Chapter 19: Snip-Snapping the Night Away

Sofia was about ready to head back inside. As nice as it was out here, her encounter with the dryads had made her just a little self-conscious. Now she couldn't help but keep her head on a swivel for more of them, feeling as though she were constantly being watched.

Now is not the time to get paranoid, Sofia. Besides, it doesn't even make sense to be. They aren't real, and even off they were, they were asleep until you went up and poked one in the face.

She gave a silent thanks that the tree hadn't taken offense at her prodding as something rustled in one of the low bushes ahead of her. Sofia froze in place and waited. Maybe it was a raccoon? Or maybe a jackalope, given her luck today.

It was neither. A flash of pure white became briefly visible within the foliage. A moment later, the graceful figure of a delicate swan shuffled into the clearing. It ruffled its feathers, picking a stray leaf from its back with its narrow black beak.

Wow. It's beautiful.

Sofia remained where she was, not wanting to spook the thing. Especially as five more followed it out into the clearing. But rather than continuing forward and going on their merry way, the lead swan turned and spotted her. It gave a small honk, then turned and began heading straight for her.

The six swans approached without even the tiniest hint of fear. As they neared, the lead one honked at her. It was a deep sound, something like a cross between a trumpet and a squeaky toy.

Her brow furrowed. Am I in its territory or something? It doesn't seem overly aggressive or anything, but…

The swan honked again, a little more insistently this time. It extended its neck forward to indicate her hand. The one holding her still-unfinished sandwich.

Oh. Duh.

The whole dryad thing had distracted her enough that she had all but forgotten about the last of her lunch. She'd just been holding it this entire time, not taking so much as a single bite since she'd come outside.

“Sorry, little guy. That's my food. I can't give it to you.”

She was already talking to trees. What was the harm in talking to some birds, too?

The bird trumpeted and flapped its wings in obvious disagreement at the statement. Sofia sighed. “Fine. I can give you a piece.”

She tore a corner off her sandwich and tossed it to the bird. Its long neck extended, black beak snapping out to catch the morsel and gulp it down greedily. Rather than mollifying the bird, however, it seemed to only become bolder. It trumpeted repeatedly as its buddies joined in, demanding some for themselves until she gave them pieces as well.

“What? I already gave you some!” She said in exasperation. Despite her generosity, the birds continued to hound her. “Don't be greedy.”

The swans began to advance, stretching their wings out wide to make themselves look bigger. She stepped back.

What is wrong with these swans? They're even more aggressive than geese!

Eventually, Sofia gave in. “Fine! Take the dang sandwich, just go away.”

She tossed the remainder of her lunch into the fray. The birds immediately lost interest in her and began to swarm it, pecking excitedly at their prize.

Sofia shook her head. She'd already been considering going inside, but now? It was settled. No way she wanted to be here when the swans finished her sandwich and realized she was fresh out of food.

Oh, well. It wasn't a particularly good sandwich anyway. And I ate enough of Gretchen's pizza squares for lunch that I'm not too hungry.

As discreetly as she could manage, Sofia began sneaking away from the swans. They paid her no mind. Even once they'd finished, the birds simply waddled away into the woodline in apparent satisfaction.

Sofia couldn't help but shake her head again. Even the normal animals were acting weird. She really couldn't catch a break.

***

As her lunch drew to a close, Sofia headed back toward her classroom. She gently pushed the door open, the motion casting a wedge of light into the hallway, before darting inside.

The darkened room lay quiet before her, save for the sounds of artificial rainfall and soft breathing. The brightness of the outdoors peeked through the shuttered windows in thin slivers that cast strange shadows across the nearby shelves and toys. All around the room, little lumpy shapes lay bundled atop portable cots where they softly rose and fell.

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She looked around in wonder at the room full of peacefully sleeping kids. She really did need to ask Ashley what her secret was.

“Back already?” The green woman rose from her chair. The motion made her skirt rustle with the sound of whispering leaves. “Goodness! How time does fly.”

Sofia nodded, eyeing her fellow teacher. She was tempted to ask her about being a dryad then and there, as crazy as it might sound.

No. I have to wait until the effects have worn off. Then there's way less likelihood that I'm somehow rationalizing her responses in my head, and I'll be able to judge her honest reaction better. Besides, I need to figure out how to ask.

“Anything I need to do while you're at lunch?”

“Nope!” Ashley beamed. “Just hang out and make sure no one gets carried off by anything that goes bump in the night!”

At this point, Sofia was half inclined to believe that the woman was being serious. But she held her peace.

