Splendid Fall

Ch. 11 The Eel and The Cave

Chapter 11

If it were possible to stay asleep forever, then Birdie surely would have.

Her mind danced between the thin line of sleep and consciousness as she felt her body be lifted from the hard floor of the stage and then be laid on something soft and warm. The lights dimmed and then there were soft voices. Someone undid the braids in her hair and wiped her lip with a wet cloth. Her mouth was opened and a warm sweet liquid was slowly poured in. it soothed her throat and made the pain in her stomach lessen.

Birdie could hear the people move around her. She felt the air shift whenever they moved. Her eyelids fought to wake up, but she couldn't remember how to. A few times, she thought she was awake, looking at her father and mother, but then the image would blur and the voices would return once more.

Baba, Birdie called out through her mind-link.

Who are you?

Birdie's heart leaped up as her mind-link opened and a woman answered. She grew still in her sleep, not sure if she had just imagined the voice. Her muscles locked and her knees were pulled up to her chest. She tucked her face into the warm material she laid upon and counted to a hundred in her mind.

Hello...

Who is this? The woman demanded to know.

Birdie's heart started to race. She felt her mind steadily begin to stir awake as the presence of the voice in her head solidified.

I'm...Birdie.

Birdie? The woman asked. Birdie, who?

Birdie...Birdie Heyd-

"I think she's awake now, Mina."

Like a mirror shattering to a million pieces, Birdie felt her grip on her mind-link slip. The presence of someone near her began to make the hairs on the back of her neck rise as she screwed her eyes shut and bit down on her bottom lip, flinching at the pain.

"Oh come on now," a different voice sighed as Birdie felt a pair of hands pull her shoulder and turn her around. "We know you're awake."

Gradually, Birdie began to open her eyes. Her long lashes batted once and then twice as she looked up and broke through the net of sleep that had been over her.

"Rise and shine," a large woman with chubby cheeks that were glowing like tomatoes smiled and waved. "Wake up. Lot's to do!"

Before Birdie could process what was happening, the woman pulled her arm and helped her sit up. A second figure in the room caught Birdie's eyes as she began to look around. It was a tall slender girl with thick black hair and almond shaped eyes that were the color of the ocean after a storm. She watched Birdie from where she perched by the open window with her feet resting on a wooden stool.

"I still don't get why she looks like that," the girl said.

"Jasmeen," the older woman clicked her tongue. "If you don't have anything nice to say, don't speak at all."

The girl by the window, Jasmeen, rolled her eyes as she let out a sigh and turned to look out the window.

"Where..." Birdie could barely make a sound without her voice cracking. "Where am I?"

"Oh no," the woman's eyes widened. "I'll get you some tea for your throat. Don't worry dear, you're safe."

"As safe as she can be," Jasmeen muttered.

"Don't pay any attention to her," the large woman began to rummage through a tin box.

Birdie raised her hand and pushed her hair out of her face before looking around the room she was in. It was modest, with a small bed, a partition down the middle, two dressers and a mini balcony with rose bushes in terracotta pots.