Chapter One: Hell Well Safe

It all started with a sentence. One little sentence that I just

didn't ignore.

"I have been having strange dreams," she said.

We were sitting down to dinner. Isobel had cooked some amazing

creation that she had conceived of completely on her own, combining

collard greens, pasta, and (of all things) miso in ways I wouldn't

have ever dared. Some five-star resteraunt somewhere is crying

for not having snapped her up. As was now usually with us, Isobel

sat at one end of the table, with a pad of paper, making notes. I

sat at another with an open book. As it was a Thursday, it was

an Intro to Japanese book, and I was trying to actually master Isobel's

first language.

"Nani?" I replied, in my awful accent.

Isobel sighed. Putting down her pen, she looked at me and said,

"I am serious, Parry-chan. Please, let us talk in English. I am...

troubled by this, and I want to be able to understand-"

"Okay, okay," I agreed reluctantly. I closed the book in front of me.

"What kind of strange dreams?"

Isobel blinked a few times. Then she answered slowly, saying, "I am

not sure how to describe them. I do not remember much, but I feel

I am supposed to be somewhere else, doing something important. Protecting

someone important? I-" She stopped suddenly to put a hand to her right

temple.

"Isobel, if this is too difficult for you, we can-"

"No, no," she insisted as she waved my concern away, "I am fine. I think

I would be worse off if I did not discuss it." She sighed.

I nodded. Obviously, whatever the vague dream was, it was weighing

heavily on Isobel's mind. "What do you remember from the dreams that

troubled you?"

Isobel was quiet for a moment, looking off in space. Then, in a

reflective voice, she said, "It was not so much...images?...but

feelings. Feelsing of joy and pain-"

"Sunshine and rain!" a voice sang out from the appartment doorway.

Startled, Isobel and I both jumped up. I turned to look at the

door, while Isobel positioned herself in front of me as if to

protect me from something. She took such a pose without thinking;

it wasn't the first time it had happened. Looking back, I realize

that if I had been paying more attention to her, I would have noticed

that much sooner than I did. But hind-sight is always twenty-twenty.

Regardless of what I didn't notice then, both Isobel and I noticed

Amelia in my doorway. As we both calmed down, Amelia breezed into the

room. "Are we playing 'Finish the lyrics of that 80s song'?"

"I am so sorry I ever gave you a key to this place." I muttered as I

sat down again.

"No, you're not. Before Isobel, I would be the one you brought you

food and occasionally cooked for your butt," Amelia pulled up a chair from

the living room and sat down at the table. "So, what's up?"

By this point Isobel had also taken her seat again, but she looked confused.

"Sunshine and rain?" she asked quietly.

"Words from a great song. I'll have to play it for you someday." Amelia

answered.

"Well, that's nice and all, Mellie," I interrupted, "But Isobel and I were

actually in the middle of an important conversation."

Amelia snorted at this. "About what? Bel-chan's lasted culinary

creation?" she asked as she picked up my spoon and tried to grab

food off of Isobel's plate.

"Amelia! You weren't invited to dinner!" I objected.

"Oh come on, Parria! I'm hungry and that looks good. Are those

collards?" Amelia asked as she peered longingly at the at Isobel's

plate.

Isobel laughed, but only after blinking a few times, as if she found

something familar. Whatever she was thinking, she ignored it as

she rose and said, "I will get you a plate, Mellie-chan," as she

went to the kitchen.

"Okay, so what were you talking about when I came in?" Amelia asked

after Isobel left the room.

"Amelia-"

"Hey, you weren't the only one who found her laying in traffic! Meggie

and I worry about her, too."

That, at least, was true. Although Isobel lived with me, Meggie and Amelia

were just as much a part of her life as I was. Without ever really talking

about it, we went from a trio to a quartet with little to no effort...except

for the language thing at first. I know both Amelia and Megan would be

just as concerned about Isobel's discomfort as I was.

"Isobel has been having strange dreams. They were bothering her."

"Strange dreams?" Amelia asked as Isobel returned to the room and

set a plate in front of her. Amelia turned to look at the brown-haired

young woman, "Have you had them for long?"

