Chapter 2 - Recognition

she awakes in a strange room, and leaves to find even stranger surroundings.

 

I open my eyes. Light seeps through a crack in the snow white drapes, casting soft shadows around me. I sit up, panicked. This isn’t where I fell asleep.

I remember it clearly, the cold concrete of the alleyway, the patter of rain on the ground, the cold emptiness of my mind, and the footsteps...

What made those footsteps?

Now I’m in a bedroom. Soft sepia walls outline the peaceful atmosphere, paintings framed along them, windows casting muted light into the fixture-less setting.

I feel softness all around me, and I look down. I’m laying in a bed. A large bed. I don’t remember anything like it. Then again, why would I? It was easily twice - no, three times - the width of the alleyway, covered with thick, soft blankets filled with down, pillows large enough for me to sleep on by themselves. I was surrounded by clouds and warmth.

I stood up quickly, getting out of the bed. Where on earth am I? And, more importantly...

...How did I get here?

I sat up in the bed quickly and threw my legs over the side. I stepped quietly to the door, my steps making no noise over the fluff of the white carpet, pulling it ajar with a slight jerk. Not so much of a creek escaped the ivory wood.

I stepped into the hallway, shielding my eyes. It was brighter here, and I cringed, the corridor alight with fluorescent streams, not even corners were left shadowed. I stepped carefully forward, able to remove my hand as my eyes slowly adjusted to the pain of the brightness. My mind was flying, trying to figure out where I was. The carpet continued into the hallway, but it was a different color. A deep scarlet, like blood.The atmosphere was wrong in here, less clean. Less pure. Gone were the peachy walls and covers, the soothing paintings of long forgotten landscapes, the soft light sifted through the filtered windows.

I was somewhere unholy. Somewhere where angels couldn't sleep and the light of day hadn't shone for more than brief passes through the clouds. I felt that immediately, the intuition that I should turn around and lock myself away, yet I continued onward.

The lightness of the bedroom was replaced by forbidding shades of deep grays and smoky blues. The floor was cloaked by a deep scarlet cover, the walls shadowed and confining, like the souls of the dead hung tight to the fibers of the wall. Smoky, muted blues entwined in the fixtures on the ceiling, creating the illusion of a falling sky.

The walls were no longer framed with beautiful, lush landscaped and unhindered terrain, rather with grotesque creatures and images of tortured beings.

My mind screamed, and my eyes closed tight.

I shouldn’t be here.

Nowhere near here, nowhere like here.

I swiveled away from the wall, ready to dash back into the welcoming softness of the creamy swirls woven in the wallpaper, the cotton confines of the downy throw on the bed, where there were no more harsh angles or frighteningly demonic pictures...

but I was completely lost.

While I was caught in the moment and enthralled by the shocking decorations of this new and unwelcome section of the building, I had wandered too far down the corridor, too far away from my lovely prison, and I could no longer make out the difference between what I had come to think of as “my” door, and the others, nor was I brave enough to open each of them and subject myself to unknown horrors to find out.

I shook my head, trying to clear it and remember which direction I had come from before I got turned around, and I felt clouds of dirt rain down from my hair, mussing up the pristine carpet. I lifted my hands just enough to see that they were still grimy and disgusting, coated with what I could only imagine was dirt, and somehow that was reassuring to me.

At least whoever brought me here hadn't bathed me as well.

I gathered what was left of my shattered courage and trudged down the corridor, each step bringing my mind farther from its destination, each second spent walking making the hallway stretch out farther and farther before me, away from me.

I closed my eyes to keep out the whispers of doubt and fear, and kept on walking. The darkness behind my eyelids made it possible for me to continue, as long as I couldn't see the paintings, or the blood tainted carpet, or the intimidating fixtures hanging above the doors.

I walked forward, pushing my way through the terror that I felt lay before me, until...

I found myself sitting on the floor, my slow mind vaguely registering that I had hit something. The impact was soft, slightly flexible, as if I had hit...

...A person.

My eyes flew open, a million unwelcome thoughts crossing through my brain at the same time, leaving myself unable to analyze each one, and they widened as I looked up into the face of the man standing before me.

The first thing I noticed were his eyes. His searing yellow eyes, the irises flaring into sparks of magma. They fixed into a glare, locking onto my own, bearing through my soul, seeming to unlock every secret I’ve ever hidden, any memories that lay buried beneath the surface, though I still couldn’t uncover them for myself.

His scowl was permanently etched into my new memories, the disapproving line only offset by the softness of his lips...

I couldn’t stop staring at his eyes.

They transfixed me, but I was able to break the gaze and examine the rest of him.

His hair, though... it was a platinum blond, nearly white... or maybe it was white? I couldn’t tell exactly, the colors were blurred, my vision still adjusting from the sudden impact. His hair was maybe an inch and a half long, set in soft spikes from the crown of his head, though they were obviously natural, and not made with gel. And he had piercings.

A lot of piercings.

Several along his earlobes and cartilage, as well as one in his eyebrow, nose, and a two small hoops over the left corner of his mouth.

He was tall, definitely tall, though that might have just been because of where I was sitting.

On the floor.

By his feet.

He was wearing a suit, though that hardly registered as strange in my mind at this point. After all, my only memories were of an unknown hospital, a bleak alleyway, and a freaky demonic hallway. His suit was slightly disheveled, as though it was casual wear.

Though, by the look of him, it wasn't a far-fetched idea.

“Aren’t you going to stand up?” His voice was deep and rich, like an extremely educated man, though tone was condescending, as though speaking to a child. Which I might as well be at this point, compared to him, and when considering my almost childlike sense of reasoning.

I mean, what was I thinking, to go exploring in this forbidding place?

I kept silent, my voice not working, coupled with the fear of what I might say to this frightening person.

“Well, get up, then.” He nearly growled, the undertone causing me to stand up slowly, afraid of any action he might take against me at any slight misdemeanor on my part, and I shriveled back slightly at his fiery gaze.

“You’re filthy,” he spits out with disgust, wrinkling his nose. “Why haven’t you bathed yet? You’re ruining the scent and cleanliness of my home.”

My eyes widened and my draw nearly dropped, though I stopped it in time. This was his home? Who on earth would have a home like this? He must be insane. I tried to meet his eyes, but flinched away once again.

When I thought about it, it wasn't actually surprising that he lived here.

A flash of recognition lit my mind like a forgotten flame, and my eyes widened. I have seen this face over and over again, flashing through the back of my mind.

This was the only person I had a memory of sing I awakened.

This is the only person with a link to what happened to me.

This is my only memory.

I turned, and I ran. I ran faster than I did when the doctors, or the cops, were chasing me. The air rushed past me, causing a faint ringing in my ears, a moaning of whispers in the wind, and I kept my eyes fully open.

I had left my door open all along.

I nearly slapped myself. All this trouble, all this terror, and the door was open.

I slipped through the door and turned around quickly, slamming the heavy door, and throwing the lock on the deadbolt immediately. The noise of the slam hurt my ears and I lean

with my back against the door, sliding to the ground, breathing heavily. I place my hands on the sides of my head over my ears, and I close my eyes tightly.

I let out soft gasps of fear and frustration.

I don’t want to see the soothing softness of this room.

I don’t want to look through the windows into a world I don't understand.

I don’t want to see the face of the only person I’ve recognized throughout my entire known existence...

I just wanted to disappear.

Author's Note

reviews would be greatly appreciated ^^