When I woke up my head was pounding as if I had been sacked with a ton of bricks. I sat laying in bed staring up at the white ceiling, my eyes half shut. The light was blinding as it poured through the window. I pulled the covers over my head, sinking further into the safety of my bed. I never consumed alcohol last night, there was nothing in my system that should have caused me to feel this way. I cowered from the pain for a few minutes before giving up. The covers weren't holding out enough light to make a difference. I slowly pulled the covers back before twisting my body to roll out of bed. My feet hit the ground first, the muscles quivering under my weight.

"What the hell is going on?" I question. Taking one careful step forward my hands reached outwards to catch myself on the dresser next to my bed, except the dresser wasn't there. I whipped around the best of my ability to catch myself on anything before collapsing to the ground. My shoulder hit the wood floor first sending a pain down my arm. I grasped for the area, my eyes searching the skin. Large bruises ran up and down my arm, one of them distinctly shaped like a handprint.

I tried to focus the best I could on the bruise itself, my brain ravaging to find an answer as to where it came from.

Asada?

The electricity rushed through my body once more just with the thought of her name. My body nearly collapsing on the floor once more. My throat felt dry, the skin on my fingers were cracking. I was severely dehydrated. My body craved water. I glanced down at the bruises once more, a pink glow outlined each one dancing across my arm. My heart started pounding in my chest, my headache throbbing viciously behind my skull.

What had she done to me?

I sat captivated by the sight as the pink hue grew brighter and brighter until the bruises were engulfed in a pink light. I began to panic, the scream caught in my throat begging to come out. I shut my eyes, squeezing them closed as hard as I possibly could.

This is all a dream, Olyvya, this is all a dream.

I chanted the words, whispering them as I tried to force myself to wake up from this nightmare. The pain was unbearable now, my arm felt like it was on fire, and I just knew my head was going to explode any minute from the pain. I opened my mouth as if I was going to finally release the scream of the century before the pain disappeared. In one sudden instant, it was all gone. I sat against the closet breathing heavily. My chest falling and rising in a state of panic. I could feel the tears falling down my cheeks. I didn't even know I was crying. They slid gently down my skin turning into gems before crashing to the ground. I listened to them fall, and the echo they made when they clattered against the wood floor. I heard something move in the room. Something off in the distance.

My heart was back in my throat once more. My muscles felt weak in their constant struggle with fear. I needed to go back to bed.

I slowly opened my eyes taking in all the details of the room. This wasn't my room. The covers on the bed were purple, unlike my black ones. The curtains on the window were wide open unlike mine, I kept them mostly shut. The desk next to my bed had disappeared and it was now a small end table. This wasn't my room, this was Sammy's room.

My eyes dauntingly drifted over her decorations before dancing to the desk on the opposite side of the room. She sat silently blinking at me, her mouth gaped open as if she had seen a ghost.

"Olyvya?" She whispered. I could tell the words were a struggle for her to get out. I watched my heart racing as I finally realized she too was in the room. What had happened last night? Why did I feel like this? Did Sammy know something? Had I disappeared for a week again?

I immediately began to panic, my mind racing over the thought of me leaving my family behind while they were visiting. I needed to know if I had disappeared again. Why was my body craving water so badly?

I stood as quickly as I could glance down at my ensemble. Tattered pajamas clung to my body as if it was the last job in the world falling around them. I twisted the doorknob as soon as it was in my hand flinging the door open. There was nothing stopping me now. I needed to find my parents if they were still here in this house. I rushed to my bedroom, the room they had been staying in. I ripped the door open to see it was empty, the bed perfectly made, the room as empty as if it had never been lived in.

I searched the walls, my brain questioning the emptiness before remembering Sammy and I had hidden all the mermaid research we had hung up. My heart settles slightly at the idea that they didn't know all the work we had put into absolutely nothing. But just as quickly as it settled it was going nine million miles again as I ran to the next room in the house, the kitchen.

My body wanted to collapse at the sight of the empty kitchen, my energy wearing thin. I could feel my vision blacking out as I rushed for my family. I flew into the living room like a bat out of hell only to find the two most important people in my life cuddled up on the couch reading. They each had their own books, books they had gotten out of my room.

I watched as they flipped the pages, each taking in everything little note Sammy and I had written in the pages. The sticky notes, to the writing in the seam. They were reading all of it.

My parents had found my mermaid books. My secrets.

They had found out about me.