"Where the hell am I?", I whispered to myself, seemingly calm but internally screaming. I looked in every direction, but nothing was remotely how I remembered it. A moment ago I was walking down the street, on the way to the underpass I call home. I blinked, all I did was blink, and now I was in a run down wooden shed. The night sky I had been under moments ago, was now replaced with rays of sun streaming through gaps in a boarded ceiling. The cold air filled with the familiar smell of car exhaust, had become humid and smelt of hay and manure.
There is no way I was kidnapped. Who would kidnap a homeless person covered in sores. Those ugly discolored sores are what has kept me safe for years. After all, no one wants to touch what looks to be a homeless plague rat, woman or not. Though they were just scars left by infected burns, that is rarely anyone's first guess. At that thought I realized… my skin didn't hurt. I touched my face, where the worst of my burns had been, it was perfectly smooth. I checked my hands, the fingertips that had all but fallen off, were now pale and perfect, albeit a bit calloused. They're not right. Though I was white; I had never been this white. My whole life I had been covered in freckles, that I had loathed as a child, and every summer I burned and tanned so many times that I was permanently a yellowy-tan color. However now there was not a single spot on the backs of my hands at all, nor my arms.
"Asha!" I heard a man's deep booming voice somewhere close. That quickly stopped the inspection of my arms. Fear started to fill me. I didn't know who Asha was, but I knew without the insurance of my burns, a strange man could be dangerous. I looked around, but there was nowhere to hide. The only piece of furniture in here was the wooden table I was laying on."Asha!" Suddenly the man, with whom the booming voice belonged; burst into the little shed where I had woken up. He was tall, so much taller than me. He didn't seem to be a day past thirty, but his salt and pepper mustache told that his youth was behind him.
"You weren't bought to sleep in!" He yelled, this time grabbing my arm and yanking me to the ground. As he let go he rubbed his hand on his stained white shirt, as if saying that just touching me was disgusting; that was a reaction I was used to. The first bit of familiarity. However his tall angry figure standing over me scared me to no end, this was more than just disgust at having to touch me.
"I am not …My name isn't…" I began trying to explain that I wasn't Asha, but I couldn't seem to speak clearly. The fear seemed to be tying my tongue. I closed my eyes either trying to calm myself or to convince myself it wasn't real. I opened my eyes to immediately see his massive hand swinging towards my face. I closed my eyes again quickly and tightly, awaiting impact. I have been hit before, I knew how to do this, I just had to wait a few seconds and I would feel it. Then nothing, I peaked open one eye, and say that his hand was right in front of my face, but not coming in for an open hand slap or a closed fist punch. Instead a small flick to my forehead… This however caused my entire head to burst into pain. I cried out with a short scream, and tears filled my eyes. His small flick hurt way more than any hit I had ever been on the receiving end of. Why did that hurt so much?
"Puh." I heard the man make an irritated noise. "That's what you get for being lazy. Just because my wife showed you kindness and let you sleep off your headache, doesn't mean you get to ignore what you were bought for." He yanked me up off the ground by my arm, and tossed me out the door. "Go do what keeps you here or you will regret it later." He said as he walked away. I could see him once again rub his hand on his shirt, rubbing off any of my disgusting self, that my have still been on his hand. He wasn't afraid to touch me, juat grossed out, that would be a problem.
What am I supposed to do? I thought to myself, as stray tears fell down my cheeks. I don't know what to do, but I needed to figure it out quickly. I have a feeling if I don't; things will be worse than the pain I felt moments ago. I looked around; I saw the man stomping away in one direction, so I thought it best to go the opposite.
Away from the man I could see a barn in the distance. A barn that probably has plenty of work to do inside. I stumbled my way through a field of tall grass leading to the barn; the whle time trying to figure out what was happening. When I came to the barn the thick smell of manure hit me hard. I was used to the foul smells of the city: car exhaust, the dumpsters where I got my meals, the lingering smell of urine in every alley; manure was new. It was strong and horrible, but somehow still not as bad as some spots in the city.
"Asha!". I flinched as I heard the name again, but this time it came from a woman's voice. "Get over here!" I heard the voice coming from inside the barn. Unlike the man from earlier; I didn't feel scared or intimidated by this woman. She sounded annoyed, but her tone was closer to that of a sibling, and not like the monster I had dealt with earlier. I ran inside the barn to face the voice, not even taking into account that I wasn't Asha. I could see the woman crouched down by some chickens. Her long frizzy brown hair fell down slightly past her shoulders. She was covered by a burlap sack that had been fashioned into dress; though that was only if you could call a sack with head and arm holes a dress. I couldn't criticize though, as I found myself wearing the same thing.
