The sun filtered softly through the canopy of Elwynn Forest as it always did, India loved these days where she and her mother walked to Westfall. Even watching the colours slowly change from green to brown was a pretty sight, in her eyes. They often walked to Westfall as her mother had a friend there who mended clothes for her. It was a good chance for them to share good food with her, and for her to help them in return. India’s mother always said that if you don’t help each other, you can’t expect anyone to help you. Nothing seemed amiss, that day. The patrols of soldiers nodded cheerfully to the pair and they could hear the nearby streams babbling merrily. They made their obligatory stop at the first bridge in Elwynn, they always stopped at that bridge to drop the prettiest stones they could find into the water and then rush to see which came out the other side first. Looking at India and her mother, one might be forgiven for thinking their life was idyllic, but India’s mother struggled to make ends meet and did her best to shield India from that. As there started to be more brown than green, the atmosphere of the forest also changed. This was unusual. The soldiers looked hurried, many of them kept looking up at the sky, though the forest blocked much of their view. Many glanced at the pair, wondering if they should stop them...but their orders were not to give civilians undue stress. It might have been a false alarm, after all. But, as the pair emerged from the forest and crossed the final bridge, they could see that Westfall was not as it usually was. The sky was a green haze, with things filling it that India had never seen in her life. Some of it seemed to be falling and as she went to grip her mother’s hand, everything around her felt as though it wasn’t really there. Her vision faltered briefly, then in a flash she was surrounded by terrified and ragged people, demons, charred and smouldering ground and she had no idea how she had gotten there. Only a moment ago, she had been walking with her mother. Time felt as though it was all over the place. She cried out in unimaginable agony, as she felt a searing hot burning sensation on her left shoulder blade, that left her cowering and screaming for release. There weren’t many children, she felt as though she was the only one. Her vision blurred and her surroundings felt as though they had changed again. There were trembling and crying people all around her, blinking through the tears, she could see bars, when she looked past the people. She could feel her mother’s arm around her, trying to keep her close, but it felt like little comfort with the terror in her heart. One after the other, she saw flashes of people fading from sight, literally fading like a ghost disappearing. As they faded, she could see them melting, turning an insipid green colour with pangs of anguish that felt like they went through her. One by one, she watched this, the people disappearing were closer and closer. Her mother started to shriek, no matter how hard India tried, she couldn’t keep a grip on her. It felt like her mother had experienced more pain than any of the others and India felt powerless to stop it. She would be next. She gasped for breath and sat bolt upright, looking around. Her surroundings were not that of the lovely Elwynn, Westfall or blazing demonic rock. It had all been a dream. Her bedding and her clothes were drenched in sweat, seeming to slip through her grasp as she scrambled back into the corner. How had she gotten here? She couldn’t remember. The last thing she remembered was being talked into drinking tea. Rease sat in a chair in front of the door. Even though he was snoring like a rampaging boar and looking utterly uncharacteristically dishevelled, she didn’t think she could get past him and out of the room without waking him. This dream, this nightmare, felt like it was stuck on a loop. Every time she closed her eyes, she could feel the pain in her shoulder and could see her mother dying a horrible death with no peace in the afterlife. Even now, she was reliving what had been done to her shoulder, a nagging endless reminder. She wanted it all to end, she wanted the pain to go away. Jumping off the roof had felt like the best thing to do. She wouldn’t feel this way and Rease wouldn’t be stuck with a stranger he didn’t know and probably didn’t want. They would have been better off if they had let her. She didn’t think she could go on, she couldn’t keep going, the one person who always knew how to reassure her was gone. India felt too distraught and too drained to think clearly. Much of her bedding was wet from the night terrors, but she couldn’t bring herself to get up and out of it. She pulled her pillow to her chest, curled around it, and sobbed her little heart out.