A Day Like No Other (Flash Back)

[Annabel Lee]

Spring 11, 509 AV
When she opened her eyes, she couldn’t tell where she was, what time it was, or even the day. She laid on the wooden floor looking up at the roof, watching the lights flicker. She closed her eyes, drifting in and out of sleep. She tried to remember what exactly happened to her, but the only thing her mind was letting her think of was the pain coming from the wound caused by a knife stabbed into her side.

“D-Dammit… What came a-after that?” she asked herself losing her train of thought. She thought hard but couldn’t quite put it together. She started to think about how she ended up on the ground, left here to die.

She lived in a small house for five that rested in a small alley in the middle of Revok. Her parents had spent all day making a cake just for this day. She remembered her older twin brother, Rin and younger twin sister, Ringo had attempted to keep her out of the house the entire day, but now it was time to celebrate. She sat in her usual spot and listened to her family sing as they brought a big cake in. They put it down in front of her and her siblings. Just as she was about to blow the candles out, the door swung open…

People started to pile in, they didn’t hesitate to take their swords, crossbows, and primitive firearms. One held her mother with a dagger to her neck; two held her father back as people began to drag her sister, brother and herself out of the room. She started to kick and scream “Mama! Papa! No!” she yelled out to them, tear stinging her eyes. With one final kick, she hit the man and broke free. She began ran to her mother, but was quickly intercepted. She tried to get away again, but a sharp pain in her side stopped her. She dropped to her knees and looked at the knife. Her vision went blurry, and-

“Dammit! W-Why… Can’t I r-remember….?” She asked herself. She slowly got up on her elbows and looked around. She still couldn’t see very well, so she listened. Silent. She attempted to look to her stomach, she couldn’t make out much, but she could tell the knife had been removed, but she could see red. Blood. “Silent… Blood…” ran through her mind. “Shizu… Chi…” she laughed a bit, remembering a story her mother use to tell her. Realizing her memories had ended. She slowly got up, holding onto her stomach. She looked around until she noticed the sheets for her bed hung to dry. Tear filled her eyes and she thought about how never again she would have a Saturday afternoon doing laundry with her mother and sister while her brother and father hunted, fished or even went to the market for dinner. She made her way to the sheets, picking up a knife left on the ground on the way. She used the knife to cut the sheets to make a bandage that she wrapped around her wound. Then she made her way into her house. She took a match, and lit a candle before bringing it over to the table. She stared at the cake. She took a fork and started to eat it slowly, letting her tears fall down her face. “I’m alone.” She told herself softly.