A Game of Schemes & Fortune

1: Awakening

At the sound of faint bells ringing, I open my eyes. I'm lying on a futon, with bed sheets made of silk. And when I look around, I notice that the walls are made of something similar to Shoji screens. I sit up. This isn't my house, so where am I?

And why does the room feel so familiar? I've never been here before, and why would I even want to be here? Wait. What was the last thing I did? Oh. I died. I think.

'Don't freak out, Dahlia,' I try to comfort myself. 'Yeah, you just died and ended up somewhere you've never been before.'

"But...shouldn't I be in a hospital room then?" I wonder out loud in a curious tone. "Why would I be in this grand room?" I stretch my fingers in and out, I don't feel any pain. I'm fully healed. That's odd, I don't know of any medical equipment that could heal me after being pushed off a 10 story building. I wince at that memory and push it out of the way.

I instinctively look up when I hear a noise. Oh god, I'm becoming too paranoid. It's just a cat at the windowsill. I shake my head.

'Snap out of it, Dahlia.'

The ginger cat, a female, I presume, paws at the half open circular window's wooden frame. I stare at it, not sure what to do. After a few minutes, I finally crawl out of bed, but I notice my body feels oddly weak. I let the cat in by further sliding the circular window open. "Stay there." I say to the cat as it climbs down onto a vanity. At least I'll have company, I sigh to myself.

Okay. First order of business, get reacquainted with the room, I tell myself. Maybe I can learn something about this place while I'm at it.

One: Lovely, peach, silk sheets. Queen size futon. Large, fancy, wooden headboard that takes up a lot of space. That's odd, I've only seen a bed in this style when it's in k-dramas and c-dramas, when it's set in ancient times. I keep looking.

Two: There's plants all over the room, in every crevice, and they even look well maintained. I really like this owner, I wish to be able to take care of plants like whoever resides in this room.

Three: There's books everywhere as well. Perhaps the person who owns this room is studious? Oh, we would get along. But the style of the room isn't mainly Academia, though. So maybe studious isn't this person's main trait. Okay, moving on.

The memory of the building flashes in my mind. No. I'm not going to think about that right now. I'm going to learn more about the room so I can find out more about the person who saved me. Assuming that the room I'm in belongs to a doctor or something. If not, then...I don't know what to dol

Four: Gold. Lots of it. Rich. Politician? But their room doesn't look modern, maybe old money rich? That would make sense. Even the mirror is lined with gold. I move my hand to touch it. Pure gold, I assume, analyzing everything.

Wait, there's something else. I inspect the mirror and lean closer, only to gasp in shock and awe. It can't be, I touch my cheek just to check if that's really me in the mirror.

I have the same face, and my hair is black as usual, but my eyes are a reddish-brown. Brilliant. But even then, I'm wearing clothes I only see in those shows I watch. Luxurious robes that I would never be able to afford. Royal robes, there's even golden hair pins pinning my raven black hair up.

"Woah..."

"Dahlia Fischer, I assume?" I turn around at the sound of my name, but there's no one there. No one except the ginger cat. I look down.

"You, you're a cat. You shouldn't be able to talk..." I whisper in wonder. The cat rolls her eyes, and there's a puff of orange smoke. I cough at the sudden mist that surrounds me. Once the smoke clears, the ginger cat is gone, in its place, is a girl around my age with ginger hair and bright, green eyes.