It wasn't long before Lee realized that something was wrong. Her once large adult hands with cleanly cut nails were transformed into small greyish-looking palms; the girl's previous short black as night hair transformed into long, blood-red locks that nearly reached her toes.
The body she was in was of a 7-year-old child, not the 20-year-old she once was. The first thing she noticed was that the location she had woken up in was not the hospital room she had lived her entirety in. This place was cave-like and gravity-ridden. The second thing was that although she had woken up here and it had been hours, she did not feel any need for food or water. When Lee had first woken up, she had been in a state of deep confusion and fear. Not only could she not breathe in this airless hole.
But she also couldn't speak or make any sound at all, which caused her to claw mercilessly at her throat, trying unsuccessfully to make sense of her condition. After hours, precisely 32 hours and 28 minutes, she finally calmed herself down through deep rhythmic breaths taught to her by her grandmother. Hours later, Lee was bored, bored out of her mind because, unlike this place, the vast hospital room she lived in would always obtain trinkets she had built and thousands of books she had read hundreds of times. This hole she was in had nothing but dirt and a sharp green-cloured rock. This left Lee with nothing to do but think and think until finally, something happened.
Deep within her mind, an image started to form. The clearer it got, the harder her head hurt, and as the picture grew in size, her whole body began to tremble in pain. Then like a whip, a memory formed. The mind put her in the shape of an older woman as she looked into a mirror. The woman had a kind face and a small button nose matching her small pink rose lips. The woman's name was Vivian, Vivian Grey cloud. She was born and raised in a large family of 12, excluding her parents, who died at only ten years old. Vivian then became the sole parental figure for her twelve younger siblings. She took care of them until she was in her thirties, sacrificing her education, her money, as well as her future so she could give her siblings a future of their own. At the age of 35, she finally got a stroke of good luck, attracting the eye of a lord who grew fond of her kind-hearted nature and her beauty. This caused her to leave her family and pass the burden to the second oldest, freeing her of it and leaving her smiling.
This lord married Vivian promising to give her a life full of love and luxury, and at first, he fulfilled his promise. Vivian had everything she could ever dream of, a husband who adored her, a house with no leaking roofs. She didn't have to give her share of food, for there was enough food for her to eat and more...but gradually, this bright dream-like life grew dimmer and dimmer. Her husband's wandering eye took a liking to other women of high beauty than her, and he gradually forgot about his wife. Her house became a lonely castle on top of a hill with only her as the occupant. Her husband's neglect of her extended out to her siblings in another city where Vivian couldn't reach. It was a stormy day when the letter carrier brought news of her family's demise.
Her whole family had died of sickness and weather. Caused by not having any shelter except for a wooden shed to live in and none of the necessary needs that her husband had promised to send to them. Like this, full of regret, sorrow, and anger, Vivian became a hollow shell; you couldn't catch a glimpse of the lively girl, full of kindness. Only a shadow was moving through the halls with no sound, plotting and planning. But one day, after her five years of solitude, the man that was the cause of all this pain finally paid a visit to his forgotten wife, carrying news of his marriage to another, as well as his four-year-old son.
The next scene made Lee's stomach roll because not only could she not look away, but she could feel the emotions that the old woman was feeling. The joy, happiness, and relief as she stabbed her husband with his sword, counting each stab under her breath, each for her wasted years with him and added one each for her 12 siblings' lives from birth until death.
Lee could feel each stab as if it were her own hands thrusting the golden sword into the man's body; she could feel how the blood had utterly soaked the woman from hair to a formal white dress. Finally, the woman stopped, Lee whose face was set in a horrified expression and had tears and saliva coming out of her open mouth, watched as the woman stood. She never looked at what she had done, which caused Lee to sob in gratitude. The woman continued walking until she stopped in front of the same mirror she had been in last time. The once gentle face had cuts made by her nails, and alone with her blood was her husband, which looked like dye, painted on her skin. The kind, gentle eyes were void of emotion, dark and empty, and pinky rose lips were curved up into a smile that touched her nose, blood-red teeth flashing proudly at the reflective surface.
And with one move, the old woman took the small dagger next to the mirror and, without so much as a blink, stabbed it through her throat, watching as it came out the other end. The last image Lee saw before her mind finally gave out, and her eyes went dark.