1 Bright Light Nightlight

Hyacinth woke with a startle, a pungent odor blowing just under her nose. She felt a gentle breeze flowing upwards from the ground below her as if the wind was beckoning her to stand up and follow it. Hyacinth found herself doing so. Staring up in the moonlight, she saw the maw of the mossy well. How did she get trapped in such a predicament? Hyacinth held her aching head, but no matter how hard she tried to remember, nothing, but a name came to mind. Hyacinth. Hyacinth? Why did it feel so familiar? However, Hyacinth didn't fully feel like the name belonged to her, but with nothing else to call herself by, she would use it for now. Maybe this was the name of someone important to her and it would be handy later to remember it.

With no other memories to recall, Hyacinth searched the well for a rope, or any other way to get out. Unfortunately, the well looked abandoned and was all dried up. The rope was missing from the pulley, or most of it was. It had been cut.

This wasn't the only strange realization Hyacinth had. It was difficult to see, but with the moon's glow, she stared down at her palms. A weird feeling caused goosebumps to rise along her body. Her proportions and colors were all off. Hyacinth wasn't sure how she knew it, but this wasn't how she saw her world before. Something had changed. Like she was trapped in a cartoon, or maybe a video game? Hyacinth shook the thoughts away. There was no way that could be the case. It was impossible. But why was she seeing the world as cute video game graphics? 

Hyacinth was interrupted from her thoughts when a strong wind blew into the well. How was it reaching her like this? It was as if the wind was alive. As the wind passed through, the well shook and the old bricks crumbled under the pressure. Bricks began to loosen out of place. If Hyacinth didn't know any better, she would have thought the wind was playing Janga with the well bricks. Janga? What is that anyway? Again, Hyacinth shook the thought away. The wind was giving her a chance to get out.

Hyacinth reached up for the first brick and struggled to rest her foot on the one below her in an attempt to get a good stance to push herself up. It was hard due to Hyacinth's inexperience. She recalled that she hadn't climbed a tree since she was a child. There were too many days spent in a chair, indoors which left her weak and easily winded. At least the experience unlocked a vague memory. Maybe she would remember more once she left the well? Hyacinth slid a few times and at one point she accidentally pulled out a brick, making her have to stretch her body in places she wasn't ever sure she stretched before just to reach a higher brick. In time, she managed to reach the rim of the well. It was at this point she was losing grip strength, though. With one final push, Hyacinth lifted one leg over the edge and secured herself enough to not fall. In the process, Hyacinth hit her head on the roof that shielded the well. It was splintered and covered in cobwebs. 

The cobwebs unlocked a core memory. Hyacinth was deathly afraid of spiders. Hyacinth hurriedly climbed out of the well, jumping around and wiping off every part of her body in an attempt to rid herself of the webs. The spiderwebs were equally terrifying, leaving uncomfortable tingling all over her body. The wind seemed to blow harder against her, helping her get rid of the webs. After Hyacinth managed to calm down, she noticed she was in a clearing. There was a forest before her but separating her and it was broken and disheveled fencing.

Something about the darkness was strange. She wasn't sure if it was just a fear of the dark, but Hyacinth felt an overwhelming urge to run and find light. It wasn't like that silly feeling she got when she would flip her light switch and run up the stairs to her room. Hyacinth felt she was in real danger. The longer she was in the darkness, the darker everything got. Not even the moonlight could shine through the thick shroud that surrounded her out of nowhere. It was when she heard the unison of deep guttural growls that Hyacinth knew the truth. Was it coyotes? Mountain lions? Bears? Nothing made logical sense. There was something else entirely making those horrible sounds. Whatever it was, it sounded hungry. Unfortunately for Hyacinth, it was camouflaged by the dark.

Hyacinth wasted no more time and sprinted passed the well. Even though the world was a blur as she ran, she could make out some resemblance of an old farmland. Why did it eerily feel familiar to her? Like she has been here many times before. It was difficult to see through the blinding darkness, but it was infinitely an abandoned farm. Strangely, Hyacinth got the feeling the wind was pulling her toward a certain direction. There were small empty crop plots gated off by more broken fences, but soon she found a cobblestone path. There were sections of half fences and tall lantern posts, but almost all of the lanterns were out of oil. 

All, but one. Hyacinth's eyes widened when she noticed a faint, glowing lantern in the distance. It outlined a small wooden cabin at the other end of the farmland. Was this her salvation? Hyacinth ran toward the lantern, barely seizing it in time as she felt a burning sensation all over her lower body. She looked back, lantern now in hand. As she glided the lantern around the front of her chibi body, she noticed it was starting to fade away, but with the presence of the light, her lower half slowly returned to her.

The dark shroud was eating away at her, but now she had the lantern and something about it kept her from disappearing. Hyacinth could tell it was low on oil, but for now, it would keep her safe from whatever was in the dark.