"Hurry up and do your…" the woman started to say, but paused when she finally turned and looked at me. Could she tell I wasn't Asha? "Dang, that cow really screwed up your face, you are all black and blue.", she said jokingly. Is that why they thought I was Asha? Was my face so bruised they couldn't tell? That explains why that flick earlier hurt so much. When I didn't respond to her, she began to look guilty, as though she believed that her statement had hurt my feelings. Her brown eyes looked down a bit, and she rubbed the back of her neck with one hand. She looked as though she were about to apologize, she opened her mouth for a moment, but no apology left her lips.
"I don't know what's going on Miss, but I am not Asha. I don't even know where I am. I woke up, I man yelled at me and dragged me off a table that was in a shed, then he flicked my forehead, which hurt really bad." I tried explaining to her, though I spoke frantically and much too fast.
"Asha, I get you want a day off because that cow made your face look like a plum, but you already have the easiest job here. Just hurry it up" she said, obviously assuming I was lying. The look of guilt was no longer there.
"Hurry up what?! I don't know what's happening!", I shouted at the woman. I could feel tears welling in my eyes, but knew rubbing them would hurt.
"Well poop. Did you really forget?" the woman asked, seeming serious this time. I gave up on trying to convince her I wasn't Asha, and just nodded my head. "Okay umm…come with me, let's do a step by step."
She led me into a room filled with twenty-odd chickens, most of which were strutting about on the ground. A few ran up to the woman and began frantically clucking. The wall with the door was made almost entirely of wire netting, so I had already seen the birds, but I had never been so close to a live chicken. I tried acting like I did this everyday, but inwardly I felt like I had just walked into a zoo enclosure. One wall was lined with box shelves that went about four feet high. It was filled with straw, eggs, and a few of the chickens that had decided not to join their friends on the ground. I saw what appeared to be a rusty metal pole that stuck up about three feet out of the ground. It had a symbol etched into the top of it. Though the symbol was no bigger than a single character, Chicken Feed. I was confused as to why a metal pole would have "Chicken Feed" written on it, but even more confused as to why I could read this weird symbol. I had never seen this weird symbol before, why was it that I could read it?
"Alright now, you do your thing and I'll do mine." The woman said. I tilted my head, showing that I was confused. "Umm... here come over here" she said as she led me to a metal tub filled with dirty water. The tub had two symbols etched onto the outside. "Rub your finger on this mark like this." She traced the symbol with her finger. I looked at the symbols once again: Water and Empty Water. I copied the woman and traced Empty Water. As soon as my finger lifted off the symbol all of the dirty water in the tub disappeared.
"How? What…what just happened? It was like magic!" I asked now feeling excited, almost forgetting the situation I was in.
"Uhh duh." The woman said, not even glancing at me. She was plucking feathers and debris from the now completely dry tub. "Actually, why am I doing this? Cleaning this is your job." She stood up and rubbed her hands on her dress, a worthless act, as her dress was dirtier than her hands to begin with. "Finish cleaning this, then trace the other symbols." She quickly walked over to the chickens, not giving me time to ask her any more questions. I looked down and began picking: chicken feathers, bits of now dry chicken poop, and loose straw from the bottom. I did so as fast as I could, excited to see what the next symbol would do. I finished the cleaning in a few minutes and quickly traced, Water. Once my finger lifted water began bubbling up from the bottom of the barrel. It looked like a fountain with bad water pressure as more water bubbled from the center of the tub.
"Miss Look!" I yelled excited once again. "It filled itself with water!" It hurt a bit, but I couldn't help but smile.
"Yeah yeah, it loses its thrill when you see it everyday." She said, seeming genuinely unsurprised. "And don't call me Miss, I am older than you… probably." She said, seeming proud of her age.
"Then what should I call you?" I asked, my excitement fading as we spoke. "And what do you mean probably?" I asked.
"Oh right you're dumb now." She said. It seemed as though she had momentarily forgotten that I didn't know anything; though I suspect she may have just wanted to call me dumb. I wasn't about to correct her though; she was my tour guide as well as my only life preserver, I couldn't risk aggravating her. I wasn't about to earn the ire of the man I had met this morning, and her instructions were the only thing keeping that from happening. "Call me Penny. Even if you had your memory we don't know when our birthdays are; so since I was here two years before you, I am older." She explained. I could tell she was likely only around nineteen, definitely younger than me at twenty-five.
"Umm Mi…Penny, it is fairly obvious that I am older. You look way younger than me." I started to say, but then remembered that moments ago she had taken pride in her being older. "That was a compliment I swear!" I ended up yelling, and over correcting myself.
"As if. The auctioneer that sold you said you were around sixteen when Master bought you. Just look at your baby face. Even if it is a bit deformed right now, you still look like a little kid." She told me. I shook off her comments and decided it was best to work on my tasks.
