A/N: Told you I would put up another chapter today. Enjoy. Review. Be happy. Stop reading the author's note and read the chapter. I named the chapters because I was extremely bored….
DISCLAIMER: The usual trash and not funness.
Chapter 7I glanced over at Janelle in astonishment. She was curled up comfortably on the sand, sleeping peacefully in the full glare of the sun. How she did it, I had no idea. All I knew was that I had to try. So I rolled over and, using my hands as a pillow, closed my eyes.
I was being tied up on a long spit, carried over a bridge by a bunch of natives.
A dark-skinned woman's black eyes look into my own. I can't help noticing the leaves stuck in her hair or her rotting teeth as she mouths something. I think it is my name, but I was never good at lip-reading.
"Janelle," I muttered. "Just give me a hint about my real name."
The girl smiled in her sleep "It can be either long or short." Then she drifted off again.
"Riddles," mumbled. "Why riddles?"
Janelle sat up. "Hints can be riddles if riddles can be hints. If hints weren't riddles, what's the point of a hint if it can't be a riddle?"
"What the hell…?"
"Hell it shall be if your name is not."
"Do you take pleasure in my torture?"
"But torture is in you past is it not?"
Finally, I gave up and put my head in my hands. "I give. Tell me the answer to the riddle."
"What's the matter, Bill?" Janelle asked comfortingly, laying a soft hand on my shoulder.
"What's the matter," I echoed calmly. "I'm dead. I don't know how I died. I can't remember anything, not even my own name. I don't even know where the bloody hell I am. Is that good? Oh yes, and the one person I meet knows my name, my past, everything about me, and won't even tell them to the person they belong to. That's what's the matter. Stop looking at me!"
I couldn't stand the small girl's ice blue gaze boring into me like a drill. I couldn't stand the fact that I couldn't remember anything, and she just knew. I couldn't even stand myself, the way I knew almost nothing. As I looked up, the sun blazed into my eyes, making them water. "Stupid bloody sun, it hurts my eyes," I said aloud, for Janelle's benefit.
"Mine too," she said.
"What color are my eyes?" I asked.
"Dark," she replied. "They're pretty."
"Er…thanks," I said awkwardly.
… … …
Oddly enough, that night I developed a high fever. I tossed uncomfortably on the sand, moaning, my forehead bathed in sweat. Every now and again, when I fell still for a while, Janelle would cradle my aching head in her lap, stroking the sweat-soaked hair from my eyes. "Why is this happening?" I would ask once in a while. She would only tell me to hush, that it would pass, and I would obey.
I was cold; mortally cold. I shivered like a leaf in a high mind, a small child in the ocean. Often I wondered if I would freeze to death, but I never did. Often I wondered if I would go mad. Often I wondered if I already was mad. All the wondering made my head hurt. I curled up in the sand and slid it between my knees, shivering uncontrollably against the cold. It felt as though someone had taken a sword, slammed it through my skull, ripped it out, and repeated the process over and over again. Violent shudders rippled down my spine each time the pain renewed itself.
"Bill," Janelle called softly. "Come here."
She took my head in her small hands and laid it once more on her lap. I groaned as silver moonlight pierced through my eyelids, and closed them tighter. "Janelle," I whispered hoarsely. "Does this get any worse?"
"No. This is as bad as it gets. The headache should be gone by tomorrow," Janelle answered. "The fever by the next day."
If they had been open, I would have narrowed my eyes. "How old are you?"
"One hundred and fifty."
A/N: Wow, she's old, isn't she? We will find out why mystery person is all of a sudden sick probably next time there is a chapter in this POV. If not, the one after that. More action next chapter…for now, enjoy this one. Review…pleeaase:) If you get to enjoy the story, I should get to enjoy the reviews and the making of the story…
