Madness

chapter 5- creeping illness

Distressed murmurs scarpered around the room, stirring Elena. Broken light shifted in the room, shattered and casting broken hues of grey. There was a lost sound grating in her mind like the clusters of apples which left scuffles against her window pane. Elena knew that this wasn't her room but it felt like it could be. The washed out green walls and shelves of broken, mismatched dolls were oddly familiar and would have given her a glint of comfort if it wasn't for the childish air the room gave of.

Only moments ago, the black was absolute but now it was broken in a careful dewiness. The light that entered the room was almost slow, shifting around the room in shatters. The room was a watery haze of a washed out green and broken light. Blinking hard, Elena struggled to get rid of the clamminess which had resided on her eyes.

"It followed me," Elena croaked, "it is following me."

Her words vanished like a guilty thing leaving a hum of an echo. Her murmurs must have been louder then she though as soon after the door steadily creaked open.

The woman that entered was achingly familiar. Raking her mind, Elena found it clouded with huge cracks of nothingness. Somehow Elena knew not to be frightened and her frail smile gave a lasting warmth.

"Oh Elena, love," Her voice was much closer than her own and they were followed by a careful hug as if holding a child of smoke.

"Mother?" She murmured. Why couldn't I remember my own mother? Elena felt a thrust of guilt. I am ill.

"That's right," mother replied in a hushed, gentle voice although her face was crinkled with worry, it needing only the slightest change to become a frightened, wearied look.

"How did I get here?" The words slipped from Elena before she could stop herself. A throb of panic hung over her like a shadow. Elena suddenly felt like a forlorn child in distress. "Is it bad I can't remember?"

A hesitant weariness glazed over her mother's hazel eyes, casting glints of worry across the room. "It's just a silly bit of illness. It'll all come back to you...you remember me now, don't you?" She spoke slowly as if carefully choosing her words so that her voice was almost a sigh.

I can't remember you! All I can remember is the smell of your face powder. That's not remembering you. You're lost in my mind, just a stranger in my memory! "I...yes." she replied mutely.

Relief was evident in her mother's eyes. "You gave us quite a fright, stumbling in the house in the middle of the night hardly aware of yourself or us." She gave a weak, broken smile.

Us? Another cluster of panic throbbed through her. Whose us?

Elena tried to gather the pieces of her mother in her mind. She's known as Mrs Piers and always applies face powder to muffle her wrinkles. She makes dresses and often made me part dresses when I was younger. She fears empty buses and is very protective over me. And she...

Elena thought hard but nothing else seemed to really come to mind. Swallowing, Elena studied her mother's wrinkled face, tired brown hair and freckles. The click didn't come. Flustered, she wondered what had left her own mother a stranger in her mind.

Noticing the distress in Elena's face, another smile flickered on her face.

"It's alright, love. It's just a silly illness."Her mother spoke with a hushed, gentle tone which only added to the discomfort. If she's speaking to me like a child it means I'm ill- the wrong kind of ill.

The bed sank slightly with a new weight. Propping herself up on a mound of pillows, Elena found another figure in the room who had taken place at the foot of her bed. He looked a lot like mother and shared the same wearied expression.