"Okay if you say so. What should I do next?" She pointed to a symbol on the wall that had a Clear Debris symbol. Then she pointed to the metal pole jutting out of the ground that I had noticed earlier. I walked to the wall and traced the symbol that read Clear Debris. Suddenly every bit of dirty straw, chicken poop, seed shells, and stray feathers that were touching the ground disappeared in an instant. Leaving only the remaining clean straw behind. This seemed even more magical than the water somehow. It was as if I had just selected and deleted the mess, it was even more simple than deleting a picture from a phone. I wanted to excitedly talk over this next bit of magic, but Penny seemed to be in deep conversation with the chickens who flocked to her earlier.
"I know she is late, you will get your breakfast soon." Penny said. "Hey, it's not my job to bring her here…No Jeff's crow was perfect today I don't know how she missed it."
I just walked to the pole passing Penny and her chickens, maybe this guide of mine wasn't as sane as I had thought. I traced the emblem on the pole, and the pole began spilling seed out from nonexistent pores.
Both of the chickens that were in front of Penny scrambled towards me and the pole, along with all of the other chickens. I backed up quickly, still not too comfortable being so close to the birds. Penny was walking towards the door and began to follow.
"Asha, fetching a basket is a one person job, don't follow me. Go put the new straw down." Penny told me before I got to the door. She slammed the door shut and I could hear her footsteps becoming quieter as she left to get a basket.
I did laps around the small chicken-filled room trying to find a bale or bucket of hay that I could put down. Though there wasn't a chance that a whole bale of hay could be hidden out of sight in this small room. My thoughts went back to my three previous steps. Is there some symbol I should trace somewhere? Instead of scanning for objects; I was checking every bare surface for a new symbol. It didn't take long until I noticed Fresh Straw carved into the floor, near the rows of nesting shelves. I traced Fresh Straw with my index finger, like I had done with the last three symbols. Soon small amounts of clean dry straw seemed to sprout from the wooden floor, as well as in the empty spots on the shelves.
I stood back and just took everything in. This WAS magic, there was no two ways about it. But there's no such thing as magic you idiot. After that thought was when rationality, or what I thought to be rationality, set in. No...magic means that none of this could have just happened. It also didn't make sense that my scars were gone, or that my skin was now seemingly flawless. I must be dreaming. That flick to the forehead really hurt earlier though, maybe the whole reason I was dreaming was because I got some sort of head injury, and this dream was just my brain's way of rationalizing the pain through my subconscious. I was satisfied with this thought, whether it was true or not was up for me to believe.
"See your memory can't be totally gone if you knew how to put out the straw." Penny said as she walked back through the door, now carrying a large wicker basket.
"Oh it took me quite awhile to find it, but I realized this is all a very realistic dream after I thought about it. I probably hit my head and am unconscious. So I didn't forget anything. This is just a very vivid dream. I really am not Asha, that's just what my brain wants me to believe right now." I told the girl outright. After all, it's not like a figment of my imagination could have an existential crisis.
"Oh really? All a dream? I suppose you have a whole life to tell me about then, huh? How about you give me all of those details while I am gathering these eggs." Penny said to me as she walked in, though it was very obvious she didn't believe me.
"Well until a few hours ago I was homeless and slept under an overpass, not all the time, just when weather, and civilians allowed. The dinky shed I was in earlier was nicer than the street if you can believe it." I said.
"Oh that's very nice; though I'm not sure what an overpass is though. Could you explain it to me Asha, or whatever your REAL name is?" Penny asked, as she rolled her eyes.
"Well an overpass is like a bridge for cars, but instead of a river underneath there is another street. Also you can stop calling me Asha. My real name is ...." My eyes went wide, as I tried to finish my sentence. Why can't I remember my name?
"What was your name? I didn't quite catch that?" Penny asked with a smirk on her face.
"I … I don't remember. It is probably just because of the head injury, I know that can make you forget some things." I told Penny, though it actually worried me.
"Really Asha, if you are going to make up stories, you could have at least thought of a name. Even picking some random one would have been better." Penny said. She rolled her eyes.
"No, I have a name! A different one, one that isn't Asha. I am not Asha!" I yelled, my worry obvious in my tone. If this was all I dream I should be able to remember something as basic as my name. I could recall everything else though. I knew about my burns, I know what I looked like, I remember sleeping anywhere dry spot I could find, I remember how the cold of winter ate at my fingers and toes, I remember the looks people gave me as they passed me by, I remember the constant pain that my burns caused, I remember savoring the taste of warm food on the rare occations I made it to the soup kitchen. Even if I couldn't remember my name; I remembered everything else. "My face and arms are all tan and freckled, my hair is long, brown, and patchy. I have these horrible burns on my hands and face, that keep me safe. I have hazel eyes, I am 5'7"." I tried describing myself in detail, to get my point across, that I was real. "I ate out of dumpsters mostly, but sometimes I got to soup kitchens before they ran out of food. I lived under an overpass, but I have lived in the woods before, I also squatted in abandoned buildings." I was rambling, and starting to panic. Even though I could remember everything else in detail, the fact that I couldn't remember my name had shaken me.
