~A Memory of a Dream~
~Chpt 1~
I felt like I was falling, falling through the world. Images and faces whorled before me, all of them out of my reach. One face in particular kept spiraling around me. It was a man, with brilliant, heartbreakingly blue eyes, and creamy smooth skin. His hair changed, though. Sometimes it was blonde, once red, but mostly black. At the beginning, I could put a name to that face, Howl. But the further I fell, the less I remembered, and the more I felt like I needed to.
Then the pictures stopped spinning, and everything was black. Sometimes I caught snippets of conversations that sounded far away and ecoy, like down a long tunnel. There were several voices, one a small boy's, sounded worried and sad, one a man's sounding scared and panicky, and again very sad and worried, and one an old mans, sounding smooth and professional. Then I fell so far I couldn't even hear that.
xXx
When I woke up, I had the feeling I'd been asleep for a very long time. It took me a minute to open my eyes, and the sight that awaited me was nothing spectacular. The beamed ceiling of a room, wooden walls, plain and simple. There was a man asleep in a chair next to the bed I was in, slumped over onto the bed, his black hair spilling across the quilt.
My head felt heavy as I sat up, and my mouth was dry. The man stirred, then sat bolt upright, staring at me.
"Sophie! Oh Sophie you're awake! Are you feeling okay? Do you need anything? Sophie? Sophie say something!" I opened my mouth, but nothing came out, so I cleared my throat and tried again.
"W-who are you? And who's Sophie?" The man's face fell, and his eyes filled up with tears. I felt bad inside, knowing that I had made such a beautiful creature cry. Something about his face and the sound of his voice pulled at something in the back of my mind, and my heart. Something I knew I should remember, but I just couldn't.
"Sophie it's me, Howl! Don't you remember me?" He was sitting on the edge of the bed now, clasping my hands hard, like he was falling from a high cliff, and I was the only thing keeping him up. Again the name, Howl, pulled at something in my chest. But what? I shook my head.
"I'm sorry. I feel like I should remember something, but I can't." The man, Howl, was really crying now, tears running down his face. I couldn't stand to see him crying. I pulled him into a hug and patted his back. It felt right, to hold him like this. Why? What was it I couldn't remember?
Howl hugged me back, and then pulled away. "Sophie you're all skin and bones! You need to eat. I'll go get Markl, and he'll sit with you while I cook us up some breakfast." He got up and swept out of the room. He was much taller standing, and I was awed slightly by his charisma.
There was a knock at the door, and a young boy with red hair rushed in and hugged me. "Sophie your awake! We were so worried! Well Master Howl was worried; I knew you'd be okay!" I couldn't help laughing at this little boy's attempt at bravery. My voice was still raspy, and I had to clear my throat again before I could speak.
"You must be Markl. Could you get me some water please?" He stared at me a moment, sniffed, and rushed out of the room. Great, I told myself. You've managed to make a grown man and a little boy cry, and you don't even you know your own name yet!