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	What were all of these people doing here? Had every last one of them followed these strange cracks in the ground? Some of them were easily recognizable, like Barney. Others were a faint memory in the back of her mind, like Harriette. The rest were complete blanks in her mind, like Vincent. Did they all have some connection with one another? Well, besides the fact that they seemed like the only ones who paid any mind towards the warm fissures.

	Curiosity got a deeper hold of her, pulling Mila towards the others to ask questions. That was soon not to be as she heard a strange cracking sound. Instinctively she prepared herself to move to possible safety but her attention was drawn to the cracks as they seemed to spread even more. That alone would have changed her course of action, but the odd light emanating from the ground put her in a state of confusion. Soon she felt her head begin to spin. Almost like her world was flipping upside down. Mila started to slump forward as everything went dark.

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	But in the very next moment, the young woman had fallen flat against the, well, it was the floor. However, something about it was different. The spinning of her head had completely stopped upon colliding with the floor though. When she realized she wasn't alone, Mila quickly got to her feet and observed the surroundings just like her supposed companions. Her mind was in such a tizzy at looking at their surroundings that she couldn't develop a proper thought about what she was seeing. As others panicked and some acted like things were not too out of the ordinary, Mila felt herself losing a grip on empty thoughts. The strange laugh from Harriette broke the young student out of her trance.

	Her mind, which tended to lean towards the logical, quickly surmised that nothing she was seeing was fully real. She must be having one of those odd, lucid dreams. That would explain her awareness, along with the awe-inspiring that could only truly exist in the fantastical. But the question then came of the faces she saw. Dreams pulled from what a person has seen, and Mila was fairly certain she didn't recognize some of them. Especially the brute. They were also acting very oddly. Mila never had a lucid dream so maybe that's why the people here were acting somewhat realistic.

	Maybe it was a weird part of her psyche trying to let all of her deep-seated emotions express themselves. The next question then was when she fell asleep. Maybe it was really if she had actually woken up. Yes, that had to be it. She was still asleep in that study room. Although the events leading from then to now had been so vivid. Then again, they were just as vivid as the scene around her. If this was a dream though, then why was she filled with so much dread? Pulling out her phone, she looked once again at the text. Oh, yeah. That's right. But wait, that happened just before she went to the dock so it wasn't real right?

	But then where would she have gotten the idea that Jeremey and Oscar knew each other? These and many more questions ran through her mind but all would be left unanswered as Mila had to put her arm up to attempt blocking the bright spotlight. It didn't take long before the small group of people to be surrounded. Mila felt like her skin was crawling, both from the odd appearance of the guards and the fact that they were some sort of prison guards. A deep hatred started welling up from remembering those jerks from back then. If this was a dream she could not let herself trust these people. But what could she do about it?

	Conditioning kicked in and Mila instantly became frightful but prepared to follow the orders given to them. Hands up, head down, forward march. Despite being certain this was a dream, she refused to cause a stir. Just follow the script, let this weird dream play out an- that hope of following the guard's words was suddenly dashed against the ground as she wasn't reacting quick enough to the guards' standards. One of them shoved her into another of the group sending them to the floor. Seemingly taking this as his clue, the brutish fella rushed forward knocking one of the guards into another and then bolting. Something in her wanted to run as well, but what point would there be in doing that?

	Surely that brute wasn't some weird part of her subconscious. Running in this instance would be the worst choice. Especially with that eerie spotlight. Soon though something clicked in her mind. When she got sent to the floor it actually hurt. Studies showed that some people could indeed feel pain when dreaming, but Mila had never been one of them. This slight sting soon though was joined by the feeling that her hair would be ripped from her skull as one of the guards yanked her to her feet. Then came the words of the 'captain'. A mixture of fear and long since buried memories flooded Mila and she started to realize that somehow, someway this was real. Panic set in quickly. She couldn't go back to a place like that. The swift strike of the baton soon quelled her desire to run.

	Quickly she yelled, [color=orange]"I'M COMPLIANT!"[/color] She then begged for them to stop their assault and stood on her feet ignoring the pain as best she could. After that, Mila followed the orders to a tee and was on cue. The prison guards she knew could be cruel, so keeping a low profile was best. Don't cause a stir. Her mind was running too frantic trying to piece it all together anyway. No time to formulate a plan.

	But the scene around them as they walked to this 'courthouse' forced her to look. What was even going on here? It was like some surreal movie they were inside of. Then there were the extravagancies of the courthouse itself. Where on earth were they? The more and more she looked the more nothing really made sense. Then the 'judge' himself finally arrived. Almost like a caricature of the man, Mila vaguely recognized the president of BWU based on the images she remembers seeing. As if that wasn't enough to cause confusion, the man began speaking and his verbiage made almost as little sense as their surroundings.

	One thing was for certain, Mila was terrified of this person. She didn't get the vibe that he was some unbiased, yet kindly judge. He reminded her more of those wretches at prison who acted like they owned the place. Acted all kind and understanding but only as long as you told them what they wanted to hear or did as they said. Thankfully, the first two who spoke up were answering this man's questions seriously. Hopefully, it would suffice, as she felt as much in the dark about those questions and wanted to know the answers herself.

	Then the man who ran was dragged in. He looked beaten and bruised. Mila would be lying if she said she felt pity. It's common for the many to get punished for the mistakes of the few. Mila had grown a disdain for those who acted without care of consequences to others. She wanted to kick him, but that'd likely fall out of line with what the judge desired of them, and her foot was still in pain. As it seemed the others would be holding the man's attention, for now, Mila silently inched her way towards the ones who hadn't spoken up yet. In a hushed tone, [color=orange]"Is it just me, or does he look eerily like Pondwater?"[/color]