Aragons

Chapter Thirty One

"Raia. Raia," someone whispers, a voice all too familiar to Raia.

Raia's eyes remain closed as she awakens from her slumber. She's waiting for that person to call her name again. She needs to hear that voice again to make sure it isn't from her dream. Because that voice... she can't be mistaken. Why is she hearing the voice of that person?

Hot, humid air covers Raia in a layer of sweat. Her dress and the bedsheet she's sleeping on cling to her clammy skin, making her feel uneasy. She gulps, moistening her chapped lips with her tongue. Cold water. Raia needs something cold to wash down her parched throat, something to help her clear her mind.

She hasn't heard that voice in a long time and hearing it brings back buried memories and, in some ways, guilt.

Guilt. Is she finally capable of feeling such strong emotions?

She remains motionless, waiting, but that person does not speak again. Maybe that voice was just a figment of her imagination. Instead, she hears distant footsteps and children speaking in low murmurs somewhere nearby.

There are kids?

Raia opens her eyes. And blinks. She finds herself staring at a familiar dusty and stained ceiling. With a deep frown on her face, she turns her head and stares. A row of metal-framed beds with white mattresses greets her sight. She lowers her gaze and notices another row of beds lined up against a wall. They are occupied by kids dressed in white who are staring at Raia with wide eyes.

Raia's heart skips a beat. She sits up abruptly and looks around, alarmed. She's in a large room. Apart from the beds and two wooden wardrobes in opposite corners, there isn't much else in the room. Golden rays of sunlight stream through the arch windows that run along the opposite wall from her.

A shiver runs the length of her spine. The surrounding looks so awfully familiar. She'll never forget this place. She looks down at herself, her jaw tightening. She's clad in a white tunic dress, just like the kids. It falls above her knees, exposing her pale legs. Her feet are also exposed, leaving her defenseless in the absence of the comfort of her combat boots. She can feel how tight and small the piece of clothing is when she moves her arms. She even has trouble breathing. It feels that she has already grown out of it.

Realizing what is happening, she feels a wave of dread and her heartbeat quickens.

It can't be, she thinks, a sense of horror rising within her. Raia has returned to the orphanage, the cruel and lonely dwelling from her childhood before Simon rescued her. The place from which she had already escaped. The root of her long-forgotten despair.

She moves her head from side to side, her eyes scanning the bed for her uniform, but it's nowhere to be found. She isn't wearing her necklace either.