A dull ringing interrupted her dreaming. Whenever she felt the body next to her move, her mind tried so hard to cling to fading whisps of what it had been thinking seconds before. Whenever she heard Adam grunt and pull himself from the warmth of their comforter she turned and tried to go back to sleep.

It wasn't dawn yet, maybe half past four in the morning. A haze was still hanging over Eisha as she turned. Time had passed, but she didn't know how much. A hand on her leg made her stir. Warm lips pushed against her own and she kissed back with a smile.

"I love you." Adam had such a sweet and gentle voice.

"I love you, too." Eisha strained to turn and wrap her arms around his waist where he sat on the eddge of the bed. She squeezed. He kissed her lips again and then her forehead. She sank back down and curled up with the blanket tucked under her feet. "Have a good day."

"You too, sweetie."

With that he rose and walked out of their bedroom, closing the door just a little behind him. Eisha listened as he gathered his bags and headed out the front door. By the time she heard his key turn the lock she was already slipping back into a deep sleep.

There was a carnival. Eisha felt sick whenever she saw bright lights flickering above her head. Something felt cool. She was laying on grass. The ground was wet and cold. As she sat up she noticed rides, games, clowns, and people in every direction.

One heel sunk into the soft soil as she struggled to stand. There was a rip in her black party dress. She didn't really care. She stood on an island of grass and trees completely encircled by a concrete roundabout. With a frown she stepped onto the pavement and started to wander along with the current of chattering people. The air smelled like fried food and cotton candy. It would have been a pleasant mix if she was hungry. Eisha found herself walking behind a group of children holding multi-colored balloons. Ahead there was a teal booth with long tables, a grandstand and podium, and hanging tea lights.

Each of those teal tables must have held forty or fifty people. Eisha felt uneasy about the tea lights. As she stared a voiced startled her from silent thought.

"Miss." The voice was sharp. Eisha turned and saw a woman to her right. Next to the women were two dogs bouncing eagerly. "Can you help me?"

"Help you?" Everything in her head felt so fuzzy.

"Yes, help me. I'm trying to take a picture of Mr Wiggins and Muffie here and I just can't get them to stay still while I snap the shot. Can you please help me."

Eisha felt her body move without realizing what it was doing. Her eyes were on the little dogs. One was black and scrappy looking. The other was chocolate brown and curly like a poodle, but smaller. She had a dog of her own, didn't she" Why couldn't she remember. Eisha kneeled and held her hand over the black dog's head with fingers curled like they were holding something.

"Sit." Why was she doing this" Why was the dog listening. Wide black eyes looked up at her and obiediently a furry behind sank onto the pavement. The chocolate dog looked to its companion and then followed suit.

"Wonderful. Now, smile my dumplin's!" Eisha recoiled and a flash dilated her pupils. The woman didn't thank her. She just started baby-talking and went to collect her dogs.

Eisha turned her attention back to the teal booth and was alarmed to see a face staring back at her. It was the man's face. The man from the party who ran into her on the sidewalk. He was calling numbers. Bingo numbers? There were red lights all around him.

"B4. You can't ever be what you were B4." She squinted at him. Then, something changed. She heard music. It wasn't just tacky carnival music. It was music from a band playing somewhere and it was tantalizingly familar. She knew those notes. It was Adam's favorite song. He had played it for her so many times before and she had to ask the name of the song every single time.

Eisha turned and started to make her way through the crowd with the music leading her along.

Gravity was pushing her down. Eisha could feel a strange contortion in her body. Whatever she was pressed against was unnaturally cold. After a few seconds of deep breathing and trying to get a sense of the world her eyes started to blink open.

There was a pillar in front of her. Beyond the pillar was a great window that was letting in harsh daylight. The cold against her cheek was reddish marble with swirling black and silver veins. As open palms pushed against the flat surface Eisha noticed that the contortion of her body was do to its placement over the edge of a stairwell. She could feel her knees crack and pop as they bent to try and support her frame. A group of people walked by and either didn't see her or didn't care enough to stop.

There were two distinct sounds in the air. One was the sound of a lecture from an open room to the right. The other sound was a dull hum, or maybe it was a buzzing. She couldn't distinguish exactly what it was but it seemed to be blocking out everything else in her head.

Although the marble floor was cold she kicked off her high heeled shoes and reached down to grab them. Vertigo sent her swaying and without reaching for the bannister she would have toppled down in an instant. Her dress had at least two more tears in the fabric. Thankfully she was nowhere near a mirror and was completely oblivious to the dried blood on her face.

Eisha moved very slowly at first. She climbed the two stairs she had previously been sprawled across. More people shifted through the grand hallway without giving her a single glance. The lecture hall was in plain sight, but she felt herself going in the other direction, towards the buzzing. Almost all of the doors in this building were open. It only made sense to walk to the closed door. The door with the golden plate on its mighty face. The door that vibrated with the sound of buzzing.

She felt her body tense as she leaned into the door and turned the knob. Part of her prayed that it would be locked.

It wasn't.

A green glow. A slime green glow was everywhere in this room. It tainted every surface it touched. Eisha noticed copper gears and tubes and pipes. Then, she noticed something far more disturbing. Attached to these tubes, with liquid running from turning gears, was Adam.

This was something out of a nightmare.

Restraints kept his body stretched out with arms and legs spread wide open. A metal belt with teeth faced inwards was wrapped around his stomach. Tubes, too many to count, were writhing from their places lodged deep in his skull, his shoulders, and all along his spine. He looked to be unconscious. She should at least be grateful for that.

Tears were already threatening to blur her horrific vision whenever Eisha started to frantically look for a way to release him. She looked for a control panel or something that appeared to be a switch, but the only thing she could readily see was an ornate brass knob on the metal belt that looped around Adam's body. Should she turn it' Which direction should it go'

With a wince her hand started to creep towards the knob. She couldn't leave him like this. She had to try and help. Eisha braced herself for whatever might happen as her fingers spread to wrap around the knob. The cold brass never touched her skin. Her hand was stopped dead by the sound of screaming.