Anei awoke in the middle of the night, sweating profusely.
It’s too hot in here, she thought through the grogginess of sleep.
She rolled to her side and leaned against the cold cement wall. She could almost hear her skin sizzle. Her body was slick with sweat.
A couple of minutes later, she rolled over to her other side, onto the colder part of her pillow, which was soaking wet. She felt something sharp on her skin, stabbing her on the right side of her neck.
What the hell is that?
She tried to move the pillow, but the pain increased.
Finally, she sat up, agitated, and moved the cloth of her nightshirt away from her skin. The stabbing pain was still there and increasing.
It feels like something is being burned onto my skin!
Anei scrambled to the bathroom in the fogginess of sleep and flipped on the switch, squinting in the sudden brightness.
When her eyes adjusted, she found her reflection in the mirror and gasped. She bent closer to get a better look.
“What the hell?”
What looked like the letter F, but slanted downward, was branded onto the base of her neck by her right shoulder. It was glaring red and inflamed, as if a hot poker had been placed there.
Anei stared at the mark for a long time. Surely, she must be having a nightmare. She closed her eyes to try to go back into a more dream-like state and wake up in her bed. She opened her eyes and stared back at her own reflection.
Not a dream.
Panic rose in her chest. The burning, stabbing pain was starting to go away, but she still had no idea what this was or how it got on her skin. She ran back to her bedroom and rummaged through her bed sheets to see if there was anything that could’ve done this.
Nothing. She sat down heavily on the edge of her bed and stared, not really seeing, at the white wall in front of her.
The longer she sat there, the more she realized she felt very different – older, and more patient. She felt like there was something she knew, but couldn’t quite grasp onto what it was.
Anei sat there the rest of the night, until morning came and her mother came shuffling out of her room into the hallway. Through her own sleepy haze, she looked into Anei’s room and found her sitting there, still staring at the wall.
“Anei? What’s the matter, honey?” she asked tentatively. Her daughter didn’t look well.
Anei came out of her daze and gazed up at her mother, who looked completely different to her. She looked younger, more youthful than usual.
“Um, I’m not really feeling well, actually,” Anei said. Her mom came and sat next to her on the bed, doing the standard fever check with her hand.
Anei wondered why her mom didn’t say anything about the mark on her neck. She thought maybe it was gone. She put her hand up to the spot and felt the mark, plump and inflamed right where it was supposed to be.
“Mom, do you see anything on my neck?”
“No, sweety, why?” she asked, concerned.
“Um, nothing. I think I just slept on it wrong. Listen, mom, I can’t go to school today. I really don’t feel well.”
“Okay, honey. I’ll call the school and let them know.” She got up and went to the door, but before leaving, she turned around to face her daughter.
“By the way, Anei. There was an accident on the bridge last night. Right around the time I would’ve been crossing it.” Her mom stared at her with a look of fear and gratitude. “It seems the dream you had the other night was real.”
Anei, still in shock about the brand on her neck, just nodded.
“Okay, sweety. You lie down and get some rest. There’s soup in the cupboard if you want some.” And with that, her mom was whooshing through the house, getting ready for work. Anei slowly laid her head down on the pillow, wincing at the tenderness in her neck.