4.
~ Ariadne was visited by terrible dreams that night. Not just the normal anxiety she always felt since the invasion, but something much older. Something much deeper. Like a river of cold water under frozen ice, it was there, if she could just chip away at it.
She dreamed of cities, rising and falling by her own will. The skins of buildings being stripped away in a terrible storm as all the world collapsed around her.
Then there was falling, falling and falling and never hitting the bottom. Of waking up underwater and someone taking her hands, helping her breath, escaping. Then rain, always rain.
A high gust of winter wind made the windows of her hospital room seem to shutter and she woke. The snow was trying to get in, and she was grateful she was safely indoors and not in the cold apartment she had to now share with total strangers.
She had been relocated four times after her mother was shot. Each time becoming worse. She was separated from her older relatives just a week later. Her younger cousin and her sent to women's dormitory that was little more that a high school gym with sleeping bags on the floor.
The living conditions were becoming worse until Samantha was selected for schooling. Ariadne came back to their little corner of the gym to find her only family was gone.
She was sent to her newest place with her old gym bag, containing her work jumper, her ration and ID cards, and only the essentials she needed to live day to day.
She had long ago abandoned things like photo albums and sentimental items. Too hard to keep track of, and there were thieves everywhere. She only kept her mother's wedding band, her father's watch, and a few valuable pictures neatly hidden in a copy of "Watership Down". A thing that had been a gift from her grandmother. It was a good book to read in times like these. It made her feel like she could have courage.
She wished she had her things with her now. She had apparently been stripped of everything, including jewelry when she went into surgery. She wondered if those animals had kept them. Why? The wedding band was almost worthless. As was the watch. She carried no money with her, and made certain that she had no papers in case she was caught. If her family was still alive, she didn't want them punished for her actions.
Alas, they had known who she was. Known everything about her.
Maybe this Colonel could help her. He had had given her food, spoken kindly to her. Had seen she receive medical treatment.
No. She couldn't trust them. They were still monsters who had killed her mother. Who had taken everything from her. She was homeless and with no one to go to. She had nothing.
Ariadne was enjoying her own self pity when her door opened and a nurse in white slipped in; shutting the door softly behind her. She didn't bother to turn on the lights, but was careful no one from the hall had seen her come in.
"Hello?" Ariadne croaked as the nurse was wearing the badges and rank of one of the invaders.
Was she there to interrogate her?
"Quite!" the nurse hissed and swiftly hurried over to her bed side.
"What?" Ariadne whispered.
"You've no idea how long I've been looking for you." the nurse breathed as she leaned over her bed an stood too close.
Ariadne wasn't used to this overly familiar way and covered herself more securely with the blanket.
"Who are you?" she asked.
The nurse roller her eyes.
"Don't like my new look, eh?" she said. "Look at our reflection, over there, you can see us in the bathroom mirror.
Ariadne had no idea what she was talking about, but saw the bathroom mirror was angeles perfectly to catch a glimpse of them both. She saw herself, her face to thin and gaunt, she didn't recognize her own reflection. Sitting on the bed now, dressed in a tacky, mismatched suit, was a man.
She gasped and opened her mouth to scream.
"Don't do that, darling." he said and put his beefy hands over her mouth to silence her. The nurse in the invader's uniform had suddenly, and silently transformed into a man. It had been a perfectly seamless thing, one her eyes never caught.
She stared at him in shocked horror. Was he some kind of monster? Was she hallucinating? Was this just a trick done to her by her captors?
"I'm going to take my hand away, You will not scream. Quite as a little mouse, right?" he asked in an English accent. A voice she found oddly familiar, even though she didn't know this man.
He took his hand away and she tried to move back. Her leg pain biting her.
"Do you remember me?" he asked in a whisper. His eyes intense as he searched her face.
She shook her head. Afraid to speak. She felt like ice as he sat there. A creature capable of changing his shape.
"My name is Eames." he whispered. "We work together. Do you remember that?"
"This can't be real." she cried.
"You're right, this isn't real." he said soothingly.
"You changed form! You were a nurse before. I'm going crazy!" she cried softly.
"You're not crazy." Eames hissed. "And keep your voice down. We don't want those bastards coming back. It's been hard enough keeping away from them. Even in your clever little maze."
"My maze?" she panted. Feeling a full on panic attack starting to brew.
"It will all make sense as soon as I can figure out how to get you out. You're too banged up just now to be moved."
He sighed.
"I heard Arthur asking about Cobb. Have you seen him? Is Yuseff here?" he asked.
