Sanctuary

Chapter 5

"Hush there, you are safe!" Eben tried to comfort her.

She took a deep breath, which seemed to bring her more pain than comfort and turned her head towards him.

"Thomas?... No, it cannot be..."

"I do not know who you think I am and I would also want to know who you are, but for now you need to stay calm. You have a deep wound and you have lost a lot of blood. I did the best I could, but you're body still fights an infection and there also is not enough blood for you. So you need to relax and sleep. You are safe here. Are you thirsty?"

She nodded. Eben reached for a bottle of spring water, removed the cap, helped her raise her head and let her sip from the bottle. She took a few sips and nodded thankfully.

"I'll go make you some linden tea, should help you calm down and sleep better. I think you had some nasty nightmares. I'll be back in a few minutes" Eben said as he stood up and headed for the door. As he was about to open the door, she whispered:

"Please...stay. I cannot explain why, but I'd feel safer if you'd stayed". She took a deep breath again, doubled up in pain, closed her eyes and mumbled a few words: "I ... am ... Emilia..."before falling asleep again. She was still very weak, but it was a good sign she regained consciousness if only for a very short time. And she drank a bit, fighting against dehydration.

Eben sat at the table and continued his thoughts from before falling asleep. The woman resembled very good someone from his past. Emilia was a women in her early 30th, had a few light scars on her left cheek and neck, the hair was longer and curlier, but that's how he always imagined SHE would look like at this age. But it could not be her. She wasn't alive anymore. A car crash ended her life prematurely. Eben remembered the pain it caused him, losing her a second time. He remembered all the time he had struggled to just forget. He never said a word about it, but her death was the actual reason he decided to make that long trip to Asia. He always thought his sister had known it, but she kept quiet.

But now wasn't the time for such memories. He had suffered enough since he had returned. And there were enough worries to trouble him in the present, so he pushed the past aside. He remembered what had happened today. He wanted to get up and check things out, but could not. He was too tired. So he sat more comfortable and allowed himself to fall asleep.

"Hello? Hello?" a whispering voice crept into Eben's ears. He managed to open his sore eyes. He recognized the voice as belonging to Emilia. "Emilia, damn it! How is she? Have I slept long?" were Eben's thoughts as he sprung up and approached her.

"I was worried. You seemed to be troubled by bad dreams" she said. Only know Eben recollected having dreamt about cars, a thunderstorm, a plain...and then lightning.

"Just old memories haunting me. But I'm not the one to be concerned about. How are you...Emilia, is that right?"

"How does it come that you know my name, but I do not know yours?". Eben looked surprised.

"You have no memories of past night?" Eben asked.

"Sorry, I do not. What happened?"

"You woke up, screamed for Thomas, thought for a short time I was him, drank some water, I told you about your injury, wanted to brew you some tee but you asked me to stay. You said you felt safe in my presence. So I remained and just before you fell asleep again, you told me your name was Emilia. Nothing rings a bell? Oh, and my name is Eben, glad to meet you Emilia."

" I am sorry, I have no such memories Eben. May I call you Eben?"

"Of course you may. It seems you still had high fever when you awoke. I found you wounded at the small airfield not far away from here, Maja protected you. We took you both with us and brought you here. I treated your wound as good as I could. May I touch your forehead, Emilia?". She nodded. Her cheeks turned from pale white to a light reddish color. "Seems your fever has gone down quite a bit. How are you feeling?"