Her Broken Spell

The Beginning of Her Broken Spell

There was just darkness and suddenly, there was a flicker of light. She wanted to reach that glimmer of hope so she followed its source. The speck of light became brighter and brighter until she was momentarily blinded by it. She could hear muffled voices, like the sound traveling underwater. She could feel soft cotton beneath her. Slowly, she was awakened from a deep slumber.

She blinked several times to adjust from the brightness of the room. The place was filled with warmth as the glass windows gave way to the morning sun's rays. Even the cream-colored walls and white curtains made the surroundings even brighter.

She tried to move her limbs but they wouldn't budge. Slowly, she craned her neck and was surprised that her muscles did not protest. She scanned the room until her gaze reached the open double doors. Outside, she could see two women talking. She thought that the women felt her gaze on them as both of them looked her way. Surprise was evident on both their faces.

"Call for Karyl," one of the women ordered in a very strict tone.

She watched as the other woman scurried away while the other one slowly approached her. The stranger was tall, and her pale skin looked even paler in her black clothes. Her straight strawberry blonde hair was tied in a high ponytail and her piercing green eyes stared at her.

"Greetings. My name is Irina," the red-haired stranger said with a tight smile that seemed to be a forced one because it did not reflect in her eyes.

She tried to squeak a reply but she couldn't form the words that she wanted to say. Irina helped her sit and gave her a glass of water.

"Thank you," she said in a barely a whisper.

"It's alright. You've been unconscious for a very long time so you'll also need some time to speak and move. Do you remember anything?"

She tried to recall anything about her but it was futile. She shook her head, "No. Who–?"

But before Irina could answer her, a woman with champagne colored hair barged inside the room. The new stranger's blue eyes assessed her before she introduced herself.

"You're really awake. I'm Karyl, your healer. I'll just check your vital signs, alright?"

She nodded in reply.

"Please don't be nervous, sweetie," the healer told her in a soothing voice as opposed to Irina's hard tone.

"She seems to have lost her memories," Irina informed Karyl.

"Yes. That is totally normal for now. Her brain needs some time to adjust just like her body. We'll perform some brain exercises and she must also have some physical therapy to regain muscle control," Karyl replied.

Irina's face was unreadable while Karyl's was very welcoming. She did not know what to feel or what to expect since she did not even know how she ended up with them. After some time, Karyl excused herself saying that she also had to attend to other patients.

"I wanted someone else to explain everything to you. But right now, everyone is busy so I had to do this," Irina said with the same icy voice.

"Alright," she tried to reply.

"You were involved in a vehicular accident. Your unconscious body was found several hours after but your friend was already dead," Irina said.

She must admit that she was surprised at how the woman delivered the news. Despite the straightforward explanation, she did not really feel sad about it since she could not remember neither the pain during the crash nor the 'friend' that was with her.

She waited for some follow up story or any valuable details but a minute passed and Irina was just staring at her.

"Th-That was it?" she tried to pronounce.

"Does it not suffice? What else do you want to know?" Irina asked, devoid of any emotion.

Everything.

But she did not want to ask for that since she could not really gauge Irina's emotions. So she settled in asking for a mirror. She knew that her skin was brown and that she had long straight black hair but she was curious about what she looked like. When Irina returned and gave her request, she was surprised at the face looking back at her.

She had a small face, pointed nose, rosebud lips and brown irises.

She did not know why but she was expecting something different. She felt like she did not belong to the person staring back at her. But then again, she could not remember anything. That must be why she felt conflicted.

"Do you need anything else, Esmeralda?" Irina asked.

Upon hearing the name, there was pain in her head but was gone in an instant.

"Esmeralda?" she asked.

"Yes, it's your name."

Again, there was that feeling that something was off.

There was a nagging voice inside her that made her speak up. "Dionne," she whispered.

"You'd like to be called Dionne?" Irina asked.

She hesitated but nodded eventually.

"Alright, Dionne." She was surprised by the familiarity it brought her. But she was more surprised that Irina agreed without any qualms. The red-haired woman must have seen her puzzled face.

"What? If you want to be 'Dionne' then you can be 'Dionne'. It's your life anyway," Irina seriously said.

"Family?" she tried to ask.

"No, we're not biologically related. But your parents took care of you while you were in a coma before your welfare was entrusted to me."

"Where?" she wanted to ask for her parents but could only utter a single word.

"They're dead," Irina said without missing a beat.

Irina's unemotional façade must really be a part of her personality, Dionne thought. At this point, she should not be surprised at how stoic Irina delivers the news. While Irina was indifferent, she felt saddened at the notion that her parents were gone.

"When?" she asked again.

Irina seemed to understand her questions without asking further because she answered, "All I know is that they reached old age before they passed away more or less thirty years ago."

"Wha- How?"

"I knew I shouldn't do the explaining," Irina muttered to herself. "That is not the only shocking thing that you should know."

Still, it did not explain anything, she thought. She wanted to voice her concerns on how awful Irina was in storytelling. She agreed that the woman was good at understanding one-word questions but dreadful at explaining.

"Go on..." she encouraged.

Irina's answer did nothing to clear her doubts and confusions. In fact, it made her head dizzy in disbelief as it added another question left unanswered.

"Well, you haven't aged a day since the accident which happened around fifty years ago."