Remember Then

II. The Messenger

Her lids were heavy as they fluttered open.

The intense pain in her head followed and she shut them close once again, her mind concentrated on numbing the pain. And as it did ebb away, she remembered what she saw when she opened her eyes.

Nothing.

Utter blackness.

She gasped and forced her eyes to open again. The pain that followed was far less intense than the confusion and panic rising inside her.

She panted for breath, whimpering in pain and loss. But what had she lost? Why couldn't she...

Why couldn't she remember?

"I see yer awake."

That low, terrifying voice was the last Sophia heard before she shot up in bed, drenched in sweat and nightmare.

Gasping for a semblance of control, she slowly let out a shaky breath as her hands blindly wiped her damp curls off her forehead. Her bed bounded as her dog jumped over her lap with a whimper, nuzzling its head on her lap in comfort.

"It's all right, Aabha." She hardly recognized her own terrified whisper. It was not new to her for it was not the first that she had to wake up from that first memory of this life. Whatever happened before that had abandoned her.

Aabha moved his head off her when she gently pushed him away. Sophia reached for her bedside lamp. She heard the click as it turned on but her sight remained in utter darkness. She could not seem to shake off the habit of turning the bedside lamp on before she would pad her way to the opposite wall across her bed and turn on the ceiling lamp, one she did now.

Faint light seeped through her eternal darkness when the ceiling lamp lit up. She blinked a few times to allow her sight to focus on the shadows. Aabha's white form was still on the bed. A smaller black form was sitting not far from the bedpost. Brigid, the cat, meowed as she neared.

Slipping back into the warmth of the sheets, Sophia uttered and whispered, "I am well, my friends. Fret not."

When she managed to go back to sleep, another dream crept in and Sophia smiled.

A man was forcing himself on her and the Sophia in her dream was fighting a whimpered cry as her skirts were pushed up to her hips, her wrists being held high over her head in a tight, powerful grip.

Everything will be all right, she wanted to whisper to the crying Sophia, knowing full well what would happen next.

And like in all other dreams, it did happen. The sound of the door slamming against the wall came and the painful grip of the man was snatched away. His heavy weight left her and the tattered bed.

The next she heard was the dream Sophia asking the stranger, "You own me?"

"Not really, no," the soothing voice said, "but I did pay for you, yes."

It will be all right, Sophia whispered in her sleep, soothing the girl in the dream. I swear it will be all right.

"You will leave with me," the stranger's voice said.

"B-but what do you intend to do with me, milord?" The raw fear in her voice was undeniable. Go with him. It is all right, she whispered in her sleep again.

"You will work for me."

"Service you?" came the dream Sophia's question.

It will be all right, I promise, Sophia murmured in her sleep.