_Once. _ _Twice. _ I blinked back against the warm sunlight spilling from my bedroom window. Then, in a lazy lawn, stretched stiffly against the bubblegum headboard. "You're finally awake..." A low voice mused. I snapped forward instantly, stunned into a strangled scream. When the comforter glided to the floor with a cartoonish _plop,_ my satin pink pajamas were left on full display. At the foot of the bed, neat and polished, stood a stranger with a spine-chilling smile. His posture was relaxed, frame adorned in bright clothes and an artificial fragrance. I snuck a glance down to the man's palms, grateful to see no visible weapon. Instead, both hands gripped at the footboard, fingers trembling ever so slightly. "How did you sleep, _honey_? Breakfast is almost ready." The intruder watched me expectantly, head tilted and eyebrows drawn. When my eyes met his own, his lips curled upwards into a roguish grin. _Honey? _ _What...kind of situation was I in exactly?_ _"_Oh, I slept fine..._thank you_._"_ I lied carefully, playing along. The man's head nodded in approval. **Good. ** _I'd said the right thing._ I took a moment to appraise him, cautious to keep my expression outwardly calm and pleasant. The stranger's features were dark but polished, long black lashes and a thick head of coiffed hair. He had a classic look to him, a dimpled smile and creased eyes. Faultless skin. Like a movie star, even. But there was something unnerving and out-of-place in his demeanor. Something in his cold eyes that didn't match the warmness of his smile. _If only I could remember..._ "I'm glad you slept well, Wife." He murmured, leaning forward to kiss my forehead. _Wife?_ I prayed the man couldn't feel my fear through the contact -- the raised hairs across my skin, the hot blood scorching beneath. He stepped back stiffly, _"_Well...I'm going to go check on the food. Dinner should be done by the time you've finished getting dressed_._" _Dinner? Hadn't he said breakfast before?_ The man shot me another perfect, empty-eyed smile before correcting himself, "My mistake..._Hazel_ gets dinner. _Your_ _breakfast_**_ _**is**_ _**almost ready." _Hazel? _ __ _"_Ah, wait-" with comic book timing, the stranger cut me short, leaping swiftly out the window. _Hadn't he?_ No, surely I was hallucinating... _Right_? I stumbled from my bed and lurched towards the window frame. When my hands reached for where I'd seen his disappearing figure, they were halted by a barrier of my own murky reflection. The man couldn't have jumped...because each window was securely shut. _Right?_ _Or was I still asleep? _ _Had I been kidnapped and drugged? _ As my anxiety skyrocketed, my body took to autopilot and I darted to the bathroom. I needed to shower. I need to wake up. I _needed_ to wake up. I stepped into the fuchsia acrylic freestand tub and wrapped a shaky palm around the handle. _Nothing_. _No water? _ _Really?_ I needed a weapon. I needed to break the mirror. I needed to unhatch the windows. I needed to cry. I needed to vomit. I needed to get _out_. _Something was very wrong. _ I pinched the bare skin across my wrist sharply, further shocked to find that there wasn't any feeling. Then, in a whoosh of wind and warmth, the world around me flashed and I was suddenly back sitting across from _him_ at a bubblegum pink dining room table. ... "_Wife_, eat up! I'm sure you're hungry." His cold eyes watched me strictly, so I smiled politely. _Hadn't he? No..._ _At least until this dream ends, I just need to_**_ play house._** "Ah, thank you..._Husband_." I purred fondly. His smile confirmed that I'd given the right response. I let my eyes lower to the table, mouth watering as my eyes feasted on the heavenly spread. "Husband" had prepared a fantastic array of eggs, bacon, sausage, buttered toast, and pancakes. Everything looked incredible. But what _looked_ delicious, I realized, smelled of nothing. No warm aroma of batter and sizzling meat and sweetness. Only that familiar muted fragrance of chemical. I froze, eyes glued to his empty plate. When his stare once again found mine, I bit down on my tongue, drawing blood in the process. "Eat up." Husband encouraged, or maybe commanded. "You changed my clothes?" I asked in a whisper, hoping to change the subject. When I'd peered at the table, I'd noticed my pajamas had been replaced by a soft pink embroidered dress with glossy pearl buttons. Husband's face seemed to pale, "Ah, no. Not me." His hand raised to scratch the back of his neck. This time Husband was the one changing the conversation. "Oh, by the way...Our youngest daughter..." "_Hazel?