A Sordid Story of Blood & Fluff

1: Forgotten

An otherwise ordinary sort of young woman in her twenties found herself in an extraordinary situation when the world went black and buckled her knees to the floor. A cold rush crowded all of her memories into the back of her brain and extinguished them one by one. Her hands dragged down the sides of her head, powerless as the very last memory, her name, burst and fizzled into oblivion. Her eyes opened and absorbed dark thick air.

Alone in a vast circular room, the girl's hands fell into her lap and her ears strained to pick up anything from her surroundings. But the air was cautious and gave up no sounds except the creak of the building's skeleton.  The light scent of dust and wood settled around her, tickling her lungs.

Where was she, she thought, and what strange force had the right to remove the contents of her mind?

Although the girl was beneath a roof several stories high, there was a sense of exposure like a hundred-thousand faces were peering over the railings and up between the floorboards. Her eyes started to adjust and she became aware of draping curtains and curved balconies above, gazing down at the tiny human form below them.

The girl pushed away the floor and wobbled to a standing position. A feeling of urgency to seek out help propelled her to walk forward. As she made her way to a set of stairs leading up to two large doors, something heavy brought the girl's head down into a drowsy nod. She snapped awake, but she was no longer in the circular room. Now she faced a long hall flushed with plum carpet and lined with glowing sconces. The air was clearer here but the light only illuminated a short distance ahead. The hallway, a dark hole, dared her to enter.

There were footsteps.

"Who's there? Hello?" the girl called out, but her voice came out in strangled pieces.

Another weight tugged at her head and when the girl became conscious of her surroundings again, she was stumbling towards a railing. Her hands were holding it now, the sweat from her palms making her slide left and right. The girl's grip made the blood stop from the tips of her fingers to her elbows. She was struggling for breath and her legs ached from running. Over the edge was a two-story drop to a white marble hall.

The hazy state the girl had been shrouded in parted. Her senses sharpened. Everything was real; the mansion, the dust, the balding carpet her toes were gripping as well as the vast expanse of solitude. Her fears would not be stilled by the luxury of a nightmare. 

The girl  closed her eyes and for a long time tried to bring back her memory by sheer force. Her body was so petrified with the effort that it came as a strange relief when words that came from behind her broke her concentration. 

"Come away from the edge," said a male voice. The girl straightened and turned around but she couldn't distinguish anyone in the dark. She hesitated while trying to form words of her own.

"How did you get in?" the stranger asked. The girl sensed weariness in his voice.

"I... I'm not sure," said the girl. There was a very long pause and without a person there to see, the girl almost believed she was conjuring the whole thing up in her head. Until something came into focus. A stone's throw away and a little to her right was the silhouette of a man's head and shoulders. She stepped back at this new presence.

"Get away from the edge," he said, walking closer. "They can sense you from there."

The girl moved away from the bannister and closer to the person. The man was a bit taller than she was. He may have been around her age. He had superbly elegant features, from golden brown hair that stood in thick strokes to dense long eyebrows and defined but muted lips. Even while cold and afraid the girl could feel her cheeks warm a bit. The whites of his eyes were pure like polished china. Standing in the shadows his pupils appeared black in comparison. The jacket he wore had shoulders that pointed up slightly at the edges and gave him a somewhat imposing presence; it ran hip-length where it blended with his dark trousers and glossy boots.