Shades of Scarlet

Chapter One: A Stranger to Myself

Three years ago

When I wake up my eyes immediately set on the moon. It beckons to me, as if trying to tell me something. Its comfort only lasts for a brief moment. Not long after getting lost into its glow, an empty lack of memories start to irk. My mind feels like it is covered with a thick fog. I was somebody before, but who?

I look around, scanning my surroundings. I don’t recognize it. The dim-lit room smells like fresh flowers. Red carpets line the floor, and the furniture is white with floral prints. It is a small room with not much space to walk in. Am I safe here?

A mirror stands next to the floral couch. Curious about who I am, I lift my body off the bed and walk to it. In front of the mirror, I look at myself for what seems like the first time. I hold my breath, not certain how to react. The girl in the reflection has bright violet eyes, a voluminous head of wavy brown hair and dainty features. I blink, and she flutters her long eyelashes too. Still attempting to grasp that the girl in the mirror is me, I move my fingers, frown, smile… everything I do she mimics.

“Juliette?” a woman’s voice interrupts my preoccupation with my reflection.

I turn around to face the intruder, my heart racing. I don’t know whether to trust her.

The woman appears to be in her forties, with wrinkles at the corners of her eyes but a warm aura lighting her face. She looks like a nice person.

She comes toward me and reach her hands out. “Juliette, you’re awake. You shouldn’t stress your body out too much, walking about like that. Come, sit down.” She grabs for a stool and moves it closer to me.

I narrow my eyes at her. “Juliette?”

She pauses briefly and takes in a sharp breath. “Oh, yes…” Her words drift off into a mutter.

I stare at her inquisitively. She must know a lot of things, and I don’t have anyone else to tell me about where I am.

As if with newfound boldness, she glances at me again. “Your name, dear, is Juliette.”

“Juliette,” I say my name again softly. It is a pretty name. “Can you tell me more?”

The woman puts her hands on my shoulders and gently pushes me down onto the wooden stool. “There are many things I cannot say, but you must know that you are special, and important. Never let any harm come to yourself.”

My head cocks to one side. What she says confuses me.

“You will understand one day.” She sighs, and then shifts her eyes left and right. Her lips part and forms into a little ‘o’. “Would you like something to eat?”

“I don’t know what I want.” As if answering the woman, my stomach grumbles. I blush, embarrassed.

The woman bursts out into laughter, her rounded voice like music to my ears. “I’ll get you some food to let you snack. Wait for me dear.” She lets go of my shoulders and makes her way to the door, her figure disappearing into the shadows.

Before she moves behind the wall, I call out, “Ma’am?”

She steps back to look at me. “Yes darling?”

“How may I address you?”

Shock registers on her face, only for a second. Then, she smiles. “Carmen. You can call me Carmen.”