The nightmares had been haunting her the entire week after the attack at the elementary school. There were big, wide jaws chasing her perpetually as she ran though the spaces of her dreamscape. She ran around her house in fear of something following her, the steps of her heels lingering as she tried to escape down the stairs. How had it found her? Did it still want revenge? She didn't want to hurt it but it was being a bad dog! It shouldn't try and eat people! She cried and she tossed as she finally managed to make it down the stairs and to the door. It was stuck, and the child panicked, quickly looking behind her as she struggled to get the door open. Why wouldn't it budge? The door wasn't locked, and she was pulling when she should be pulling! Why did her dream insist on keeping her locked up inside her home while something tried to eat her? She could feel the jaws approaching her and just before she thought it was going to get her she fell forward and out of the door.
She didn't waste time to look behind her, quickly running down the street as fast as she could, listening to the only sound she could hear: the tap of her heels against the pavement. The roads were unusually empty, the city freakishly quiet. Where was everyone? Why was she alone? No one could hear her calls, or aide her struggles. She had to use her own two feet to protect herself. All she could do was run and run down the street that never seemed to end. She felt like she was running down he same section of the street over and over, looping forever. She would never get away, she would always be running. There was no safe place anymore. They would find her in the school, they would find her at home, they would never let her go until they got their revenge. The child didn't want this! She wanted to play the piano, and learn how to do ballet. She didn't want to fight, she didn't want to be scared. She didn't want a beast of a dog to eat her!
She fell, falling flat on her face. Her eyes teary and her limbs trying to get herself up off the ground. She froze, feeling a pair of eyes on her from behind. She tried to breath, but she found it become incredibly difficult as the seconds passed and soon she was holding her breath and she was falling down a slope of a slide. She was safe, she was no longer on the sidewalk on the flat of her face with a beast chasing her. That was when her eyes fell to the bottom of the slide to find the jaws of a beast below her, waiting for her to finish the course of the slide. Panicked, the child tried to grab onto the metal casing of the slide, only to slow her pace slightly. She could see all around her, all the kids playing on the equipment, ignoring her pleas for help. It was as if she couldn't talk at all, as if they didn't see her.
She couldn't give up though and instead of sliding down into the mouth of the beast, she child threw herself off the side of the slide. Falling off the slide seemed like a better option than falling into the mouth of the beast, of course, until she realized she was now falling from the heights of the skies. She was no where near the ground and she was falling faster and faster. There was darkness in the skies, lingering impatiently. She screamed, and screamed, but her voice was only muffled by the air as it flowed into her mouth and began to suffocate her. This feeling was familiar, but the child could not put her finger on it.
No longer was she falling from the sky, but now she was sinking into the ocean. A teal blue surrounding her with a death grip. She felt teal eyes piercing into her from the depths as she began to sink and sink. She tried to swim, but the child didn't know how. She flapped her arms around, kicked her legs but she didn't make any progress in her escape. She felt a tightening on her chest, and soon her eyes began to lower and lower. The ocean was rocking her into a deep sleep and soon the child woke up on a beach, coughing up salt water from her lungs. She was alive! She didn't drown, and nothing ate her!
There was a howl in the distance, and the child barely had enough time to get up before her eyes widenned as she seen a huge wave begin to approach her. It wasn't just any wave, it looked like a wave of hounds coming after her. She couldn't do anything! All she could do was try and run away again, run away as far as she could from the beach. It wasn't familiar, not in the least, until eventually the child began running down the halls of her school again. They were damaged and she could hear the howl in the distance of the hall as she began to shake her head from side to side. She didn't want to be here! Anywhere but here! She didn't want to come back to the place where this happened. Her legs wouldn't stop moving though and soon the child could see herself in the distance, holding an arrow in her hand. She was grinning maliciously, standing over a wounded dog-like youma, getting ready for another strike. There was no teacher nearby that she was protecting, there wasn't even a threat from the youma that lay helplessly on the floor.
This wasn't what happened! The child cried out, running towards Sailor Chibi Hypnos. She wouldn't do that! She wouldn't smile while doing that! She was so sorry she hurt it, but it might have killed the teacher! It might have hurt more students! It might have eaten her! She had to stop her! Her other side was drawing her arm back and before Ainsley could stop her there was a loud howl as she struck the beast in the chest with the arrow. No, this wasn't right. Ainsley couldn't move. There was such a pain in her chest as she felt her eyes lowering. She couldn't make any words come out but she could finally hear it. She was the one that howled. No one had heard her because she not human. The last thing she was able to see was another dog attack Sailor Chibi Hypnos.
But then it all faded away.
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Ainsley woke up in her bed gasping onto her chest as if she expected to find an arrow there. It felt so real and she was feeling confused, and scared. How could it have been that the whole time she was running that she had been a dog. She didn't feel quite as scared as she did earlier, remembering how much she loved animals. The dream was scary, but it somehow reminded the child of better things. She was still afraid as the lights flickered off the walls, causing shadows to creep around the room like lingering animals ready to pounce, but she hugged her pillow for protection and soon she fell back asleep to a more pleasant dream. It seemed she was feeding the field of dreams that Quail's Eye protected as she flew through the sky on beautiful white wings.
