Awake

~Chapter 1~ 
    I was floating in darkness. I knew not how long I was there. Days? Weeks? Years? I don't know. At one point my darkness was infiltrated by broken, senseless pictures. It felt like I was moving. It felt like the pictures were important. At the same time, it felt like I wasn't moving. Like the pictures didn't matter. So I payed them no attention. In a matter of minutes (or seconds? Who knows? It could be centuries for all I knew) they were gone. The light they had brought with them, gone. I was left to my isolation.
    Occasionally I would try to see if I had remembered something. Try to see if I could find out something about my life. I always came up with a blank. It was like there was a black wall that wouldn't let me through. I was stuck. So I wondered aimlessly in the quiet darkness. Then, that all changed.
    I had reached a certain point. My instincts told me that if I passed that point I would leave the quiet darkness I had been wondering in for so long. However, I wouldn't be able to return. Beyond this point I would enter an entirely new darkness. 
    I was tired of wondering aimlessly. I wanted something other than this darkness. I wanted color. I wanted sound. I wanted to actually use my senses. So I did what any person would have done. I passed the point.
    Soon enough I heard voices. At first I couldn't understand what the voices were saying. I would be stuck in a new darkness, surrounded by voices speaking in a language I don't understand. Fear sparked inside me at the thought. But then, all of a sudden, my mind registered the words.
    'Egyptian' went through my thoughts. My mind, almost automatically, translated everything the voices said in a way I could understand.
    "...killed nearly half the servants and some of the guards," a woman's voice said.
    "How horrifying!" exclaimed an older woman's voice.
    "Not only that, but the name Isis gave her...such an ominous name," the woman said gravely. The sentence had perked my (and apparently the older woman's) interest. It appeared to me that these women were gossiping about me. If they were, I could find out valuable information. Finding information about my life would take a bit of time, but my name. My name would give me an identity. I would no longer be nameless. I waited eagerly in the darkness for the old woman to ask the inevitable. 
    "Her name?" she said curiously, "What is her name?"
    'Yes! What is my name, you greedy, attention deprived girl!' I thought.
    "Isis apparently had said her name was Eydis," the woman said. The old woman gasped.
    "Eye of the storm? Oh, this does not bode well for the future," the old woman spoke in a shocked, hushed tone of voice.
    I half listened to the rest of their petty gossip. Eydis! That was my name! It sounded lovely in my ears. It's meaning held nothing of interest to me. Even if it did, the eye of the storm may be the source of it, but it's also the safest place to be in a storm.
    I was so excited about my discovery that I had barely noticed the voices becoming louder, clearer. My eyes were becoming heavy. Slowly, I realized I was leaving my darkness. It scared me.
    The darkness was the only thing I knew. I found that I had grown used to it. It was comforting now instead of suffocating. I realized that I was afraid to leave the one thing I had yearned to get away from just moments ago. I smiled to myself at the irony. I got over my fear of leaving the darkness and began to get excited. It would be the first time in my memoryless life that I was waking up. Anyone in my position would get excited at that. I snapped out of my musings when I noticed a new, male voice interrupt the women.
    "Your highness/Pharaoh!" they exclaimed. I heard some shifting somewhere beside me.
 "You two should be ashamed! Gossiping instead of caring for ill!" I raised an imaginary eyebrow at his reprimanding. The ill? Are they talking about me? I certainly don't feel ill. Then again...what does being ill feel like? The man sighed before speaking.
    "Get up. Tell me has there been any change?"
    'Yes!'
    "No, your highness," they murmured humbly.
    'Yes there is you gossiping idiots! I'm waking up! In a matter of minutes (I think, time is weird) my eyes will be open and I'll actually be seeing color and stuff!' I thought angrily.
    "I see," the man paused then said, "Leave now. I wish to be alone."
    I don't know who was more shocked. The gossiping cows at the fact their precious pharaoh wants to be alone with little bad luck me. Or me at the fact that they actually shut up and did what he asked.*
    Once they left the man sighed and moved closer to me (from what I could hear). I felt him touch my hair slightly. I jumped at his touch (and subconsciously realized I could feel). I'm so close to waking up. I still had the smallest urge possible to stay in the darkness, and it seemed to know it. It latched on to me, trying to bring me back and never let go. Still in my internal battle to wake up, the pharaoh had noticed my involuntary jump. His hand stopped and he let out a small gasp.
    "You...did you feel my hand? Are you...actually awake and just pretending to be asleep?" he asked, his voice started t rise as he got more and more excited.
     His excited silence irked me, making my nose twitch in annoyance. He sucked in an excited breath.
    "You are waking up aren't you? I'll go call for a healer!" I heard him moving to leave. The thought of my only companion leaving pained me. I suppose my face showed my pain.
    "Are you in pain? Or is it...you don't want me to leave? No Tutankhamen not be silly. She doesn't care about that! She might not even know you!"
    Tutankhamen? Goddess! What a mouthful. I now know his name though. My fingers started twitching. I felt some sort of soft material under me. There was a soft, liquidly sort of material on me. 
    'Linen and silk' my mind provided.
