When Dreams Turn to Nightmares

As the sun sets on the horizon of the earth, an older woman emerges from her home with a worried look on her face. She searches the area and calls out a name. "Karmen! Karmen where are you?"

Sitting in her favorite tree, the girl by the name of Karmen is busy daydreaming once again. However, when she daydreams, Karmen seems stuck in her own personal wonderland. Distant from any and everything in the outside world, she could barely hear her name being called. Finally, one final 'Karmen' snapped her out of her session. She looked down from the tree to see an angry woman glaring at her. The angry woman being her mother. Jumping down from the branch, Karmen stretched her arms upward and yawned sleepily. "You called?" She said, a slight hint of irritation in her voice.
"You had me worried sick! How many times do I have to tell you not to hang in the trees before checking in after school?" Her mother asked sternly. Karmen let out a sigh and gave her answer, which was many, and proceeded to walk silently in the house. She never liked being yelled at by her mother or anyone for that matter. It only made her want to leave the reality that was her life.

Karmen's parents never really got along, it was actually a planned marriage starting with the engagement at 16. They never officially became married until both graduated college and earned jobs. Their personalites however, were too great. Her mother being a loving, family-oriented woman and her father being the always absent career man. Against the wishes of the rest of the family, Karmen's parents divorced anyway and her grandparents on both sides took their frustrations out on her. She was apparently the "reason" the marriage failed and has always been mistreated. Of course Karmen was also the "reason" her mother quit her high paying career for a simple job as a high school teacher. Her mother wanted to spend more time with Karmen unlike her father, who chose his career over family so she barely saw him.

Walking in her dimly lit room, Karmen lays on the bed and looks up at the ceiling. 'I wonder what it's like to live in the wonderland of dreams... imaginative adventures, extrodinary powers and inhuman reflexes. All sound so exciting...' She thought. The fan above her was spinning quite slowly. Her eyes followed the continuous circling of the fan blades until she suddenly fell asleep.
'A Dream... is only a Dream... Until you Fear it... Then.... it becomes your worst nightmare....'
Karmen wakes up suddenly by the sound of a whispering voice. Did it come from her mother? Or was she maybe sleep talking again? Karmen shrugged it off and lied back down.