Heads Of Medusa

A DAY LIKE A NIGHTMARE (edited)

A year ago.

Athena's eyes fluttered open but the darkness she saw didn't disappear. Soon it dawned on her that she was in complete darkness, no different from before she opened her eyes.

"Hello?" she called out but got no reply. Her pupils surveyed the environment hoping to see a ray of sunshine.

Her senses slowly returned and Athena realized she was lying on her back, facing the ceiling once her skin sent signals to her brain, informing her of how cold the floor was.

She sat up immediately and blindly searched the floor with her hands, but that was of no use since she found nothing.

She felt nothing around her; no chair, table, or bed. She stood up warily, to avoid hitting her head against something and she didn't.

Athena sighed and decided to find a way out in the darkness but after walking around for minutes, she realized walking aimlessly didn't get her anywhere.

She wondered where she was and if she had been kidnapped. She tried to remember what had happened before her awakening, what had she been doing before she blanked out and woke up in such a mysterious place but nothing, absolutely nothing came into her head.

She knew what her name was, Athena Darren and her foster parents' names were Eileen and Derek.

She remembered all that but... her legs suddenly felt like jelly and her heart sank as realization dawned on her. She was terrified, her hands and legs shook and her teeth quivered.

What made her suddenly scared and terrified wasn't because she wondered where she was but because she realized she couldn't remember her parents' faces nor could she remember how she looked like.

"My face!" she screamed in horror, "Why... why can't I remember my appearance? Where am I? Who's there? What's happening? Somebody please, help me!"

She begged and questioned, gripping the void emptiness and dropping to the floor.

Her heart raced rapidly. She started hyperventilating as panic crept into her heart. Her breathing was uncontrolled as she struggled to remember any fragment of memory from her past; arguments, laughter, anything at all - but to no avail.

She remembered nothing and no one except for her name and parents.

She calmed herself down and tried taking slow breaths to regulate her breathing. She soon realized that she was starting to remember more names. It distracted her a bit.

Ashton. Asher.

Those names suddenly echoed in her mind. A voice in her head, maybe, was calling out those names. It was difficult to tell reality from one's imagination in such circumstances.

"Ashton, Asher?" she repeated aloud in wonder. "Who are they?"

*****

Suddenly, the room brightened up and the ground below her opened up and swallowed her in. She began free-falling, all the while screaming at the top of her voice until she landed on something soft that perfectly curbed the fall. Her heart was racing again. She thought that this was the end for her, that she would have to die without remembering anything; not her parents, friends, or, sadly, even herself. But then again, she was saved by the large bed laid on the floor.

She was then struck with a mixture of emotions. She was both happy, thankful, and yet pissed off. This means that someone had caused the fall and someone was around, after all. She looked around to see if anyone was around, maybe watching her but all she saw surrounding her were walls painted white. Her eyes looked up expectantly to observe if, just maybe, she would get a glimpse of God or an angel. Maybe she was dead and had been a good person so she was going to stay in heaven? But she saw nothing of the sort, of course, just a ceiling above her head. And at the corners of the four walls, she noticed some telecoms.