Hold On, I'm Here

Chapter 2

When Emma finally stirred again from her deep sleep, she found the room in almost complete darkness. It took her a little while to work out that she had rolled over and was facing the wall and stretched a little as she rolled over onto her other side. Then she stopped and paused and thought for a moment. She was able to move without feeling anything. She frowned, and lay on her back again. She took a deep breath. Nothing. The pain in her ribs was gone, nothing but a dull ache that was barely noticeable. Slowly, she propped herself up on her elbows and pushed herself up so she was sitting. She smiled a little. It didn’t seem real. She pushed back the sheets and swung her legs over the side of the bed, letting her feet feel the floor beneath them. She hadn’t noticed that the floor was wooden before, and it felt lovely and cool underfoot. She stayed there a while, just enjoying the quiet. Her eyes fell upon the desk and in the middle of it was a piece of paper. Emma had no idea if that had been there all the time or if it was new, but it sparked her interest. She reached over and picked it up easily, her fingers now responding to her every command. On the paper was some scruffy, almost illegible handwriting scrawled across it, but Emma could just about make out what it said:

Emma-

You may get up and have a shower and get changed. Clothes are in the wardrobe. Sorry about the lack of choice.

From Aria

Emma smiled at the paper, placing it back on the table. How thoughtful, she thought to herself. Gingerly, she stood up, but she felt fine. In fact, she felt better than fine. She felt like she was stronger, but she definitely didn’t look it. She walked over to the wardrobe, and opened it. She saw what Aria meant about the lack of choice. There only really one kind of shirt and one kind of trousers to wear. Everything was so neat, and clean and crisp. On the right hand side, there was what looked to be a drycleaners bag, but Emma didn’t know what was inside it and she didn’t really want to look. After a small amount of rummaging, she found everything she needed, and walked towards the wooden door, guessing that that was the bathroom. Her guess was right.

Inside the bathroom, it looked just as modern and clean as the room attached to it. The shower was huge, with cream tiles everywhere and a silver showerhead installed in the ceiling above. There wasn’t a bath, which was disappointing for Emma. She loved taking baths on bad days, or when she was feeling down. She put the clothes neatly on the floor and next to it lay the towel. It then occurred to her that the floor felt warm and she knelt down, and placed her hand on the floor. As she suspected, it was a heated floor. Emma frowned, confused. What was this place? She stood up again and turned on the shower, after a little time taken fiddling with all the knobs to work out which was the correct one. The water sounded powerful, but she didn’t mind. And she didn’t mind at all once she stepped under the flow. The water was beautifully warm and Emma wanted to stay in it forever. But she knew it wouldn’t last and so after while she stepped out again, quickly drying herself and got dressing. The clothes fit her well enough, but weren’t at all flattering. She went to go and look in the mirror, but the steam from the hot water had settled on the surface. She sighed and started to wipe it off, but after a single stroke, she stopped and stared at herself. She barely recognised herself.

She can’t have been there more than a few days, but the change was noticeable. She looked much thinner than before, her facial features now clearly distinctive. Her light brown hair looked dark and lacked the glow it used to have. Emma spent the next few minutes just staring at her reflection in the mirror. She didn’t understand how she could have changed so much in such a small amount of time. A light knock on the door made her jump and she spun around.

“Who is it?” she called out, her voice much higher than she would have liked.

“I’m here to take you to see the Director.” A voice answered. She didn’t recognise the voice, and she felt panic spread over her again. She wanted it to be Aria so badly. She wanted something to be familiar, something to make her feel at ease. But when she opened the door, a man in a long white coat was standing there, wearing a fake wide grin.