"Big sis! Over here over here!" a young girl with blonde hair is calling out while running in a field of flowers.
"Esmeralda, don't run too fast or you will fall" said the green eyed girl while walking towards the young girl. The meadow is filled with blooming flowers. The warm sun feels good on her skin. The smell of grass and flowers is filling the air.
"Come on sis!" the young girl suddenly looked back at her and called again.
"Wait, I'm coming," she said. Suddenly a big gust of wind blew on her face, blowing her reddish brown hair to cover her eyes and she closed her eyes instinctively. When she opens them up again, the field of flowers are gone and there is only white all around.
"Huh?" she questioned. "Esmeralda? Where are you?" she said while looking at the empty field in front of her that is all white in color, there is no sky nor ground.
"Big sis" she heard a voice call from behind her. Alexandra turned around to see the source of the voice and see the blonde girl smiling at her, with blood gushing all over her chest.
"AH!" Alexandra woke up. It has been a dream, a terrible dream. She held her head as she felt two lumps at the top of her head hurting. She jolted herself awake from the modest bed where she previously laid which made her head feel like it's being stabbed by invisible needles from all around. She looked left and right to see the unfamiliar room. She saw the modest room made by wood all around: the ceilings, walls, and also the ground. There is one door and 2 windows that had sunlight peeking out of its curtains.
"Oh you're awake?" an elderly woman opened the door and spoke to her, she held a tray in her hand with a bowl and a glass of water atop it. She looks a bit older than her own mama.
"Are you feeling alright?" she asked again, seeing the young girl not responding to her and just stare at her blankly. Alexandra nods at her slowly.
"Okay, I brought you some chicken congee and water for you to eat" the elderly woman put the tray at the nightstand beside the bed and looked at Alexandra again. "Can you talk? What's your name?" she asked her.
"Alexandra" she responded to her. The elderly woman smiled warmly at her. "I am glad you can speak. I found you unconscious on the river banks this morning while I went to catch some fish" she explained to her.
Alexandra heard her and nodded again. "Thank you" she murmured under her breath. The elderly woman seemed to hear her and smiled again. "You should eat up to regain your strength," she said before walking out of the room and closing the door.
Alexandra looked at the warm chicken congee and water that the woman left beside her bed. She slowly tries to move near the nightstand despite the headache still intense on her head. Now that she tried to move, she felt all her body aching. When she looked at her arms and legs she noticed fresh bandages wrapping almost all inches of her body. She looked down and saw that she was in another set of clothes, not the one she swapped with Lena last night. The pain stings all parts of her body and she gives up, laying back down on the bed. She stared at the wood ceiling blankly. She remembered what happened last night. The smell of blood, the screams echoing in her head, the smiles that Lena and Steffie showed her before she ran to the river, everything was still vivid in her head. Her vision started to blur and she felt tears falling off her green eyes. She cried silently until she fell asleep again.
Around 2 hours after Alexandra fell asleep, the elderly woman came back to the room to see the girl sleeping soundly. She looked at the untouched congee and water sitting atop the nightstand. She put another glass of water and took the bowl of congee out. She will reheat it when the girl wants to eat.
The elderly woman left the room and saw her husband outside. "How is the girl?" he asked her while reading a piece of newspaper. "She's sleeping again. I'm not surprised given the many bruises she had all over her body, something terrible must have happened to her before falling down the river" she responded.
"Hmm.. I wonder what happened to her to end up in that state" the man said. "Watch over her while I go hunt something for dinner" the man added before standing up to take his bow and arrows. "Okay, I hope you had a great catch today," the elderly woman said and waved her hands before her husband who left the house. It was around noon now, her husband just went home for lunch and now he left again to go hunt in the forest.
They are a family of two without children. The elderly man is a hunter while the elderly woman helps him process the animal before selling them out. This morning her husband brought back a bear so she will be busy skinning the bear all noon before they can sell the skin and meat to the market tomorrow. Most of the villagers here are hunters and farmers. The village is located at the base of a mountain. They got a river and forest nearby so most of the population became hunters, selling their produce on the nearby town everyday.
Around the time when the sun started to settle down and the sky turned orangey, Alexandra woke up again. Seeing the wooden ceiling again, she tried to sit on the bed. Her headache is gone now but she still felt pain all over her body. That's to be expected given how she had been pricked all over by the thorns of the bushes and exhausted her body by running away non-stop yesterday. She glanced at the nightstand to see glasses of water but the bowl of congee nowhere in sight. She went to pick the glasses and drink all the water. She felt hungry now.
Alexandra tries to get out of bed only to feel her legs giving up on her right away. The legs can't seem to muster any strength and it hurts all over. She fell on the wooden floor. Hearing the sound from the room, the elderly woman went to check and saw Alexandra on the floor. She went to help her get back in bed and saw her legs' bandages red in color.
"The wound on your legs has reopened. You should be resting more" the elderly woman said to her. "Sorry, I'm hungry" Alexandra responded. The elderly woman looked at her and chuckled a little. "I'll warm up your chicken congee and get you some fresh bandages to change into alright?" she said and left the room. After around 5 minutes, she came back with a bowl of warm congee and fresh bandages. "Can you eat by yourself?" the elderly woman asked her after changing her bandages. Alexandra nodded and took the bowl of congee to start eating it. She can feel the warmth of the congee on her hand but for some reason, she did not feel any taste when she ate it, it's all bland to her.