Framed By Silence || AOT

II

Tough footsteps slammed against wooden floorboards to initiate my awakening, followed by the muffled sound of voices being blocked by a wall of some sort. I inhaled deeply for the first time, counting to forty in multiples of five, and then releasing the air through my parted lips.

It took a while for my brain to register the environment I was in, the foremost thing i discerned was my posture, laying down against a thin sheet of cloth and under that- a cold, firm matter. A bed.

The air was cold, breezing through in one direction, indicating it was coming from an open window. The wind was light on my warm body, but caused my touch to become cold; numbing my skin to any suspension.

Pulling myself up using the brawn of my arms, I managed to shift myself into a seated position. I raised my hand and lightly placed a finger upon my forehead, feeling a soft cotton texture surrounding my whole head- looped around at least twice. An injury of some kind had struck my head, requiring medical attention. Hence, the bandage.

I swung my legs around the side of the bed, and took a good look around. The room that revolved around me was fairly small, everything was either wooden, or stone. There was one singular light source at the corner of the room, a large candle sat on top of a poorly built dresser. The candle looked only recently blown out, as there was still thin trails of smoke emitting from the burnt out wick.

Other than the dresser and the bed, there was no other pieces of furniture in the room. Apart from one slender, full-body mirror placed attentively by the door. It possessed one sizeable crack through the top of the glass, that branched out centimetres in each direction; the rupture expanded deep into the wooden frame, splitting the wood finely down the side- suggesting
that the mirror had been dropped, and landed savagely on that spot.

I rose up from the uncomfortable bed, and began to slowly walk over to the mirror, my head hanging low. The floorboards creaked as my weight was applied, suggesting this place was old and worn out. The main source of light came from under the door, it was enough to fulfil the whole room; though in the corners the light contrast was immense.

My presence arrived in front of the mirror, my body faced the mirror, my feet followed, standing roughly a foot from the glass. I lifted my heavy head
up to observe what was in front of me.

My eyes were still adjusting, so it would almost make sense that the person in my reflection, looked. Nothing, like me...

The girl that stood before me was eccentric, yet beautiful. her hair was slicked back in two braids, beginning at the top of her head and running down to the middle of her torso. It was a unique shade of black that shined blue in the light, like feathers from a magpie. Front strands parted from the rest of her hair and framed her face in a wavy motion, fixed into place from the lack of hygiene.

I advanced closer to the mirror, and lay my index finger against the cold glass. Funny enough, the reflection copied. My finger slumped upwards so my whole hand was spread upon the mirror. I carefully observed the image before me, my hand tracing the outline of her face.

Her eyelashes were long, and thick, giving her a harsh slender shape to her grey eyes. One of her eyes was slightly higher than the other, causing a slanted frame and a sly aura. Her skin is pale, as if she barely saw the sunlight; it contained very few freckles that had been disorganised across her face, central on her nose and rather close to her eyes- leaving a blank canvas to her cheeks.

I stood candidly in disturbance, detecting her features one by one as little time passed.

Her ears were small and perfectly in line with her eyes. Her right ear pointed like an elfs and deemed rough to touch but not noticeable unless indicated.

Her arms were sparked with faded body freckles, giving her skin personality but normal to the eye. A large scar run up the centre of her left arm, carrying the whole way up to her shoulder. Her legs were a darker tone to the rest of her body.

Her shoulders were wider than the average, but her arms a normal length, however skinnier at the bottom than towards the top. There were elements of muscle on her- but scarcely noticeable unless flexed.

I gazed at every single characteristic she possessed, my fingers following my eyes for the most part, not noticing until only then her fingers were touching mine.

Her's were long and stubbier towards the bottom, they appeared rough- to indicate forms of labour. Her fingernails were all laced the same colour, a darkened grey- some more bold than the others.

My eyes moved downwards leisurely, feeling my mouth slightly hanging open from disbelief.

Her hips were wide in proportion to the rest of her body, giving her a sleek curved figure that shaped her thighs spaciously. However none was lost to fat- all was muscle from various exercise, predominantly below her torso.

Despite all her body proportions, she was still of a lower height- maximising at around 5'3 and a half. Much shorter than the average.

Everything about her appearance felt familiar, yet i'd never encountered this girl in my life. I tilted my head slowly, and her actions followed just as a reflection would. Surprisingly, my levels of sanity seemed stable and I felt wholly calm.

Her outfit consisted of a long-sleeved white shirt, made from a thin comfortable material. It appeared in good condition and smelt as if it'd just been washed. Her pants however were not as congenial, they clung to her thighs tightly, following down to where they ended at her ankles. The material didn't match her shirt, as they were thicker- yet manoeuvrable.

I felt my conscience engage slightly more with every passing second. My right foot indicating a step back as it shifted rearwards. But before my body registered the moment, the reflection had beat me to it. The anatomy positioned just as I was, in an identical stance.

She was me. I was her. There wasn't a need to refer to her as another being as I had become her.

I felt nauseous all of a sudden, the dizziness returning to my head and slowly burning a hole in the side of my brain. My stability on both feet became unreliable, my brain unable to react and signal to the rest of my body. I resisted the urge for my eyes to roll back- my attention grabbed by the sight of the door handle pulling down.

A bright taunting light seeped into the room like water following the shape of a stream. The sound of the door unlatching drilled into my frail composure, knocking me to the ground like blowing a shred of paper off a ledge; or a feather in the wind.

Like a strong hit to the stomach, the wind was knocked out of me, leaving me gasping for air as I lay sidewards on the cold floor. My arm blocked half my vision, but I didn't have the strength required to move it so I could see properly. I couldn't lie, I was panicking at this moment, my vision was the least of worries as I had informed myself before that someone had entered the room as I fell. But who?

I refused to let my consciousness slip from my body once again, so I firmly placed the palm of my hand against the floor, pushing myself up into a more upright seated position.

The person that had entered my room had at this point made their presence known, their shoes hitting the floor quickly as they approached. Feeling an arm acting in a reflex motion to support my back as I pulled myself from the floor. My eyes slowly moved up to their face, as they began talking.