La Femme Celeste

Chapter One

When Celeste awoke she felt disoriented and had a huge ache in her head. Opening her eyes she saw she was lying on a bed that was unfamiliar and saw there was a man next to her. Celeste, who became alarmed, quickly sat up and grouped the blanket around her to cover her body.

"Don't worry, you're safe. I was waiting for you to wake, are you all right?" The man was friendly enough to her but the pain in Celeste's head made it hard to concentrate on anything.

"Wh-Where am I?" Celeste looked around her and saw another man on the bed next to the one she was on. It made her self-conscious even though he was paying no attention to her or the man next to her. Celeste noticed cameras in every corner of the room and thought that wherever she was she was being watched by unseen people.

"I'm not so sure myself. All I know is we are in a holding cell in a place called 'The Facility'. I've been here for a little over three months and Randall over there," He pointed at the other man. "I'm not sure but I think he's been here for over a year and he hardly knows any more than I do. By the way, I'm Eric." Eric held out his hand to Celeste, she wasn't sure whether to take it or not and ended up just staring at it. Eric put his hand down and noticed that Celeste grouped the blankets even closer to herself and he stood.

"We should probably get you some clothes. Come on, we'll just head into the closet. There are tons of clothes in there." Eric felt he was making the girl uncomfortable with all his talking. "You don't need to worry; I'm not going to hurt you." Eric offered his hand again and Celeste, with much hesitation, took it. Eric helped Celeste to her feet and led her out of the bedroom. When they left the bedroom Celeste noticed that they were in a tiny kitchen and to the left, Eric led her to a walk-in closet.

The closet was completely full of white clothes. Eric led Celeste to the back of the closet and pointed out three racks with white cotton dresses on them. "I wasn't quite sure why these were added a few days ago, but I know now." Eric took a dress off the rack and handed it to Celeste. "There are some undergarments on a shelf to your left." Celeste turned to look at the shelf, after about a second she heard Eric move. Celeste's eyes narrowed and she quickly turned her head and saw Eric had his hands up. "I'm just giving you some privacy. I'll be in the bedroom. If you need me just shout." Eric slowly backed out of the room, keeping his hands in plain view. When she was sure Eric was gone Celeste let the blanket drop. Celeste heard a distant whirring and looked up. There was another camera hitched into the ceiling. Celeste immediately became self-conscious and quickly pulled the dress over her head.

When she was sure the dress was completely covering her body, Celeste went over to the shelf and saw that just like the clothes, and the undergarments were white as well. Celeste rifled through the garments and saw there were only knickers and socks. Celeste grabbed a pair of each and hastened to put the knickers on. Holding the socks in her hand the pain in Celeste's head heightened. She didn't understand why she was at this place and why she couldn't remember a thing. Nothing in this place triggered memories of any kind for her so she figured she hadn't been here long. Slowly and in a daze Celeste walked out of the closet and before she knew it Eric was looking at her from the bed.

Eric looked at Celeste and saw she was upset. Immediately Eric rushed to Celeste and asked, "Do you need some help?" Eric helped Celeste over to the bed and sat her down. When he was able to pry the socks from her hand, Eric helped her put them on her feet. "So what's your story? Do you remember anything?"

Celeste didn't feel like speaking but knew Eric was only trying to be nice to her. "M-my name i-is Celeste."

"That's a good start. You have a lovely name by the way. It's nice to have someone to talk to."

"Does he not talk?" Celeste looked over at Randall; he didn't move or acknowledge them.

"Actually, I'm not sure if he talks or not. He understands some of the things I say and usually does hand signals to answer. I doubt he's deaf either. Maybe he's just mute from being here so long." Eric looked over at Randall and back at Celeste. "Hmm...I just realized you don't have a bed. You can have mine if you'd like. I'll sleep on the floor."