Ashley slipped quietly out the door as Sofia took her place on the tiny chair overlooking the classroom. Now that she had a quiet moment to herself, she took the opportunity to reflect on the day and its events.

All of this with the hallucinations and fairytale stuff had really caught her off guard. Especially with how hard it had been to discount. Each and every strange happening she'd observed seemed to be grounded in reality, however tenuously. Nothing was magically appearing or disappearing nonsensically in her field of view, and the details and features of everything around her seemed to stay consistent over time. It really did seem like the entire daycare had just suddenly turned into something more fantastical.

Like something out of a storybook.

Dryads, fairies, orcs…Perhaps it made sense that there was a single unifying theme. Hadn't her first impression of the daycare been that of a fairytale cottage? Perhaps that observation was coloring her perception of everything around her.

She looked over at the softly glowing fairy sitting atop her mushroom. The little female figure sat with her chin on her one fist. Her other hand held a long rod vertically, occasionally rotating it end over end. Even as she watched, the glowing sprite let out a silent sigh of boredom.

It took Sofia a minute to realize what she was doing. The rod was a rainstick. The rain sounds weren’t coming from a speaker. They were from the little fairy giving herself arthritis over there.

That's… just dumb.

A thought struck her. She'd assumed that “Alexis” was just a cute nickname given to the little music-playing mushroom device. But what if…

Sofia shook her head and chastised herself for getting taken in by the illusion once again. Yet despite herself, she couldn't help but act as though all of this was real. How could she not? The sheer detail and thoroughness of the hallucinations made them practically impossible to separate from reality in some ways. Over and over, she kept having to catch herself and intentionally recall what the normal version of things looked like—or imagine it, in some cases.

Honestly. Is this what people with schizophrenia feel like? Do I have schizophrenia? No way, right?

She reviewed her symptoms. The hallucinations and delusions were certainly there, but she hadn’t experienced anything strange from an emotional standpoint, nor did her speech or motor skills seem particularly affected. Not to mention that schizophrenia wasn’t typically something that just appeared for a day then went away, as far as she understood. Then again, it wasn’t exactly an easy condition to self-diagnose…

As she once again mulled over the question of her sanity, one of the kids began to shift. She craned her neck to get a better look. Little Penny lay in her cot, tossing and turning in her sleep. Her eyes were squeezed shut, and a little frown of concern creased her forehead.

Sofia quietly began to stand, ready to go over and pat the girl back to sleep. But before she got the chance, another bit of movement caught her eye. Only this time, it wasn't one of the kids.

A bulbous red shape wriggled out from beneath an unconscious Todd’s arm. It silently scuttled across the floor on a collection of tiny legs, making its way toward the fussing Penny.

Sofia simply watched in bewilderment as the oversized crab plushie nestled under the little girl's arm. It then proceeded to gently pat her head with one squishy pincer. In moments, the little girl’s writhing ceased. Her face smoothed out as she slipped back into a more peaceful sleep.

She couldn’t help herself. After a few minutes of Penny being good and settled, Sofia stood and crossed the room toward the little girl’s cot. The crab plush still lay hunkered underneath her arm.

Carefully, Sofia extricated it from her grip. She felt a little bad about taking the stuffed animal. But she silently promised to return it once she’d gotten a good look.

The plush was indeed the same one she’d seen around the classroom before—a rotund red crab with oversized pincers. Snip-Snap, if she recalled correctly. Or Snip-Snap the Snuggle Crab, as was his full title.

Sofia held the crab, inspecting it from every side. Its beady oval eyes seemed to follow her no matter how she turned it.

I don’t see any mechanisms or anything like that… Nothing that says it should be able to move. She gave it an experimental squish. It’s just fluff.

Not that she really expected anything like that. After all, why would things start making logical sense now?

After a few more moments of inspection, Snip-Snap seemed to get fed up with her prodding. The annoyed crab reached out and pinched her nose with its claw.

Sofia blinked. The pinch didn’t do anything, of course. It was a stuffed animal. In fact, the attempted attack was honestly a little adorable.

The crab pinched again and again, wiggling as it attempted to ineffectively free itself from Sofia’s grasp. She stifled a giggle and obligingly set it on the ground. Snip-Snap seemed to huff in annoyance before nuzzling under Penny’s arm once more. It gave Sofia one final glare before closing its eyes and joining the little girl in her nap—quite the accomplishment, seeing that the plush didn't have any eyebrows.

Sofia watched over the pair for a moment longer before returning to her seat, a small smile on her lips.

Well. Maybe Todd wasn’t kidding about Snip-Snap coming over all by himself.