An unbearable headache woke Celia up, making her clench her teeth, luckily the pain gradually disappeared and she could finally open her eyes.
She noticed that she was in a forest, in the shade of a large tree on a makeshift bed made of wood and leaves.
A girl was lying next to her, she must have been fifteen or sixteen years old, very pretty, although she looked a bit tired.
She had long dark curly hair, a thin and delicate face, well defined red lips and skin tanned by the sun.
She was wearing black pants, on one of her thighs was a scabbard with two daggers, one was very impressive that looked more like a small machete, and the other was thinner and smaller, the size of a hand that could easily go unnoticed.
She wore a black off- the-shoulder top that showed off her generous breasts and she had black army boots on her feet.
In short, a real little soldier, but so much sexier.
Celia wondered: what the hell am I doing here! The last thing I remember is that the policemen assured me that my children were safe.
After looking around, Celia got up and walked towards an improvised kitchen, a pile of wood, a large pot, two plates and a few utensils, no glass but there were two small bottles of water right next to it.
What Celia was interested in was one of the plates, because she could use it as a mirror. When Celia looked at her reflection, she was more than shocked: how the hell was that possible? Unfortunately, there was only one possible explanation, she was dead! And reincarnated?
The image reflected on the plate was of a young girl who must have also been fifteen or sixteen years old.
So young thought Celia, and just as pretty as the girl sleeping on the makeshift bed. She had brown red hair, curling at the ends and reaching down to her shoulders, pale, smooth skin, pretty features, a very pretty sultry mouth with pink lips, big blue eyes, at least that hadn't changed.
They were the same color as Celia's original body, several shades of blues mixed in and a tiny golden spot near her left iris.
She was dressed in a midnight blue corset, pants that looked like black skinny jeans, and she had black ballet flats, which was not very practical in this environment, Celia thought.
Celia tried to sort out all this information. First, she was almost sure she was dead. After all, her ex-boyfriend had stormed into her house, practically beat her to death, raped her, and doused her with acid.
She had almost passed out when she heard Gabin, her eldest son, scream for help. She then had to struggle to stay conscious and she realized that their father was trying to take them away.
She had managed, by some miracle, to get up and knocked him out with a children's toy piano.
After having got back her children, she had collapsed on the ground holding them in her arms, she waited for the arrival of the policemen whom she had managed to contact before he started to beat her, all of that happened so quickly ...
Anyways, the last thing she remembered was that the policemen told her that her children were safe now and after nothing, it was like she had dived into a black hole.
Second, now she was in a young girl's body, so was she dead too? She had gone from being a woman in her thirties with two children to a teenager who seemed to live in a forest, she wasn't sure to be a winner here, but it couldn't be help, at least she was still alive.
Third, she would have to have a very serious discussion with the girl who looked like Rambo in some way, hoping she would not kill her with one of her daggers.
One thing was sure, it was that she didn't share this girl's memory, she didn't know anything, where was she? Who was this girl sleeping next to her? What past did they share?
Obviously, it was better to be honest with Miss Rambo, because she couldn't fool her anyway. And, at worst, she would die a second time ...
Rather than going for a walk to scout the area, Celia preferred to return to the makeshift bed. Her headache was completely gone now, she lays close to the girl and began to watch her while she was still sleeping.
She was wondering if she should wake her up or wait until she woke up on her own.
This girl seemed extremely exhausted, large dark circles appeared under her eyes. Suddenly the girl moved, she opened her eyes and looked at her.
Her eyes scanned her suspiciously as she sat up. Celia did the same, a heavy silence settled in, neither she or "Miss Rambo" dared to speak. Celia found her behavior strange, it was as if the girl knew something had happened and that she was no longer the girl she knew.
However, despite her suspicious gaze, she didn't seem to mean her harm.
The girl finally decided to speak : "Who are you? What happened? You're in Nara's body, but you're clearly not her!"
