La Femme Celeste

Chapter Three

After dinner Celeste helped Eric to the bed and they lay beside each other holding hands.

"You know I'd ask you to tell me about yourself but you don't remember anything."

"Neither do you."

"I know. I wonder what happened to us."

"Not to sound pessimistic but I doubt we ever will."

"You're probably right."

Celeste and Eric lay in silence.

"Eric?" Celeste said quietly.

"Yes, Celeste."

"Do you think we'll die in here?"

Eric turned his head and looked at Celeste. There was a furrow between her brows, she was worried and he didn't know how to soothe her.

"If we do die in here I'm glad I got to meet you first."

Celeste closed her eyes and squeezed his hand. She wasn't ready to die. She didn't even know who she was. Did she have a family? Was she a good person? So many questions ran through her mind and she couldn't answer any of them.

A few tears leaked from Celeste's eyes and Eric reached over to wipe them away. The moisture on his fingers, the red of her hair felt so familiar and yet he couldn't place anything. Couldn't remember if they knew each other in another life.

The thought made him sad. Who was he? He hadn't thought about that in a while. Of course he thinks about it in his meetings with Madame DeLuca but other than that he didn't think about his life before the facility. Why would he? He had accepted his fate and moved on.

But now, now he wanted to know who he was. Wanted to know who Celeste was. He craved the knowledge of his past. Craved it as much as he craved the feeling of Celeste's hand in his own. Even if he was going to die here he would like to die knowing who he was.

While Celeste's eyes were still closed he lifted his finger to his mouth and tasted her tear. The salt on his lips jolted his eyes open and he saw a flash of something.

Flaming red hair, a pale woman with tears streaming down her face and Eric reached out to her and touched her face to wipe the tears away. When she closed her eyes he lifted his fingers to his mouth.

Within an instant the memory was gone. Eric felt panicked. Never in the time he's been here has that happened to him. He was remembering. He looked over at Celeste and saw the same flaming red hair and pale skin. Was this the woman from his memory? Did they know each other?

Next thing he knew there was a huge pain in Eric's head. He let go of Celeste's hand and curled into himself to fight off the pain in his head.

Screams rang out in the room. Celeste didn't know what to do she held on to Eric's back and tried to soothe him. Minutes passed and it ended. Eric slowly stretched out his limbs and Celeste moved away from him. When Eric sat up he was drenched in sweat and had a look of confusion on his face. Celeste was worried that he had forgotten her.

"Celeste."

Celeste threw herself across the bed and slammed into Eric knocking him off the bed and onto the floor. The breath left his lungs when he hit the floor and before he had a chance to breathe Celeste landed on top of him.

Celeste grabbed him so tight and held on as best she could. Eric, with his last ounce of strength, rolled them both over and pinned Celeste to the floor beneath him.

He sucked in as much air as he could and let himself breathe for a few moments. He could feel the curve of her body against his and his thoughts turned dark. One shift of his pelvis and he'd be directly between her legs. Something below his belt stirred. Celeste gasped infinitesimally and her eyes widened.