"What? Cobb?" she hissed.
This man was another interrogator.
"I'll never tell you!" she screamed and hit the man as hard as she could in the face.
It was like she couldn't hurt him. That slap didn't seem to phase him, but the noise did.
"Shut up! I'm trying to help you wake up!" he growled as there were now voices outside her door.
Before her eyes could adjust, he became the nurse again and stood.
At the same moment, three other nurses in the same uniform as her shape shifting visitor came in.
"What's gong on here?" the older nurse demanded.
"She's really a man!" Ariadne screamed. "She's a man!"
"Calm down." the nurse said as her strange Mr. Eames left. The other nurses giving her perplexed looks.
"The colonel has authorized you medications to help you relax. I'm going to give them to you now." the nurse said and waved at the other nurses to help.
"NO!" Ariadne shrieked. "He sat on my bed and changed into a man! In really cheap clothing!"
She felt hands on her, strong hands holding her down as the nurse pressed a sharp needle into her arm.
She tried to move away, but the pain in her leg made her cry out.
She slipped away from caring what happened to her then. Her body awake, but she no longer any feelings.
She lay back in bed and watched the snow fall.
~ "She had a mild panic attack. We see a lot of them since the invasion." the nurse explained to Arthur.
The Colonel looked past the grouchy head nurse to see the rebel sitting peacefully in bed.
"People just can't handle the stress sometimes." the nurse sighed.
"I see." Arthur said coldly.
"You know, I get off in an hour, maybe-"
"Excuse me." Arthur said quickly and left before she could finish.
It had become so common place, these hook ups with the army men and nurses. The other officers had their pick of women here. Even local girls, the ones under curfew, were not exempt from dating the invading army. It was an odd time for romance, but that was war.
Arthur wanted nothing to do with it. Women made things too complicated and he didn't want this nurse to be a complication. Someone who's name he would have to remember, who's feeling he had to be sensitive of. He had work to do.
Instead, he preferred to spend his nights alone reading. He would have plenty of time for a nice girl once the war was over. Not these easy girls who were just looking for a good time.
He knocked on the door to Ariadne's hospital room. She turned to look in his direction, barely took him in, and went back to watching the snowfall outside.
"Ariadne?" he asked and sat by her bed.
Her eyes looked glazed and hung over.
"How do you feel?" he asked.
"I'm fine, Arthur." she breathed. The air leaving her body in one long exhale. She looked on the brink of falling asleep.
"It's Colonel." he said and worried slightly if she might have overdosed.
"I saw Eames today." she said lazily.
"Who's that? One of your rebel friends?" he asked hopefully.
She turned to him and grinned. Her eyes dancing in such a way his heart started to beat faster. The same way it did when he found her in the snow. She had slipped on some ice and fell. Her dark hair fanned out in the snow as she lay there helpless to the world. Like an angel, fallen from heaven.
"I've missed you." she whispered at last.
"I've only been gone a few hours." he whispered back. He felt awkward as she looked at him with more affection than he was used to.
She had taken his hand in hers. Her palm warm and he felt a surprising sense comfort. As though he was meant to hold her hand.
"Arthur, when this is over, can we take a little vacation? Maybe someplace warm? Like a beach or something?" she asked.
He almost laughed, but caught himself. She was obviously drugged, she might even think he was someone else. But no, she called him by his real name.
"I'll take you anywhere you want. Just tell me where Cobb is." he whispered gently.
"I don't know." she told him. "I think Eames is looking for him to."
"Who's Eames?" he asked. He felt he was on the verge of finding this mystery out.
"Arthur, will you stay with me tonight?" she asked instead.
"I…" he stammered and looked out the door. The nurse he had spoken to was at the nurse's station. She had a clear view into her room.
"Not tonight." he said softly. "I have work."
"You always have work." she complained and rolled on her back. Her hair was in nice waves as she looked ready to fall asleep.
"I know you love your work." she sighed.
"I don't love it." he said feeling defensive. "It's necessary." he told her.
"I'm sleepy."
"Go to sleep. I'll stay here till you do." he promised.
"I love you, Arthur." she told him.
He felt his heart beat a even faster. Her eyes were closed, her breathing deep.
"I…" he caught his breath and watched her sleep. His words lost for the moment.
In case I can't post before the holiday, I hope everyone has a safe and happy one. I just found out my BFF of the past 20 years is expecting her first baby! I'm so excited! She wants to name it all these weird hillbilly names, though, gross.
