Birds were chirping as the sunlight shone through the closed eyes of the girl, who was still comfortably sleeping in her bed, completely oblivious to the fact that this was actually not her bed.
A black cat meowed near the girl's head, purring afterwards. The brunette yawned and stretched her limbs.
"What time is it?" She asked herself, not wanting to get up but having the need to do it. She opened her eyes and sat down on the bed.
The same cat jumped on the floor and brushed against the girl's leg. The little feline fellow seemed to be very happy to see the girl finally awake.
The brunette rubbed her eyes while she was sitting on the comfortable bed.
"I don't have a cat." She said in a sleepy morning voice and yawned again. Even after yesterday's horrible fight, she slept very well. However, the air around her did not smell like the previous day. All around her it smelled like flowers, as if she were in a flower shop. When the girl was still confused she looked around the unfamiliar place and came to the conclusion, that this is not the room she fell asleep in last night.
When she realized, she quickly stood up and ran around the room with panic, searching for any kind of evidence that would show her, where she is and what happened.
"Wait, am I kidnapped?!" She got scared and pulled her hair in stress. As she was pulling her strands, she noticed, that it was not its usual color, texture or length.
A medium-sized mirror that was nailed to the wall opposite her bed was waiting for her to come to it and start to wonder who is the girl in it.
"No frickin way. That is not me." She said while she was walking towards the mirror, where there was nothing she expected. When she looked down at her body, she understood, that it made sense that the girl in the mirror was herself. After she reached it, she started waving her hand in front of the mirror to verify that it was truly her.
The pale girl in the mirror looked about 165cm (5'5) tall, which was shorter, taller or same as [Name] was. Her long brown wavy hair that reached her waist was disheveled because of her pulling it seconds before. She saw her chocolate colored eyes turning a new shade of golden thanks to the sunlight that was visiting the room through the big window next to her bed.
The black cat watched the disoriented girl curiously.
"Am I dreaming?" She questioned herself and grabbed a nearby decorated flower pot.
"Well, there's only one way to know."
The brunette then dropped the flower pot on her toe which only resulted in the cat getting bristled in fright and the girl screaming from pain.
"OH MY GOD! OUCH!" She grabbed her injured bleeding instep while she was jumping around on the healthy one.
Meanwhile the startled animal wasn't to be seen in the room anymore. The girl hopped on the bed and sat down facing the mirror.
"Shit, this is not a dream. Well, what do we do now?" She stared at her reflexion and noticed her soft features and plump lips. She felt so...
"Ugly." The girl commented her new reflexion in a sassy tone. She raised her eyebrow. It felt so bizarre to start looking completely different without a warning the next day you wake up, and besides...
"I'm much prettier as [Name] than this woman in the mirror that's probably me right now." The brunette was finally calming down, knowing, that she could not get away from her current situation. She looked at her leg again. It was now swollen and was bleeding. The shattered flower pot was still laying sadly on the ground.
"I can do it, I can handle it." She took a deep breath. The girl should probably stop her instep from bleeding.
Because of the voices of people she heard from outside, she thought that something was probably going on there. And then she heard the clack of horses following clapping. As if someone important had arrived.
"Elise!" she heard a girly voice calling someone and the sound of the door opening. Suddenly, a short, blonde girl dressed in a long medieval dress barged into the brunette's room and grabbed her shoulders with wide eyes.
The blonde girl stared at the brunette with her gray eyes looking like she wants to say something. "Elise! Where were you? You were supposed to already be at the market with your flowers!" The girl who was holding the other one looked panicked while she started scanning the other girl who was still in her white night gown and was looking pretty confused.
'Elise? Who is Elise? I'm not Elise right? Who is this woman who's calling me Elise?' - The brunette thought. She gets that she looks different and is in a different place, but is she Elise? Elise who? And maybe is [Name] kidnapped and on some kind of drugs that's making her feel like this? Million questions popped in her head.
"Oh my! Elise! You're injured! Did this flower pot fall on your leg? Wait, this is your favorite one!" The blondie states in a worried tone and squatted in front of the injured girl, who had no idea of what was going on.