Celia was stunned: how did she know that she wasn't this Nara …
She answered cautiously: "My name is Celia, and I don't really know what happened. All I'm pretty sure of is that I died, and when I woke up, I was in this body. I'm really sorry for your friend, or your sister maybe, I really don't know what happened ..."
The girl looked at her with a lost expression, her eyes sparkled and tears rolled down her cheeks, her silent grief was really painful to see.
Celia brought her hand gently close to her face, and aside from the surprise she saw in her eyes, the girl let Celia do whatever she wanted without moving.
Celia, gently, wiped the tears away first with her thumb, then with both hands she stroked her face and she spoke softly: "What happened to Nara? Was she ill? And if you don't mind, what kind of relationship did the two of you have? If you don't want to answer me, I would understand."
Her hands still gently caressed the girl's face trying to comfort her as best as she could.
Suddenly, the girl trapped her hands in hers, she felt an electric shock passing to her hands and could see the surprise in the girl's eyes too but then, oddly enough, she turned them to kiss each of her palms.
Celia was a little shocked by the girl behavior but this one didn't let her think too much of it as she spoke again: "Thank you for your concern. Nara and I were childhood friends, we grew up together in an orphanage, we ran away about two months ago.
Since then we have lived here, but Nara was fragile, we had very little money and once we run out of it I had to hunt but I couldn't always find food for us to eat.
Nara got sick, she had a huge fever for almost a week now, I did all I could, I tried all the ways I knew to get ride of that fuc*ing fever, but at the end I was helpless, I couldn't save her ..."
Her voice broke, and the girl finally cried. Celia still approached carefully so as not to frighten her, and took her in her arms. She placed her head in the crook of her neck and with one of her hands massage her hair, while with her other one she stroked her back.
When her sobs died down, Celia asked: "What's your name?"
The girl replied in a weak voice, still her head burried in Celia's neck: "Anaya."
Celia continued : "Glad to meet you Anaya, and sorry that you suffered so much at such a young age."
Celia put her hands on Anaya's shoulders, and gently pushed her away to face her.
With one of her hands, she couldn't resist the temptation to continue touching her face: "Anaya, can I stay with you, for a while at least, just for the time I take to adjust a bit. I don't know anything about your situation, why you had to run away from the orphanage for example."
At that mention Anaya face got red from embarrassment and she turned her head, trying to avoid looking at her, Celia added quickly: "Don't worry I won't ask anything, it's fine to have some secrets.
To be honest with you I'm feeling lost, I have absolutely no idea where I am, what I'm gonna do or what should I do ? I don't even know if we come from the same world …"
Celia smiled at her apologetically.
Anaya since she heard that Celia didn't care if she had some secrets and wouldn't ask anything felt puzzled with this girl in Nara's body, and she couln't stopped looking to her beautiful eyes.
Celia had truly no idea what Anaya was thinking but suddenly, a thought crossed Celia's mind and she couldn't help but ask: "Anaya, how did you know I wasn't your friend?"
Anaya finally smiled through her teary face: "Your eyes, they are blue, to be honest, I have never seen this kind of color. There are three different shades of blue and that tiny golden spot there."
Anaya pointed to her left eye and added: "Beautiful ... your eyes are the most beautiful things I have ever seen, I could look into them all day long and never feel bored."
Celia wasn't quite sure why, but her face felt so hot all of sudden, she thought: actually I'm blushing at Anaya's compliment.
Yet it wasn't the first time she had been told that she had beautiful eyes, so she was pondering why she got such a strong reaction from Anaya's words.
Anaya continued her explanation without knowing the turmoil in Celia's thought: "Nara had brown eyes that's why I knew immediately that you weren't her …
You can stay with me as long as you want, I don't want to be alone. I don't know if you're from another world either, but to find out we'll just have to get to know each other.
And I actually want to be your guide, but you have to help me too. I … I really don't want to be alone, so … So please, don't go."