of moonlight almost feeling warm in contrast to the cold, molded sheets. They clung to her. Tainted and needy.

She strained, crinkling her brow, as her hands found the fabric of her clothes. These, too, felt alien. Unfamiliar. And inexplicably dirty. Almost as if she had stayed in this fire ravaged room and decayed with it.

Her hands clawed at her dress, distressed momentarily by its touch. The starched and cracked velvet smelled of smokey age, without any human scent to be found, it lacked any warmth. No humanity in its form bar the shape.

She rolled from the musky sheets, placing her feet on the rotten crumbling boards.

A sudden flash, like a crashing bolt.

The room transformed into a bright, warm place. The walls painted a light cream, laughter tinkling, but static-laced... degraded by time. A cracking sound filled her ears as the image fell away, the room returning to its various greys and rot.

She found her footing, rocking slightly, and stumbled toward the door.

How long had she lain here?

The doorknob felt as though it was going to turn to powder as she gripped the twisting old metal in her panicked finger. The mechanisms grinding, scraping, and creaking. The hinges crying out under the mighty weight of the wooden door as she wrenched it open. The abrasive sounds snaking their way down the halls.

She moved hesitantly into the hall, her dress crinkling against her skin foreignly, causing her to feel even more exposed.

The air grew seemingly more stagnant as she swished down the endless hallways, searching for anything familiar.

Every door down the twisting halls was blackened, but stranger still, there was no way to open them. They were never fitted with a handle or cut for one. Portals that were not openings.

They appeared to have never meant to be used.

She wandered for what felt like hours, the blank walls disorienting in their lack of distinguishing marks. Even the flame licks began to look the same.

She leaned against a sealed door, exhausted, and noticed something had changed. The sooty air had a fresh smell in it. Instead of the old smell of smoke, there was the warm scent of fresh fire.

It was inviting and made her shiver, realizing how cold she truly was despite the weight of the thick, aged-starched dress.

She lurched forward, hunting out the smell, it was strong. Not far now.

Her ambling gait becoming brisk, at times bursting into a run, being drawn for reasons greater than a curiosity but unknown.

She rounded a corner that should have led to another hall like the hundreds of times before but instead, was greeted by parlor doors. Parlor doors with an otherworldly veil of smoke hanging flush to the surface.

She stirred the smoke, the smell of fresh fire emitting from the broken seal. Watching the cloud swirl around her fingertip and fall back into place.

"Come in, Natalie."

The doors shivered open unnaturally, like someone letting out a sigh. A wave of turgid heat flowing into the damp hall, nearly scorching the edges of her dress. The smoke flew inward, expanding, and filling the cavernous room before her.

"Took you long enough, sleeping beauty."

A raspy, familiar voice shook from the obscured corner of the room.

A monstrous sucking sound followed. The smoke began to form a vortex and swirled in the direction of whoever or whatever had beseeched her entry.

Her eyes followed the funnel that was slipping into a set of black, cracked, glowing lips. They pulled in the air like a hungry kiss, devouring every trace of the cloud.

She watched the creature's face as it splintered, exposing what appeared to be smoldering embers right below the skin.

Natalie was gazing into the gaping maw of fire itself.

She began to smile back.

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