"Come on Elise, what's going on with you today? First, you didn't come to the market, then I found you disheveled in your sleeping clothes, your leg is bleeding and you didn't even treat it!" Her voice expressed genuine sadness. It seemed like she really didn't want anything to happen to the brunette so she tore a piece of fabric from her own dress and held it to the girl's bloodied instep.
"Elise, you're making me very concerned, why are you so quiet? I ran to your house as fast as I could when I saw the royal horses and knights and haven't see you anywhere! You know, the prince has arrived!" The uninjured girl explained while she was trying to treat the other girl's wound.
'Wait. Weird place, different body, someone named Elise, the prince....'
The brunette finally connected the dots.
"What the actual fuck." She proclaimed which made the blondie look up at her.
"What?" She asked, unsure if she heard her right.
"Am I Elise?" The brown-haired girl asked the girl treating her, who was now completely bamboozled.
"Umm...of course you are?"
. . .
[Name], now supposedly being Elise, mostly likely a protagonist from a fantasy romance game which she played last night, passed out rather than deal with the weird situation hoping, that she would wake up in her own room and in her own body.
The panicked blonde girl, most likely being a friend of Elise's, laid the unconscious girl back in her bed and took care of her, put a wet cloth on her head, treated her leg properly and prepared tea for the girl to drink when she wakes up.
After an hour passed, "Elise" finally woke up. The blonde explained to her that her name was Juliet and that the girl had probably fallen on her head and completely forgot who she was, that Juliet was her friend and that she had to go sell flowers. No other explanation made sense for the worried friend, even though she couldn't find any head damage.
[Name] took in the fact, that she's now trapped as Elise and has to go by that name from now. She agreed to Juliet's story, but she still felt weird about the whole thing. At least she already has a friend.
Juliette and Elise chatted for a while and from what Juliette was saying she was probably an inn employee. She said that a few days ago a strange cloaked man had slept at their inn, who didn't speak much and only paid them for one night. The next morning, not a soul saw him leave, but his room was already empty and the keys were left there. So no one addressed it further, but it still remains a mystery.
As they talked, more time passed. Juliette went to look out the window and found that the royal party was nowhere to be seen.
"It looks like we missed the prince." The blondie said in a disappointed tone.
Elise clutched the duvet tightly. She remembered, that the original Elise encountered the prince when he exceptionally visited the village.
Well, the Elise she is now, haven't encountered the prince. What if something goes wrong? This is not what was supposed to happen in the game. But is this even a game anymore?
[Name] started stressing again. She is sure that this is not a dream and is her reality, but she is worried. Was not her destiny to meet the prince? What if some kind of system kills her off because she did not follow the main plot?
Abruptly, she felt soft fingers on her clutching hand.
"Hey, are you okay?" The soft fingers belonged to her friend, who carefully asked her. Her silvery eyes radiated understanding. Elise felt like she could tell them anything.
"I'm, in fact, not okay. And I feel bad for not telling you, but I still remember nothing. I must've hit my head pretty hard." The brunette said half truth, it is true that she does not have the original Elise's memories, but it is false that she hit her head. To be quite honest, it is even suspicious thanks to the fact, she does not have any head injury.
Juliet sighed and patted Elise's arm.
"It's okay, I'm sure you will remember somehow. To make my proper introductions until you remember, I am Juliet, the only daughter of the inn's owner. We've been friends since our childhood, before your parents...did you forget that too?"
"Yeah, I know that I'm an orphan." Thank god [Name] at least remembers that Elise's parents are dead. She does not know the cause, but at least she know they are not around anymore.
Juliet gave her a sympathetic smile.
"I'm glad you at least recalled something," the friend took the other girl's hand and started holding it and looked deeply into her brown eyes, "I will help you get your memories back!" She promised.
A smile appeared on Elise's face. She no longer felt weird or sad. The close proximity which the original Elise had with Juliet was making her feel familiar warmth.
"Can you please show me the village then?"