    The air was hot but my body felt cool. The clothes I was wearing (also proved by my mind) were light and airy. A cooling breeze I supposed entered through an open window (again, mind) pleased me to no end. Finally the darkness released me.
    I slowly opened my eyes and let them adjust to the long-awaited light. Sunlight poured into the spacious room. The walls were white and made the room seem even brighter. The window really was open and revealed a clear, blue sky. Next to me there was a sort of table. On it were these beautiful white flowers whose petals had pink edge. They felt important. I turned my head to stare at them more comfortably. 
    I stared at the flowers trying to figure out what that nagging feeling at the back of my head was trying to tell me. Then I heard something shifting next to me. I turned my head and saw a young man. He looked to be around my age. His skin was a different color than mine but it was still light. His pitch black hair barely reached his chin. His chest was bare and he wore some sort of decorated cloth around his waist. For some reason my mind was telling me to be relieved about the cloth. How strange.*
    His eyes were wide in wonder and excitement. He took a step back as I tried to sit up. At first my body wouldn't cooperate. Slowly, it started to do as I commanded it to though. I turned my gaze back to the man. He looked young before but now he appeared to be like�"what is it? Oh, that's right! An excited child on Christmas. Whatever Christmas is. My mind doesn't want to clearly tell me what it is.
    The more we stared at each other, the more I wanted to confirm his name. I started to wonder what my voice would sound like. Would it be deep like his? Crackly like the older woman's? Or smooth and annoyingly high pitched like the other woman's? Would I be able to speak Egyptian? If not, who would teach me? Could they teach me? Or would I not be able to speak at all? What if I am a...mute? Yes that's the term, mute.
    The silence and never-ending questions was getting me no where. I decided to speak and started open my mouth when a sound rang out, surprising us. I got scared and nearly jumped off whatever I was on. It was so high-pitched and so close. He must have seen my fear for he took step towards me and tried to comfort me.
    "Don't be scared," he said gently, "It's just the bell on your choker." He pointed to my neck when he said that. I quickly looked down and saw a strip of black ribbon wrapped around my neck. At its center was a small sliver sphere with tiny holes. Hesitantly, I reached up and touched the sphere. The sound rang out again. My eyes widened in astonishment at the sound. The boy laughed at my expression.
    "You act like you've never seen a bell before," he laughed. I scrunched up my eyebrows in confusion and cocked my head to the side.
    "A...bell?" I said slowly, "What is a bell?" He stopped laughing and stared at me.
    "A bell is the thing you just touched," he said. He raised his arm and poked the "bell", making the sound again. My skin became sensitive as I watched him touch the bell. When he pulled his hand away and my skin went back to normal, I looked at the bell. It made such a pretty sound. Then it hit that I could speak. In Egyptian! I tried again to ask him his name.
    "Are you...um...Tutan...Tutaint..." I struggled to say his name.
    "Tutankhamen?" he asked. I nodded vigorously. "Yes, that is me. How do you know my name?" 
    "I heard some women say it when I heard you enter earlier," I replied. He nodded in understanding. 
    He looked like he was think hard about something that was bothering him. I wonder what it is. I bit my lip as a thought came to me.
    "Can I�"" I started, his eyes flickered over to me, "Can I call you something else? You name is too hard for me to say or remember."
    His eyes widened in shock. I thought he would refuse so I quickly looked down. I closed my eyes ready for rejection. Then he started to laugh. I snapped my eyes opened and looked at his laughing face.
    "Yes," he said through his laughter, "You may call me something else. Do you have any ideas?" I nodded.
    "Tut, short for Tuta...well short for your name. Since its the only part of your name I can get right." Tut chuckled and agreed. 
    I wanted to take off the "choker" but I needed him to tell me how. I told him what I wanted to do asked for his help. However Tut said I can't take it off and he can't help me take it off. He said that it's not allowed. That I can never take it off. I asked him why but he said he didn't know why. That it just is.
    Tut wanted to go and call a healer because he was worried about something (he refuses to tell me). But he was the only one I knew in this place. I didn't want him to leave me alone. I was scared that I would go back to the darkness. He looked shocked when I suddenly grabbed his wrist. His eyes softened though when he saw my expression. He sat back down and told a servant to call the healer instead.
    Tut sat with me, trying to explain things while we were waiting for the servant to return with the healer. I was fascinated by all the objects and places there were in this place and the stories of how they came to be.
Tut told me his uncle Sefu had found me. We were currently staying at Sefu's home. However, Tut said he would take care of me, not his uncle. At that point the servant had returned. Tut stood and was silently discussing something with him. While they were talking I was silently happy and celebrating at Tut's words. I felt comforted to be in his care. I felt like right now I can only trust him. That Tut is the only one I can rely on to keep me safe.

Author's Note

Please ignore grammar problems and excuse the spelling errors. Also I don't know much about pharaoh tutankhamen's family so his family tree is a figment of my imagination.

*I'm sorry I couldn't help putting that in