Frozen Ones

Chapter 5 (Leonie)

Leonie opened her eyes with a groan. Her head hurt. Her legs hurt too, as did her arms and basically everything else. But maybe that was just normal and her body always felt like that.

She slowly sat up in the unfamiliar bed. The bed linen was white, just like the rest of the room, including the floor. Only the window frames were made of gray metal.

When she looked down, she realized that she was also wearing white clothes. A two-piece suit, like in a hospital. Maybe she was in one. It wouldn't be the first time...

A quick look around the room refuted the assumption. It looked more like a very simple hotel room with a closet, table and two chairs. Her black dress was lying on one of them, neatly folded. Her high heels were there too.

Who had brought her here? And why?

Was it the man from the train station? The one who hadn't wanted her to jump onto the tracks? Hadn't he shot her? So why wasn't she finally dead?

Leonie really had a lot of questions and she was sure that she could answer some of them if she got up and went out the door. Maybe she would meet someone there who could explain to her where she was and what was going to happen now.

But to be honest, she didn't really feel like it. What could happen? She would talk to another person who would assure her of something that would never become reality. Maybe she wouldn't get an answer at all.

For this reason, Leonie simply fell back into the soft mattress and stared at the wall. If she didn't blink long enough, Lisa's face would appear there. Red curly hair, pale skin, dark eyes with long eyelashes and full lips. Her great cousin had been much more beautiful than she was. And more open, more full of life. She had always had something that could make Leonie laugh, no matter how depressed she was and thoughts of her parents caught up with her.

Leonie didn't even have tears left to cry for her.

There was a knock on the door. Three times at regular intervals.

A faint smile twisted her lips. That was exactly how her grandmother had knocked on the door when she slipped into Leonie's room late at night and hugged her until all the monsters had disappeared and she could sleep.

The knocking was repeated.

Her grandmother was no longer here, so why was someone knocking? Was Leonie in heaven?

The door was opened resolutely, although she had not invited the stranger in. On the other hand, her grandmother would have done that too.

"Are you awake, Mrs. Braun?" a dark, female voice asked.

Leonie nodded.

"Hello? Can you hear me?" The woman had apparently not noticed her movement.

Leonie awkwardly sat up again and nodded again.

In front of her stood a girl who couldn't have been older than 20. She had a round face with gray-green eyes and freckles. What was striking, however, was her blue, chin-length hair, which matched the blue shirt and blue dungarees perfectly.

When she noticed that Leonie was awake, she grinned broadly and two small dimples appeared in her pale cheeks. "How are you?"

"Good," said Leonie, even though her voice sounded very scratchy. She hadn't spoken for a long time.

The woman nodded. "You must have a lot of questions, right? Where you ended up and what you're supposed to do here."

Leonie shrugged.