How could she survive five cobra bites? How could she? How could they let her survive? She shut her eyes tightly. She knew she was probably in the grey room, on the floor, the cobra probably still clinging onto whatever body heat she had left.
She tried to force her eyes open, only to have them closed. It was like a reflex; anytime she could 'escape' reality she would. She didn't want to move, fear that the cobra was still there, even if it wouldn't strike there always was the chance that it would. God, maybe it was a dream?
"Come on now," A somewhat familiar voice said. Wendy cocked an eyebrow up and bravely opened her eyes. The breath was knocked out of her temporarily as her surroundings had suddenly 'changed'. Her grey little room never had a lake in it, or a house, or something soft, or fresh air, or-
Wait, who was she? Wendy's eyes stared at a familiar lady; one she had never met, but still familiar.
"I'm Judy," She said. Wendy furrowed her eyebrows.
"You asked it outloud. And don't worry, you aren't supposed to know me. I was told to come welcome you here,"
"Here?" She repeated, unsure of herself.
Judy nodded. "Here, Heaven, The Other Side, The Spirit World, That-Place-With-All-The-White-Stuff, whatever you wanna call it, that's where you are,"
Wendy stared at her, still confused. She started laughing.
"Yeah, I've had this dream before. It's all just my short break from reality; I'll wake up in five minutes and be deaf, blind, mute, and in total pain. Probably paralized." Wendy sighed.
Judy shook her head. "No dream, toots."
Wendy sighed again, doubting the whole ordeal. It was just a dream. She would wake up, this lady was just tricking her, trying to make her feel all better and then go back to reality.
"Who are you?" Wendy asked again. Hey, she might as well figure out who this woman was.
Judy waved her hand off in dismissal. "Not right now. Hey, why don't you walk over to the lake and see what you look like?" She suggested. Wendy scowled.
"No, you'll have them throw me into the water."
Judy sighed. "Come on, I'll go with you, I swear I won't do that,"
Wendy hesitated but gave in.
"All I'm going to see is an albino with grey eyes, scars that make me look like a grape, a few strands of hair and skinny everything else," She grumbled, staring over at the lake and walking towards it. Judy stared into the water first, seeing her reflection. Her brown eyes were sparkling, her old fashioned clothes were neat and looked fabulous on her body. Her smile was white, and her make-up looked beautiful on her. Her brown hair was up in a neat bun, and her black shoes made up the outfit. She turned her attention back to Wendy, who looked uncertain, and envious of Judy.
"Go on, take a look," She said. Wendy rolled her eyes and did as she was told. She stared into the water and saw exactly what she thought she would.
"Albino, anyone?" She said sarcastically. Her looks started to change. Her head was full of black hair, her body was full and curvy, her lips were pouty, her body had no scars. Her skin was ivory. Her eyes were blue. Her outfit was an old, gothic-styled dress that was absolutely gorgeous on her. She gasped and fell backwards, onto her butt, but to her surprise, she felt no pain.
"Of all the dreams I've had..." She began. Judy sighed.
"This isn't a dream. Pinch yourself."
Wendy pinched herself, and felt it. "Holy shit"
Judy smirked. "Now that you're convinced... I guess you'd like to know who I am?"
Wendy nodded eagerly as she stood up again.
She smiled warmly and rolled her eyes. "This one seems to get everyone's attention and makes me more recognizable. Only problem is I'm sick of it," She laughed. A brilliant rainbow was painted across the sky, and suddenly Judy's hair was in low pigtails. Her dress had changed into a blue and white striped one, she held a basket with a little dog, and her shoes had turned into rubies.
"Oh my God, Judy Garland?"
Judy nodded her head. "Yes, in the flesh. Sort of."
Wendy stared in disbelief. "Why are you here?"
Wendy blushed. That was kinda rude.
"Because, the people who were going to greet you were kind of unavailable right now, and Madonna isn't dead yet. So, they asked me to."
Wendy laughed. "This is so cool."