"Iie. No," Isobel answered. "They were just so...foreign." She looked

at the two of us. "I do not mean to cause worry for anyone-"

"It's okay, Isobel. Given the accident and everything, it is understandable

that something like this would happen," I attempted to say soothingly.

"Hey, maybe it is part of your memory trying to return!" Amelia said.

At this, Isobel sobered a little more. "If it is," she managed to say

slowly, "I am not sure I want my memories back. The joy was an amazing

feeling, but the pain - it felt like I was dying. I am not sure that I

would want to remember a life with that kind of pain."

Her observation really didn't come as a surprise. Although we never

told Isobel, Amelia, Megan and I all concluded that she was running from

something; why else could she remember everything except the presonal

memories that would have made up her life? For that reason, we were

determined to make her time with us happy and not to push her to remember

anything. That statement confirmed for us that we were on the right track.

"You're with us now, Bel-chan," Amelia said quietly. "You don't have to

remember the pain, much less return to it if you'd rather not."

Isobel smiled at that, but we should have known that it wouldn't be that easy.

Whatever it was that caused that first dream, it wouldn't go away.

As the week went on, I began more and more worried about Isobel. Each

day I saw the deepening bags under her eyes, proof that she wasn't

sleeping. By Saturday morning, I had had it, so I proposed a ladies

night. In essense, what this consisted of was Meggie, Mellie, double-chocolate

cheesecake and all the makings needed for make-overs. I proposed

this for two reasons. The first was to chear up Isobel with a little fun.

The second was to have Megan and Amelia stay up with me so that we could

talk about what was troubling Isobel.

On some level, it was amazing that I had this all in place for that

Saturday night. Because it was that Saturday night when she had her

first clear dream.

Isobel had gone to bed at 11:30 that night. It was a little after 1am

and Megan, Amelia and I were still up talking about what we could do for

Isobel. Actually, Amelia and I were in the middle of a quiet argument

about whether we should begin to press Isobel to remember when we heard shouts

from Isobel's room.

Jumping up, the three of us ran to her door and wretched it open just in

time to hear her shout, "Iie! Usagi!" as she shot up straight in bed.

"Usagi?" Amelia asked quietly, while Megan went into the room and

sat down on Isobel's bed.

"Isobel? Isobel, it's okay. We are here now," Meggie said.

"But, Usagi! They will hurt her if I am not there. Iie! Usagi!"

Isobel said in a strong, but different voice, as if she were still

stuck in the dream.

"Snap out of it! Wake up, Isobel! We are right here. No one is

getting hurt." I shouted.

My shout finally shook her out of the dream state. After looking

at us in the room, she burst into tears.

Meggie immediately gathered Isobel in a hug and started singing

something in Spanish. As Meggie comforted Isobel, I turned my

attention to Amelia...mainly because she said, "Usagi. Now that's

a werid thing to say."

"What do you mean?" I asked my friend.

"Usagi means 'rabbit' or 'bunny' in Japanese," Amelia shrugged.

"It's just a strange thing to say. Unless she was dreaming about

killer rabbits. Or the Trojan Bunny." She shot me a look, "I told

you showing her Monty Python's The Holy Grail was a bad idea."

I stuck my tongue out at my friend. But, after thinking about

what Isobel said while she was still half asleep, I replied, "But

that doesn't make sense in the context. I mean, she did say, 'They

will hurt her if I am not there.' Could Usagi be someone's name?"

Amelia shrugged. "I guess. I mean, Americans have named their

kids 'Bunny' before. Why can't the Japanese? But that is one

odd name to give your child, no matter what national origin you are."

With that statement, we turned back to the bed to watch Meggie calm

Isobel down. As I listened to Meggie's singing, the song sounded

really familar. So familar that I had to interrupt.

"Wait," I said. As Isobel and Meggie turned to look at me, I said,

"Le noche? Tu sweat tay?"

"Your Spanish is horrid," Mellie said.

