Awakening

There was something soft underneath her... she was no longer on the ground. Her eyelids fluttered open. It was a small, white room. She was lying on a bed... and she didn't ache anymore. Her whole body seemed numb. There was something different... different than last time. She lifted her hand, and reached around to her back. There were large bandages where those tubes used to be... but something else. She felt hair. She was pretty sure she didn't have any before, but now she had hair down to the middle of her neck. What was going on now? Had she really been out that long? She managed to sit up, and didn't feel anything... no pain, but nothing else, either. They must have given her something.

So, then... this was a hospital. She needed to get up, to leave, to find out who she was. She sat on the edge of the bed, then tried to stand. Her legs shook violently, but she stood. She tried to take a step forward... and collapsed onto the floor. She noticed her feet were bandaged, too. She couldn't leave in the state she was in. She crawled back up to her bed, and laid there a moment, trying to decide what to do. She finally decided there was nothing she could do, and just stared at the ceiling for a while.

But, after some time, she noticed a newspaper on the stand beside her bed. She picked it up, and read a few of the headlines.

"ELECTION NEWS: MALKINS PROMISES TAX CUTS"

"TWO BOYS RESCUED FROM DANGEROUS RIVER CURRENT"

"JAMES ANDERS TO DONATE $3,000,000 TO LOCAL CHARITY"

She was scanning the paper, hoping to see something she recognized... a name, a place, anything. And that's when she saw it:

"BELLI CASTLE: HAUNTED?"

She decided to take a closer look. This could have been the one she was at...

"On Saturday Silverpool police responded to a strange call from an anonymous person telling them that she had been stuck in the local castle. This person told them that the castle's inhabitants were performing illegal experiments involving cloning, and even that one of the men living there was a great alchemist who had lived for hundreds of years. She claimed to have barely escaped with her life, and told them that they needed to investigate immediately, as the castle's owners had died while she had been there.

"Well, there appeared to have been some freak accident here, and yes, everyone who lived here is now deceased," stated Officer Andrew Gado, who was one of the men who had investigated the claim. "But, I assure you, there was none of this cloning or alchemy rubbish going on. It must have just been that girl's wild imagination."

When asked what would be done with the castle now that it was abandoned, Gado told reporters that it was still considered a potential crime scene and until the police were finished investigating there, they would not worry about it. Still, though... one must wonder what they did find there, and what kind of "accident" occured. Chances are, though, that this will become a Halloween legend in the coming years.

The road near Belli Castle will be closed until further notice.

Cloning? Alchemy? Was that where she was? And if so... what did it mean to her? She still didn't know anything. Suddenly, she remembered where she had been: in a holding tank, with all sorts of tubes and liquid... but... could she have been one of their creations?

No, that wasn't possible. She was a living, breathing human being. She needed to find out who the girl was that had called the police. And, as if in answer to her prayer, she noticed a blank envelope under where the newspaper had been. She picked it up and opened it. There was just one handwritten message on a sheet of paper:

Her name is Fiona Belli. She is the heir to the castle. She can help you. Find her at 631 Stanton Drive in London. Go quickly, there are people looking for you.

She knew this was for her. Whoever wrote this letter knew who she was. They were trying to help her. Hoping her legs would hold her up, she prepared to leave.