Judy smiled. "Yes, it is, but..." Her tone turned serious. "We need to talk." She snapped her fingers and they suddenly appeared on a cliff that was emerged from a thick forrest. Wendy gasped.
"I used to come here with... with..." Wendy tried to search her mind for who it was that she was talking about. Some boy. Some friend of hers. Before the beatings.
"You won't remember who it was. That's who we're talking about,"
Wendy scowled at Judy. "If I can't remember then what's the point?"
Judy shrugged.
Wendy sighed once more. "What was your life like?"
"Busy," She laughed. "And good," She said, lighting a cigarette. "Had it's downs, but hell, what can ya do,"
Wendy grew envious again. "I bet you had a wonderful life. I never really had one," She said, feeling angry.
"Why the hell couldn't I have had a life where I actually did normal things, you know, like not being beaten everyday?!" She yelled.
"That's what I needed to talk to you about. You never go to live, and when you did, you were a kid, you couldn't do anything fun. Or maybe not so fun. You never drove a car, you never went to the prom, you never had a house, a boyfriend. Hell, you never had a dog," She said, taking a drag of her cigarette.
"Oh shit. But I did have a boyfriend.. I just can't...." She stopped. "I'm sorry, you're right, I didn't have a boyfriend. My mind is hay-wire.
'Oh, but you did. It's Justin, but you can't know that.' Judy thought.
"I've discussed things with the Big Guy, aka God, and we've decided that there's a mission we'd like to send you on."
"Why would I want to go on a mission? Back to Earth? Back to where I was... was..." She sighed. "Damnit, I can't even remember what happened in my life now."
She heard hissing coming from the trees. She saw a green, thin little snake crawling on a branch. Wendy screamed and ran behind Judy.
"Kill it! Kill it!"
"No, Wendy, I can't do that. It's already dead anyway, it's in Heaven, remember?"
Wendy snorted. "Yeah, but it doesn't have to be enar me."
"You put it there," Judy said. "This is your world, so to say. The Cliffs, where we are now, was a memory of your childhood. You put us here."
"Whatever," Wendy dismissed the topic as the snake disappeared. "Why am I afraid of snakes?"
"Past memory." She stated, making her cigarette disappear.
Wendy grunted. "Damnit. Ok, so what did you and God talk about?"
"We thought it would be good for you to go on a mission, help out someone who needs the help. On Earth. Before you refuse, there's something in it for you. If you succeed, if you get this guy the help he needs, you get another life. I guess it's a second chance." Judy shrugged.
Wendy comprehended what Judy had just said. Was she just going to agree to something like that? What were the details? She stared at Judy, who was looking over the cliff to where the lake was. Wendy sighed. She probably wasn't going to get details.
"What's the story?"
Judy smiled. "He's searching for a long lost friend. Someone he once had. She was violently ripped away from his life and held hostage for ten years. Something about experimenting, matches, blah blah," She said, another cigarette appearing.
"Anyway, she meant a lot to him, and vice versa. Her parents were butchered, and she was taken away to a grey room where she was tortured 24/7. Well, still is," Judy lied. "You have been chosen to help him search for this girl, to bring peace to them both. And, to also fight off enemies, or 'them'."
Wendy was lost. "Let me get this straight, some guy lost a friend, she's tortured, and I'm going to go get them back together to give them peace of mind and body and then I get to live?"
"And Bingo was his name-o. Correct."
Wendy smiled. "That would be so great." Her smile faded into a frown. "But what exactly would I fight off these enemies with?"
"The enemies are men. Not men in general, but these specific men who have been torturing this one girl." Judy stopped. "What's your name?"
Wendy thought deeply for a minute. "Shit, I don't remember."
'Good, it's working,' She thought to herself. Judy smiled. 'She probably thinks we're evil for doing this to her, but in the end, we aren't.'
"Around here, your name is Morgan, and on Earth it will be Morgan as well. Anyway, Morgan, you will be given some great powers to help fight these men off. So do you agree?"