_" I guessed bravely, recalling the name he'd spoken earlier. Except the expression on his face was that of pure horror. _No, no, no..._ _I'd messed up._ _I'd said the wrong thing._ _All I had to do was play along!_ "Baby..." he breathed. "Yes?" "No, no..._our_ youngest daughter, **_Baby_**_._" That terrifying plastic smile was back. "Baby, Crayon Face, My BFF Samantha, Son 1, Son 2, Spaghetti, and Bear. They're all with Grandma but she said she'll be dropping them off soon." "_Wife and Husband!_ The kids and Bear were on their best behavior." As if on cue, a little old lady spontaneously appeared before me. And along with her stood a small soccer team of picture-perfect little children. _I have kids?_ "Daddy, can I take Bear for a walk?" A small golden retriever materialized from behind the dining table, wagging his tail excitedly as his slobber dripped to the floor. "Of couse, Crayon Face. And take your sister My BFF Samantha with you too!" "Well, I have to skidaddle...Hazel is tired. I'll see you both for Baby's wedding," Grandma crooned. _Again, that name - Hazel. And..._ "Wedding? That toddler-" I looked back at the child Husband and Grandma called Baby, only to find that the waddling toddler from moments ago had transformed into a fully grown woman in a white veil and wedding dress. "Mommy, how is my dress?" At this, my heart stopped. There was nothing left -- I was losing my mind. This was clearly a cruel and sinister joke. There was no playing along. There was nothing to appease. There was only insanity and whatever hellish curse I'd been bestowed in this nauseating pink house. Husband's eyes met mine, still cold and knowing. Empty eyes and plastered smiled. _He was the culprit._ __ __ I walked around the table, nearly tripping over Bear, and leaned until my lips were a breath away from his ear. "What's going on? Just tell me...Are you doing all of this?" I begged. "**_Are you in control?_**" Surprisingly, only fear seeped from his careful expression. He looked at me pointedly with a look I'd never seen, muscles finally moving as he shushed me, almost imperceptibly. "_Honey..."_ His quivering voice dropped to something unrecognizable, a child in the shell of a man. "We don't _have_ control..." He nudged anxiously at somewhere behind me, "**_She _**_controls us all._" I paused, digesting Husband's words, before slowly turning around for the first time. _How had I never turned around? How had I never noticed what had been watching us this whole time? How had I missed such an important detail?_ Almost immediately, I froze at the enormous spectacle of horror before me. The monster observed us with a terrifying toothless scowl. Her features were like that of a young girl, but she towered over us mightily like a giant. Raindrops of slobber dribbled from the corners of her mouth and a glassiness held her eyes. _Hunger_. She peered into the house from where I'm sure a wall had once been..._hadn't it_? _Hadn't it?_ She laughed maniacally, a thunderous roar that shook the entire complex violently. I wondered if even falling to our knees before this god could save us. "_Hazel_, it's time for dinner!" Another blood-curdliny large monster warned from the distance. "Okay, Mommy!" _We're going to die._ _We're going to die._ _We're going to die._ What happened next was quick. First, the baby monster's massive fist wrapped around Husband, dangling him cruely above the kitchen floor. Husband's eyes shut solemnly as he accepted his fate. But I gasped in horror when his entire right arm, from shoulder to knuckle, dropped with a familiar sickly _plop_ onto the pink kitchen table. _We're going to die_. Grandma was next. The monster dragged her savagely by the head before barbarically slinging her frail figure into the unknown. I winced when I heard a hard, feral _smack_. Salty tears filled my throat. At last, when the monster's greedy hand reached for me, I didn't cry or scream or beg. Like Husband, I stayed perfectly still. "Please, not the kids!" I wanted to shout, "Not Bear!" but I already knew it was too late. I wasn't in control. _Because we'd never had control._ And as its chubby fingers enveloped me tightly, sealing my fate, Hazel mumbled to herself incomprehensibly. "Mommy, I finished putting my Barbies away!"