"Are you singing her the Spanish version of Gloria Estefan's

'Wrapped'?" I asked incrediously.

"Well, it's your fault," Meggie confirmed. "You were the one who

lent me the CD. Besides," she shrugged, "I wanted to send the

message that Isobel was safe now."

"And there wasn't a Spanish lullaby that could have accomplished

that task?"

"None that I know," Meggie replied. Noticing the annoyed look

on my face, she said, "Would you rather I prayed to a saint?"

"Is there a saint that can help with bad dreams?" I asked.

Meggie snorted. "Of course! There is a saint for everything.

Take Saint Anne, for example-"

"Well, this is getting us nowhere," Amelia said as she can in the

room and sat in the chair next to the left side of the bed. She

turned to Isobel, "Do you want to talk about it? The dream, I mean?"

"Iie. Hai. I...do not know. Please?" At that moment, she looked

so lost, my heart wretched. I went to sit down on the other side of the bed.

"Tell us about it," I said as I put a comforting hand on her hands.

Nodding, Isobel started slowly. "I do not remember the

whole dream, but I clearly remember walking. I was wearing

some kind of brown uniform and I...nervous?...about something. As

I round the corner, I saw a young girl with blonde hair in a

strange style, cornered by three big guys. I knew she was in

trouble, and I tried to move to help her out, but something

held me in place. I tried calling out to her to run, but I

could not make sound come out of my throat. As I watched the

biggest guy get closer to her, I knew she was going to be

hurt, all because I was not there to protect her." Isobel

shook her head slowly. "But I do not remember who she was

or why I felt this need to protect her, why I felt like I should...

had to protect her. I-"

"It's going to be okay, Isobel," I reassured her, squeezing her

hand. "It was just a dream. And it probably had more to do with

that tape of a mugging that they showed on the news this evening.

You'll be fine."

Unfortunately, she wasn't fine. The weeks began to pass in a

pattern. Every weekday evening, Isobel had vague dreams of

needing to protect something or someone. And, every Saturday night,

she had clear, tramatic dreams about being needed to fight.

A week from that first Saturday night, she had a dream about wearing

this almost scandalous sailor suit and with three other people,

trying to reach someone at the top of a tower. "They can't get to

her without me. I am the one that opened the door!" she insisted.

I excused it by saying that she was focused on the play about Rapuzel

that we had seen the night before.

The next Saturday she had a dream about a cold, white place and dying

a painful but noble death. While that dream bothered her the least, it

bothered me the most. I made her promise not to do anything rash after that.

The next Saturday she was practically incoherent with tears, shouting for

a "Serenity" and asking forgiveness for having "failed to protect the

kingdom." She refused to explain that dream, but it seemed to haunt

her. "It was so peaceful," she would say randomly for days after that

dream, but she didn't seem to know what the "it" was.

Finally, over a month later, after Isobel screamed in the middle of yet

another Saturday night, I ran into her room, as usual. "Isobel. Are

you okay? What is it?"

But this time she answered me differently. This time, she shook her

head and said, "Makoto."

"Excuse me?" I asked.

"Makoto. That is my name, Makoto Kino. My name is Makoto. I live in

Tokyo, and I remember everything. Parria, I have to go home."

That pronouncement stunned me, to say the least, as did her very earnest

look. I promptly called Meggie and Amelia over so that we could talk to Isobel

about her regained memory and the dream that woke her up. It was that

conversation that brought me to the choice I made. The choice that, right or

wrong, brought me to this point. The point where I stand in an alley, facing

the very real prospect of a nasty death.

- to be continued -

Well, here it is. Chapter One of Isobel. I really think that the story

is only going to get darker after this, as there won't be as much Mellie

and Meggie in the coming chapters. I admit this is an odd little fic.

I'm not quite sure what to make of it, but your feedback is appreciated.

By the way, HobbestheCat, you'll probably be hearing from me via email

soon. While I'm still trying to plug my way through the story, I also

want to refine it. Thanks for your offer of help.

As always, thanks for reading. Please read and review or drop me an

email (cemberlyahoo.com)

December