The pain. The fire. The flames engulfing her skin, surely peeling away her flesh with their touch. This was all that Alice could feel or think about. She’d tried to hold onto the last lingering memory, Patrick’s kiss; his words that had tickled the inside of her ear and warmed her body in a different way than these flames.

 But as the pain flared on, it not only burned her body, but her mind as well. She began to find herself wondering who exactly it was that had kissed her. Wait, what kiss? She was so confused. The pain became a part of her. It wasn’t a thing, it wasn’t tangible; it wasn’t burning her from the inside out. Soon the pain was simply nonexistent, not because it had let up, but Alice just couldn’t remember what it meant to feel. What was feel? What was going on? How did she get here? Why was her heart slowing? What was a heart? Was it pain? What was pain?  

Unfortunately, instead of answers, more questions aroused. She would think one thing and then wonder why she thought that, and then what the thought was even about. This went on for many hours, perhaps even days. What was a day? Soon enough, Mary Alice Brandon ceased to exist.

Her eyelids fluttered open to darkness. No, not darkness, there was a light coming from a contraption directly above her. Where was she? When was she? Who was she? Her touch was extremely sensitive; she was lying on some sort of smooth, shiny surface. She pushed herself into a sitting position and she heard a sharp snap. Startled her head whirled around looking for the source of sound. Her eyes fell to the remains of a faded brown ring with a shiny gold colored device that had snapped in half by her simple movement.

She picked up the brown pieces and examined them; they were rough and had a somewhat squishy, flexible feel, easily bent. One word flashed in her mind, not with sound, but more of a sudden realization.

Leather.  

The shiny part was cold and hard, and took a bit more effort to bend, though not much. One part swung freely and fit perfectly into a groove in the material. Again, a word flashed in her mind: buckle.

She put the words together and deduced leather buckle. She put that thought off to the side for further use.

 Her eyes darted back and forth, looking for something else that was familiar, but unfortunately she found nothing. She was completely alone. A sudden, rhythmic tapping that started far and moved closer caused her to whirl. Another flash: footsteps.

She wasn’t sure why, but it calmed her somewhat. But she kept her muscles tensed in anticipation, just in case. There was a rattle of something close and she leapt from the surface she’d been on and reached a dark corner in less than a second.

An outlined groove in the wall swung open and she felt another flash: door. The door opened slowly and a sweet and utterly tempting smell engulfed the room. Something stepped through the door and as it approached her it made a familiar noise. “Alice?” it cooed questioningly. Alice. Alice. Recognition flared and she realized this was who she was. This was her name. But this was only off to the side. The smell that filled the room had set her throat on fire. The smell was no longer tempting, it was a necessity to quench the fire. The creature moved closer still and without thinking at all, Alice jumped on top of it, sunk her teeth into the creature’s flesh and drank.

As she savored the taste, she experienced another flash of recognition: blood. Her instincts told her this was good. Blood was good. It tasted good. No, that was an understatement, it was agonizingly wonderful.

Alice stood up and observed the still creature before her.

Human. Woman.

Alice stroked the silky thread that flowed from the human’s head. Hair. This was good, this knowledge. This would help her. But for some reason, she didn’t feel quite satisfied with what she was getting. None of this information seemed important right now. She stared harder at the human, but…nothing.

Feeling completely disheartened, Alice left the area. Room, she thought as she crossed the threshold of the door into the unknown.