Annaliese heard it. The screech of brakes and the screaming voice that rattled her ears. When her eyes met the blinding headlights, she knew it was all over. She strangely remembered the silver color of the car, but before she could process it she was swallowed by blackness.
It felt like there was no time in between when she assumed she had awakened and the darkness. She could barely make out the shrill of sirens. Everything was so far away, as if she was hearing an echo of a branch snapping in a valley.
She blinked.
Everything had changed in one moment. Her head was no longer cloudy, but instead her sight was.
She couldn't breathe but she was somehow able to scream. The cries of a baby echoed back to her, a mocking salute to her death as she would later note.
Where was she? A hospital? It didn't look like one. There weren't any white walls. Rather they were dark and she couldn't move. A silky fabric had been wrapped around her body. It didn't exactly feel like bandages.
What about Daniel? Was he nearby?
She heard a woman speak. The language wasn't English. It was somewhat familiar, but nothing she was fluent in. Then, she heard a name.
"Penelope." It was whispered into her ear by a woman whose voice was exhausted, perhaps from worry.
Wait a moment.
Why was everything so much taller or rather bigger than her?
She raised her arm, or at least tried to wiggle her arm out, but the fabric that has been wrapped around her body hugged her too tightly to allow for movement.
Hearing footsteps, she directed her sight to the... Door? She followed with her eyes the shape of what appeared to be a person who walked away from the frame. Annaliese tried to ask a question but all that came out was a garbled mess.
She ran her tongue across where her teeth had to be and found nothing.
Please, don't let her have all of her teeth knocked out. That would be the absolute worst.
She again ran her tongue on the places teeth ought to be and there was only the feeling of rubbery gums.
Well, think positive. This wasn't the worst because she could have them replaced. It would cost a lot of money but at least she hadn't lost mobility in her limbs, and she could think clearly..
Where was the pain she was supposed to feel? Maybe the drugs they gave her made her so loopy that she couldn't really feel any pain.
The voices in the background, one was of a man and the other was the woman who had whispered into her ear.
Why did she whisper that name into her ear? Maybe the woman thought she was this person named Penelope.
She finally noticed something strange. The bedding underneath her was shifting!
Annaliese winced, waiting for pain to encounter her or at least uncomfortableness because of her injured body being moved. But nothing came about from the movement.
Why was the thing underneath her constantly making tiny movements.
She peered above her. There was a woman's face, though not clear she knew it was there and behind her was some kind of dark headboard.
It dawned on her.
The taller objects, the lack of teeth and the woman that was apparently holding her. The whispered name!
Oh God no, please no. Don't tell her its that! That's absolutely out of the picture. No way! She has to be in a coma or dreaming. The drugs that they gave must've made her hallucinate or have really weird dreams.
Her infant body cried in response to her panic and absolute mortification. Her mother tried whispering into her ear comforting things and tried to calm her down with her touches, but Annaliese was not having it.
The woman, apparently her new mother, thought exactly what a mother would think at that time. That she was hungry.
Annaliese will not go into details about it but just to say it was scarring in her eyes and she would never like to repeat it again. From then on out the Count and Countess knew to get her a bottle.
Now, after the initial panic, the denial faze set in.
No.
She couldn't have possibly been reborn with her memories intact. That was just in stories, right?
She was probably like that for at least a year. Then, she discovered that it was all real on her death day.
When she was hit by that car it was spring and the flowers were blooming. Her husband, Daniel, planned to take her to a park to observe the flower the next day.
He would never be able to.
She was sitting in her green little dress, her new parents were waiting by the table smiling down at her. Her mother had blonde hair and bright green eyes just like she had. Her father had wavy light brown hair, like a touch darker than light brown sugar.
Annaliese was stuck staring at the strawberry cake in front of her and tears filled her eyes as she stared at the strawberry that sat upon the slice.
It was Daniel's favorite.
Her parents quickly flocked over her, and began to mumble soft comforts into her ears.
"It's okay sweetheart, what's wrong? Why are you upset?"
She was able to pick up on their concerns by their tone and quickly tried to hide her tears. Annaliese even wiped at her eyes, and tried to turn away from them .
This time, however, she couldn't handle the grief. She had lost everything and these people, although not knowing what she was, were offering comfort. She gave up on her determination of keeping them at a distance and threw herself into her parents' arms. She was crying and tears flooded down her cheeks in large waves. Snot was coming out of her nose and it was all very ugly, but made the ache in her chest lighten just a little bit.
She hadn't ever let her hold her for long and every time they wanted to hug her she would push them away. She felt that she was betraying her old parents by accepting their comfort but she needed it.
She held onto them for a while, unable to let herself shy away from their soothing hands and lovely words. Even though she couldn't fully understand what they were saying, she understood that their words were out of love.
