13 Dances (A Seventeen Fanfiction)

-1-

"Will you marry me?"

It was the last thing I can remember hearing before I woke up here. "Will you marry me?" - I remember who asked me, there is no doubt, but how did I answer? And why was I not with him but here instead? And, maybe most importantly, where exactly was "here"?

I had a vague idea, a glimpse the subconscious part of myself gave me, but that was it. I looked around the room I was in. It looked simple: A bed, a desk right in front of a window and a comfy chair next to a shelf with lots of books on it. The furniture was made of wood which went good with the warm white walls. Some colour was brought to the room by plants and the dark green bedding. Overall, it was cozy. But that also was all there was to it. No kitchen, no bathroom, nothing more except for the vast garden, a small front porch and the high, unclimbable walls all around the garden. Strangely enough, I didn't need more. Even sleeping didn't seem to be necessary in this strange world. I didn't feel tired, no matter what I did. But I was able to sleep if I decided to do it. Sometimes I didn't find anything better to do. But it wasn't a nice rest. All I gained from it was wasting time. My dreams consisted of black nothingness.

When I first woke up here, I was met with this strange woman. She didn't even have a name. My question about it was simply answered with a cryptic "I am the keeper of memories." What a weird answer. I secretly called her Sabrina. It was shorter. She was wearing her long silver hair open all the time and her deep blue eyes were strangely intense and kind at the same time. I couldn't depict her age, but when I asked about it, she just told me that "time is an illusion and thus we don't have it here." "So, where exactly is here then?", I had asked. "You'll figure that out eventually. In the meantime I will help you remember not only the recent past but also more." I had nodded. I didn't know how to answer. Sabrina told me that I could wander around in the garden around the house as well as inside but that was all my temporary world was. I wanted to know more, wanted to ask, but I didn't even know where to start and I had a slight suspicion I wouldn't get normal answers anyway.

When Sabrina wasn't around, I felt useless. I read some of the books but I figured I knew all of them already. I walked around the garden and stared into whatever the sky here consisted of. It was a greyish nothingness, yet it seemed like some kind of sun was shining. Sometimes I stopped by at the small stream that ran through the garden, dipped my feet in and tried to remember what cold water felt like. That was the next strange thing. I couldn't really feel anything anymore, only had memories of what it should be like. Therefore, I also didn't freak out over where I was or why. I simply wondered and thought that this, too, shall pass. Maybe. Hopefully. And at least I didn't get bored thanks to my lack of emotion.

"Will I ever get out of here?", I once asked Sabrina, "Back to my real world?" She had looked at me for quite some time before answering: "It depends on only you." "How do you even-", I started but she held up a finger and shook her head. I knew the conversation was over. She wouldn't answer anymore. I sighed and let myself fall back onto the rocking chair that stood on the porch while she continued to arrange flowers into a wonderful bouquet. I thought to myself that maybe I should try doing that one day. The garden held an endless ocean of flowers and they didn't seem to wither so why not pick some and waste time by getting creative?

So, one day I did. I never had tried to make a flower crown but I knew how it worked and right now, I sat on the porch, all kinds of different flowers spread around me, and tried to arrange them. I didn't hear Sabrina coming. To be fair, I never did. It seemed like she just emerged behind me every time. "It looks good", she said and I jumped. "How dare you scare me like that?", I complained. She just looked at me wordlessly and I sighed, deciding to continue my work. When I was done and at least somewhat satisfied, she took the crown from me and looked at it before putting it on my head. "Come on", she said, "I will show you something." Without protesting, I let myself get pulled up by her and followed her deeper into the garden.