Wendy, or Morgan rather, sighed. She knew she had remembered everything a few minutes ago, but now, she wasn't even sure of herself. She nodded slowly. All she remembered that felt like it was from her life was fear, snakes, bleeding, beating, and a grudge. She sighed and agreed.
"Good. Oh, there's another thing.." Judy began, as she started to prepare Morgan, dusting her shirt off and what not.
"Things I should say, not just one thing. On Earth, you will become friends with this guy. His name is Justin. Here's the run down on him. He used to be in a pop singing group called N Sync. They sing stuff like Madonna. Anyway, Justin was the most popular member. All the girls thought he was attractive. He was with the most popular female singer, Britney Spears, a friend he made a few years after the girl disappeared. Anyway, fame and the girls got to his head, and finally one night a fan snapped and gave him a Come To Jesus talk. She bitches him out, he realizes that she's right, and that Britney could care less about him. He finishes off a tour with his band, quits, and then sinks into a depression. His own mother doesn't even care, she's too busy trying to get other acts for pop together. So that leads up to know, and he's looking for his frend; Wendy Carol."
"So, that's the story. Wendy and Justin were very close. By the way, you'll be accompanied by five other girls who have agreed to help Justin. They died on the same date that you did, only years apart. Like, one died the day you did a year before you, the other two years, the other other three years, and so on. And, to help fight off the enemies, you each get three or four animals you can sort of change into, or if you find yourself unable to turn into them, the spirit of the animal will come and take your place. You're each assigned with your animals."
"And don't forget, Justin- or anyone - can't find out about this. He knows nothing, you guys are just friends that he met. He can never find out." Judy gave Morgan a kiss on the cheek and smiled.
"I feel oddly enough like a proud parent. Don't worry about a thing, you'll meet up with the other girls eventually. You'll have a slight memory of what you have here, the conversation we had. Right now, you have no memory of your past life. And you won't on Earth, either. If you suceed in this, even if you don't, you come back here the second the search is over. You get full memory back, and if the girl is found, you begin your new life anytime you'd like. Take care, and go get 'em tiger!" Judy disappeared.
Before Morgan could say another word, she felt like she had been pulled underwater. Bubbles were everywhere and she was trying to get to the surface. The water was crystal clear. She felt herself become heavy, and soon felt like she had so long ago. Except, she couldn't remember what exactly had happened.
She found herself in some city; she'd never seen a city before. But oddly enough, she felt like she'd been there all of her life. She looked down at her feet. She was wearing boots. She was standing on something wooden. It looked like a dock. She'd never been on one of those either, but felt once again like she'd been there all of her life. She peered over the side of the deck. A light was shining from a bait house. Must be a fisherman's place. She looked at her reflection; she was wearing a somewhat tight red shirt that had a yellow graphic of a thick lightning bolt and a grey cloud. Her hair was short, black, and looked choppy. She found herself remembering that it was the style. She wore a black khaki-styled long skirt that cut off to about mid boot. Her lips were black, her guess was from lipstick. She had her eyelashes covered in more black. Her now hazel eyes were shining. She didn't have very much make-up on, yet still looked pretty. She backed away from the railing and observed her surroundings. Various people were leaning against the rails, smoking, laughing, hanging out with their friends. Someone approached her.
"Hey, Morgan! What's up?"
Who was that? She thought. The answer came to her. "Hey Tony! What's up?"
Tony, an African-American with dreds and a killer body, smiled. "Nothin'. Hey, some girl is at The Dragon tonight, wanna go see? They say she's the next Selena or something."
Something inside Morgan clicked. "Yes!" She practically shouted. "Sorry, erm, yeah, let's go," She looked lost. Where *was* The Dragon?
"This way," Tony pointed, looking at her strangely. She nodded and blushed, walking towards the tiny little club. The rest of the city was damp, dark and cold; the club was bright, cheery, had tons of music and laughter coming out of it and had all sorts of funky Dragon and Lizard desgisn on the outside. The door was a Dragon with it's mouth open, and it's tounge was a red carpet.
"After you, my lady," Tony laughed, allowing Morgan to go ahead of him.
