Relative Dimensions

Safety is Relative...

Death shouldn't hurt this much...why do I feel like I have been screaming? What has happened that I can do nothing about? Am I dying? Or am I recovering? What is going on?

"Hold on, I think she is waking up...aye, she's coming around." The voice was gruff and manly. I tried to open my eyes but once I had them open I closed them quickly shut again hoping to block out the light that painfully stabbed at me. "Come on now", the voice said, I could tell he was trying to be nice and persuasive, "Just open yer eyes and try to get up. Nothings gonna hurt ye here, yer're safe!" Safe? Where was I if this was safe? I tried to open my eyes again and again, killing myself each time I failed but finally, I was able to see and it was an interesting picture before my eyes.

I was on a bed in the corner beside a huge window, where light was streaming through, I had trouble focusing on any particulars since I still hadn't adjusted to my surroundings but from what I could tell the man who had been speaking earlier was at my bedside holding a glass of water and there was another man who looked like a pencil. The man holding the glass lifted my head up and made sip the contents...it was cold and refreshing and I noticed how thirsty I must have been.

"A-a-are y-you fe-feeling a-a-any b-b-better?" the man who looked like a stick asked. I didn't know whether I could answer him or not but decided to give it a try, "mpfgh, idgn, knguos!" That was not me! I didn't talk like that! I am not a baby for crying out loud...I wasn't gagged or anything,so why couldn't I speak? Another try and another brought the same results and both men waited patiently till I managed to get put "I d o n o t k n o w." Finally, a clearly articulated sentence. Then the man with the gruff voice spoke up, "I suppose yer wondering what yer doin' here and well, I'll tell ye. Yer in the house of me, the laird of this here county. My names Alan McCrouloch and as ye might 'ave guessed I'm a Scotsman and damned right proud o' it! Me boy here is David not quite righ' in the speech but as sharp as me dirk in the head. Yer 'ere because ye were in an accident and being way out here in the country ye needed help and me 'ouse is always 'open fer strangers an' travelers. Me wife Rona 'as been takin' the most care witch'a an' would 'ave been 'ere were it not fer the supplies ronnin' low in de 'ouse."

The man finally stopped talking to take a breath so I interjected "What country am I in?" "Why yer in England, where else would ye be me dearie?" England? Since when was I in England? I tried hard to remember what happened but it was a failure, it was as if my brain had hit a roadblock in my memory. "What is the year, good sir?" I said, trying to be polite, "It is the year 1042 me child, when else would it be?" Alan asked me while staring at me as if I had two heads, then there was a slight commotion downstairs dogs started barking and people yelling and Alan with a grimace said that he should probably get downstairs and see what it was all about and told David to stay with me.

Once Alan had left the room David turned to me and said "What is wrong with you? Have you lost your mind? This whole thing was your idea and now you don't even know the simplest thing about it!" I was shocked by this sudden reproach, "What are you talking about?" I retorted, "I don't think yelling at the sick person speeds up the process of healing!" David just started and fell back into a chair, "So you don't know where you are or who you are or what you are doing here. That is not good." "What the hell are you talking about? I don't understand!" David just sat there quietly taking the brunt of my anger and not saying a word. It took my another few minutes to get it all out of my system and when I was finally done he just stood up and bid me goodnight turning the light of on his way out. I was left there sitting in the dark. It was just too much for me and I broke down crying and cried myself to sleep.

The next morning was not much better, I was pretty much left to myself except for meals. Some maid I am guessing brought me some pretty good food at the appropriate times but she was the only person I saw in the following days till three days later, or I think it was three days Alan returned to check up on the invalid as he said...upon seeing him I remembered what he had said about it being the year 1042 and therefore decided to ask him what had been going on since my "accident" but then I saw David shadowing behind him and decided not to. "Well my young lassie, 'ows it goin'?" he voiced in that very loud manner of his, "Fine, I am doing much better thank you, sir" I responded trying to be very polite because he was as he said "the laird of the county" and I didn't want to make him mad. "Well that's just fine, just fine. Now I was awonderin' if ye might tell me a little bit about yeself seein' as yer me house and eaten' my food. Do ye know whence ye came from and who yer family is and who you are?" his gaze was piercing and I didn't quite know how to answer it because I had no idea who I was or where I came from and who my family was. Kind of sucks if you think about it...David then all of a sudden spoke up in that voice I had first heard a couple of days ago "I d-d-don't kn-know i-i-if sh-she kn-knows wh-who s-sh-she is. Sh-sh-she h-h-had a ve-very h-ha-hard f-fall a-and m-mu-must h-ha-have hi-hit h-her he-he-head." His father looked at him sharply but then softened his gaze and replied "Aye me boy, yer righ', let tin' her rest a wee bit longer would't hurt much. I 'ad better be off then." And with that he left.

That man is really starting to puzzle me but David most of all. "Alright," I heard him say, "I will tell you who you are and must be for the next 3 months. Your name is Adrianna Moray, your father is related to the Morays of Scotland and you must meet him in at least 3 months time so that you don't get left behind when he leaves for Scotland again. He is going to be very worried but since you are free spirited you will not be the highest concern at the moment. Oh and FYI, Moray is Scottish royalty." What the----! Who is this dude? He is obviously not from around here! How does he know who I am? I don't even know who I am!!

I don't remember a whole lot past that point...I think I may have blacked out or something...apparently Rona put me back to bed because when I woke up I was lying down in the straightest of ways with the covers tucked up to my chin and for some reason it made me start to cry because it reminded me of the mother I had forgotten...then that made me realize I must have family somewhere if I missed them. A slight cough from beside me made me turn around and I saw David again, did he never give up? "Well, it is nice to see you awake again. I think I may have shocked you too much upon our last talk and now I will tell you everything from start to finish but just so you know, this is going to sound insane but it is very true. You are not from the year 1042, you are in fact a world renown scientist in our day, the year 2099 and your name is Audrey Imogen Grewque. You invented a way to travel through time and this was your first experiment. Didn't quite turn out the way we should have liked. In case you are wondering I am your best friend in the other world and also when you travel apparently you land in someone else's body...you are lucky you landed in Adrianna's body otherwise you would have been a nameless nobody that Alan would never have taken in. Does this answer any of your questions?" he concluded.

What else could I do but nod...this was all way too much to take in at once. Me a famous scientist? Impossible! And yet, there seemed to be a grain of truth in the whole matter, how else could one explain my mysterious accident and my being here even or anything else for that matter..."So how do I get my memory back, David, if that is even your real name." I didn't want to be the scientist who went wacko on her first experiment, "That is a good question and well, to be honest, I was going to ask you that since you are the scientist. I was kind of hoping it would come back once had told you all that. Have you had any strange realizations that remind you of someone or something?" How should I answer that? Say, well yes I did, I felt like I had been tucked in by a mother before this day and Rona's tucking me up to my chin reminded me of that, no way...but what the hell, why not "Um yeah, I felt something like dèjá-vu when I woke up with the covers tucked up to my chin. It reminded of a mother, mine I suppose." David smiled as if I had just figured out the way to get back to wherever I belong, I smiled tenitivly back not really knowing where to look. "That is fantastic', he said, 'It means you haven't lost all of your memory and will probably regain it in the upcoming months. Just so you know I actually have your calculations but I have no clue how to read them. All I know is that this portal you found or whatever is closing in 2 months I just don't know where. I hope it is somewhere near because there were no planes in 1042. Boats weren't really all that reliable either so...oh and my real name is Henry James Forge just in case you were wondering and in the other world I look much better. Not that is something you would really need to know," he blushed, so cute!