BEYOND

1

Gienne       {2nd day of sixth moon, in 754Q}

Blinded by the sunlight that was piercing her eyes that came through the old rusty window opposite her, Gienne, a young girl of twenty thought about the most absurd thing that happened to her. Things that were hard to believe, culture that was weird to accept, people who were different from the ones whom she knew. A new world of uncertainties and mysteries.

She looks at the clock that is at the top left corner of the window, it was time, all the other maids were busy getting ready for their work. Even after being in this strange land for six months, she still has not learned how to read their language. Everything was strange to her, she felt like it was only yesterday that she was living her life which was full of helplessness and loneliness, how she was blaming herself for everything, for all the things in the past.

Six months before 'Gienne' was not 'Gienne', six months before 'Sara' was just 'Sara', but things have become more complicated now 'Sara' has become 'Gienne'. Life can be weird and funny at times, but for 'Sara' life became weirder and funnier, that is the only simple way to present the things that had happened.

On her way back to home, after her classes Sara clearly remembers listening to the boring music and dozing off in the bus, but when she woke up things were different, no, that's not it, the world was different, sometimes you have these weird dreams that felt real and even after waking up you feel like you are still in it, Sara felt the same. At first she felt like she was in a dream, but a few seconds later she could not believe what she saw, she was standing there looking at herself in the mirror, it was her but not her at the same time she had this weird looking dull grey dress on her, and a young lady with blue eyes and blonde hair was yelling at her for some unknown reason. Suddenly at that moment a middle-aged woman, who must be in her forties or fifties dragged her from the mirror and whispered to her,

"Apologize, or you will get in trouble", not knowing what to do and how to respond to such weird fantasy she just did as the woman told her to. She immediately apologized to the young lady who was sitting in front, who was clearly angry at her for some reason.

The woman dragged her out of the room and was now speaking to her in a cold, strict voice

"What were you thinking pouring tea on the lady's dress, have you gone mad, Gienne?"

Sara still was in a daze and could not sort out what was happening to her. She just could not bring herself to reply to the woman who was standing in front of her, questioning her for her weird behavior. The only words that came to her mind were "where am I?"

"WHERE ARE YOU?"

" You have gone completely mad. last month I saw you trying to jump out of the window, and now this, what happened to you? Gienne, I know things must have been difficult for you after your mother's death, but your mother will never want to see you in such a state. You should get some rest, maybe a break, I will arrange for you to go visit your friend Jane, and maybe staying with her will help you get better. Now, go take some rest and do not get yourself into another trouble, go, go back to the quarters"

"Which quarters? Where am I? What's happening? Who is that woman? My mom, what happened to her?" Sara's mind was filled with questions, nothing was making any sense to her it was like as if she had switched places with someone else, who is from a completely different world and definitely a different time. 

She walked through those corridors without any idea about how to get to the quarters, she just roamed around the huge halls and passage ways, it is during this walk that she realized how much of a big house it was, no it was not a house, more like a castle, were kings and queens lived.

Looking out of the window , she could not believe her eyes , she could see a big garden at the center of which there was a small but yet elegant fountain, there was around six to eight workers situated at different parts of the garden , cutting , trimming and shaping the plants, at the far right corner of the garden there was a small farm, it looked small from where she was looking , she could see few black cows grazing. Beyond the garden she could see a big wall, which ran parallel to the building she was on, the wall went straight about two or three hundred meters, at the left corner of the garden there was a small building about two store's high, two women dressed like her can be seen walking out of the building,

"So that must be the quarters" thought Sara.

But how is she going to get out of this building, she should ask someone the way out. Beyond the tall walls of the estate, she could see big mountains whose base was covered in lush green colored trees and whose tip was covered with clouds, never in her life has she seen such a beautiful sight, the sight made her smile, her mother would have loved it.

Suddenly she felt a pain in her heart, she missed her mother, her family, her home, she could not stop the tears that were forming in her eyes, she felt like crying out loud and screaming, she wanted to go back, to her world. Because deep down something in her mind told her there is no way back, that she will never get to see her family again. She stood there covering her eyes, crying, sobbing and feeling helpless.

The next thing she know is someone came there took her to the servants' quarters, the girl who was now helping her was asking her a lot of questions, calming her down, but all Sara could do was cry even more harder. Everything that she knew has gone from her now, even her loved ones, she is now in a strange land with strange people, what is she going to do now? How will she survive here, and the first question that came to her was

"Who am I? Who is Gienne?"