Even if this was all just a dream, she would accept the comfort she needed.
In her heart she knew this was her new reality.
That was when Penelope accepted her new name and her new family. That didn't mean, however, that she wasn't angry.
Sometimes she was a very angry child. She would even glare at and would speak in a cold tone whenever the servants annoyed her.
It was difficult dealing with the fact that you were in a new world, with new technology, new people and that status was a thing.
She wanted to scream and she silently fumed at everyone. Her parents hadn't understood her glares at the servants or even sometimes themselves. She was ready to bite, scream and cry because this wasn't how it was supposed to be.
It shouldn't be possible at all. She never believed in the concept of a soul's immortality. Now, she was stuck in a body she could hardly use, not able to understand the language that was spoken around her besides a few words here and there, and with people unfamiliar to her.
It was all so frustrating.
So, she decided to actually do something with this anger. She channeled it into learning about the language around her.
Within the next couple of days she started asking questions. She pointed at different objects and asked for their names. She had picked up on a few things like mama and papa, Mary who was her nanny/maid, and Victoria who was currently cleaning her room. Of course, up was another word she added to her vocabulary because man does it hurt her toddler legs after walking for a while.
Currently, she was playing in her room, she had her blocks and was stacking them up, making them into a tower, but she was really focusing on the conversation that was
The gossip that they spread or rather talked had very little use to her because she couldn't understand most of what they were saying because again she was not fluent in the language. It was, however, the most interesting thing she could do.
How was she able to pick up that it was gossip? Because of their tone, obviously.
Gladly, she took up the learning and interpreting of the language against the constant eating, sleeping and playing, which was just boring.
Her eyesight had also cleared a lot in the past two years. Now, she could identify patterns and faces, which was definitely a nice change.
She started to stack the blocks into a large tower as she listened to the maids in her room.
"Have you heard? The Queen has apparently given birth to a son and the Emperor gave him the name Claude. How tragic for the young boy." Victoria spoke with clear pity in her voice,
She had almost a bronze hair color and had hazel colored eyes which would look at Penelope curiously. This was due to the fact that Penelope hardly ever cried and was mostly a quiet child. The maid's face was pale with the slight sheen due to the work she would constantly do. However, if you would look up close as Penelope had in the past, when she was lifted by the young maid, you would see small freckles that adorned her face
"I know. But we shouldn't discuss things like this, it could possibly be overheard. We will be punished harshly if the Count or Countess would hear us." This maid was Mary. She was on the older side.
Her chocolate hair had light grey streaks and her eyes were an ice-cold blue that had traces of wrinkles starting to form. Despite her serious demeanor, she had taken care of Penelope, and this had earned
Penelope's respect.
"You're right.. We should probably put the little lady to sleep. After all it is her naptime." Victoria proceeded to go near the child and stopped the blocks which had begun to lean over towards the young lady.
The young Penelope felt arms pick her up from off the ground and settled her down in her bed. She sat upwards while Mary took the last block that she was going to stack on her big tower and placed it in her emerald green toy box.
"The young lady is a little bit strange. Don't you think so?" Victoria was in the middle of grabbing the rest of her blocks when she blurted this out loud.
Penelope had identified that young lady in their language usually meant her. So, they must have been talking about her. The tone in Victoria's voice seemed worried and slightly disturbed based off the
"She is unlike any child I have ever seen, it's true." The older maid proceeded to go to the green curtains and proceeded to close them.
"However, she is a wonderfully behaved child besides her irritability. Which is expected for a young child. It does seem that they are happening less and less these days. She hasn't lash out or hit anyone despite her anger like most children do." The older woman made her way over to the side of the young lady's bed.
But once again we shouldn't talk about such things." Mary quickly tucked the child into her soft sheets and bedding before making her way to the door where Victoria stood. It appeared that she cut off the conversation between the two with that last sentence.
"Goodnight, my lady." The maids proceeded to shut the door and darkness besides the sliver of light that crept through the curtains filled the room.
The thing about Penelope was that she hated being alone but also treasured it. When she was alone she got to revisit her past memories and she would always cry because she missed it. She had a really good life, family who took care of her well when she was a child, a husband who loved her and-
No, it's best not to think about that.
She remembered his voice so clearly. She thinks she hears it at night on certain occasions when she is at her lowest. His constant support and loving attitude always cheered her up even if they were only memories.
"Stay strong, Annaliese. Stay strong." Penelope whispered to herself softly.
Sometimes she wonders if he would have known what has happened to her and what he would do. She hopes that he won't be too devastated, but she knew how much she loved him and if it hurts this much to be without him then how much would it be for him?
Tears slipped down her cheeks and made the sheets beneath her damp.
Why had this happened to her?