[h1][color=cc1100][i]in the Sanatorium...[/i][/color][/h1]

[center]WARNING: PROFANITY[/center]

Nala blinked herself awake. She took a few deep breaths and sat up from the wooden cot and bundle of linen she had been asleep on.[color=ff4500][i]Where am I..?[/i][/color] she thought, looking around. The room was dark, she couldn't tell if it was early morning or late night. To her right was a single window with a metal grate on the inside, on the opposite side she saw a door with it's own metal grate but no glass window, and then across the room from her cot she saw a bucket which she assumed was for toileting. She turned her head and blew a bloody gob of snot into the empty corner. [color=ff4500]"EEYEACKGH!!"[/color] she exclaimed, grimacing away from the chunk of whatever just flew out of her nose. 

She tried to stand up, felt dizzy, and then quickly sat back down. [color=ff4500][i]..come on girl, get up...[/i][/color] she admonished. She stood up again and this time stayed on her feet. Gently she shuffled over to the window facing the outside and tried to see into the foggy dark. It was morning, she could tell, there were people hustling into their daily chores to get as much work done before the sun made it too hot, a routine she was very familiar with. She shuffled over to her bucket to relieve herself and then slowly made her way back to her lumpy little cot. [color=ff4500][i]Where in the hell am I?[/i][/color] she thought, and began to rub her face. [color=ff4500][i]I must be in jail. Someone must've found our wagons and found me covered in...[/i][/color] it was hard to think but she forced the words out in her mind, [color=ff4500][i]...covered in blood and brought me here. They must've cleaned me up I guess, but why the fuck would they do that? I'd've thought they'd just leave me in my rags if they were gonna hang me.[/i][/color] Her mind swirled.  

She closed her eyes and slowly tried to play the last night she remembered in her head. They crossed the big Mississippi river.. the caves.. that creepy old bitch woman and her damn fire that showed her friends...family.. blood and monsters. Tears welled up in her eyes, but she was taught by her Da that you don't hide from the truth, and so she soldiered into the next memories. [color=ff4500][i]I floated out from my body.[/i][/color] she thought, [color=ff4500][i]and I became a monster.[/i][/color] Instinctively she reached with her hand to her shoulder blade and traced the scar with her fingers over her shoulder and down her left arm almost to her elbow. [color=ff4500][i]My God, what have I done.[/i][/color] Feelings of guilt and shame began to bear down on her and her whole body began to feel heavy, and cold.

Then suddenly she felt a hard, painful kick to her back that pummeled her across the room into the wall by her toilet. She stopped, she didn't hit the wall, something was wrong. Facing the wall she willed herself to turn and look behind her and there she saw, on the cot across the room, her body, sitting with it's knees drawn up to her face and looking at her with a murderous glare. [color=ff4500][i]The Monster..[/i][/color] she thought, and as if in response she saw her shoulders begin to move up and down as the creature took fast and heaving breaths. Terror began to overwhelm Nala and a moment of cognitive dissonance settled in. She began to aimlessly float toward the heaving creature in front of her, her eyes glued to it's dilated pupils and blood shot corneas. She knew in her heart that this thing, this demon, wanted her to die so that it could take her body and use it for whatever violent impulses lived in its black heart.  

She floated past the window and a gentle light caught her eye. She turned her astral head and Looked through the bars at a light that was bright like the sun but didn't hurt to look upon. Her feelings of helpless terror began to fade. Within the light a figure began to form, a woman, a mother. Nala felt with sureness in her soul that this woman was there for her, that she knew her, and would help her; Nala realized that this bright image of a woman radiated a Mother's love and would protect all who would be her child. Mesmerized, Nala felt herself trying to see the woman's face, she saw the outline a warm smile and kind eyes, but behind she saw a skull and a black shroud.

As quickly as the vision came it left, and Nala's face snapped back to the eyes of her inhabited body. [color=ff4500]"That's Mine you BITCH![/color] she yelled and furiously willed herself back into her body! She felt the entity now, she felt it as weak and pathetic, she felt it's power and realized that it could not over take her unless she let it. She pushed the will of the enemy soul into a small ball and tucked it into her stomach to stay until she could figure out how to be rid of the thing, and then she blinked open her own, physical eyes. 

She took a few breaths to steady herself. . . Her mind felt clear, and she felt resolved. She knew her next step was to get out this hell hole she was in. After that, figure out how to get rid of this fucking creature. Anything else didn't matter, she'll deal with that when she comes to it. 

She got up from the cot and walked up to the door. [color=ffa12c]"Hello?"[/color] she called out into the hallway.