"Okay okay, your dream was super real I got it" Penny said, obviously unconvinced, but wanting to calm me down. "I refuse to believe I am a figment of your imagination though."
At her words I thought again, if the people in my dreams had this much free will, maybe just maybe, me not recalling my name was just part of this nightmare. I calmed down a bit.
"Now let's move on to the cows." Penny said, as she stood up with a basket full of eggs, that I hadn't noticed her gathering.
We walked through the barn, out a large door, and into a field full of cattle. I stopped again, being close to chickens was a bit unsettling, but being close to cows was downright scary, even if I was dreaming. Surely normal cows weren't this big, though I had never been close enough to tell.
As we walked closer to the cows I noticed each of them had a brand, each brand was another symbol, Still. I took a deep breath and slowly headed to a cow when I heard a new voice coming from behind me.
"Oi new brat! You need a bloody bucket to milk a cow. What have you got potatoes for brains? Not even to mention how late you are." A stout woman with short sandy hair yelled as she trudged towards me. She was probably three times Penny's age; and quite reminded me of an angry hedgehog, in build and threat. Grumpy, but seemingly harmless, at least in comparison to the man from this morning.
"She can't remember anything, that kick yesterday knocked her screwy. So be nice Hilda." Penny yelled at the woman walking towards us.
"Very convenient." Hilda said with a sneer, "You get to sleep in, work slowly, and have your little friend by your side all day. Just because you 'Forgot' everything."
"I really did, and for a figment of my imagination you are awfully rude." I told her with my fists balled.
"A figment of your imagination huh?" Hilda said, looking both amused and possibly slightly concerned, though not sounding either.
"She thinks all of this,", Penny motioned around her, "is just some sort of dream, and that none of us are real." Penny explained, though I could hear a bit of sarcasm in her tone.
"Well if you are dreaming this is gonna be your nightmare." Hilda said furrowing her brow. "Buckets are over there, since you have to relearn everything you can do fifty cows today. Now go get started!" Hilda said as she pointed to a few buckets that were Against the barn wall.
I scurried over and got a bucket quickly. As I ran back with my bucket I noticed Penny had wandered off and was having a conversation with a cow.
"Is she alright in the head?" I whispered to Hilda. "She was talking to chickens earlier too"
"Of course she was. That's why she's here. Now go milk those cows before I tell the master how you were slacking."
I shuddered at the thought of that man and his temper. Quickly I ran to the nearest cow, and traced the brand on its hide. Instantly it stilled as if paralyzed. I put the bucket underneath its bag and attempted to milk it. Though it wasn't as straightforward a task as I had thought. I jerked on the cow's udders several times with no luck. I looked over to Penny to see if she could help, but she was busy telling a story to a group of calves. My head went back to Hilda, who to my luck was milking a different cow nearby. I watched as she pinched each udder before pulling down. I attempted the same, but failed several times before getting it just right. By the time my bucket was filled; Hilda had milked three cows, and poured her milk bucket into a large metal canister several times over. Even with her cows not being magically paralyzed she was faster. Though there was no way I would allow myself to appear inept in my own dream. I froze and milked cow after cow at break neck speed. Not even taking note of all of the manure I got on my sorry excuse for a dress. As I was on my last cow a teenage boy came sauntering towards us. He looked to be maybe fifteen, and you could tell by the look on his face that he fully believed he was better than us.
"Hey slaves" he said with a smirk, "and usually pretty slave." He looked at me and winked with his last statement. "You will look pretty again when your face loses those ugly bruises, not that it makes you any better. You look like a proper slave with that ugly face. Almost like those other two." He said and gestured to Hilda and Penny
I watched as Penny squeezed her fists into tight balls and bit her lower lip. There was fire in her eyes, and likely some choice words at the tip of her tongue, but she stayed silent. This kid must be important. I opened my mouth to speak, but Hilda bumped me to the side and spoke instead.
"Oh young master you are so kind, mere slaves like us couldn't even compare to the standards of someone as great as you." Hilda said confidently, but her eyes seemed to be a bit scared. Was she protecting me? "I am sure that that slave is more than honored that you called her pretty. Too shocked to even speak."
She said that last part while glaring at me. I nodded my head quickly, hoping that was the reaction she was hoping for. Was this kid as violent as the man from before? With my regular body I could take this bean sprout in a fight easily, but right now I was shorter, sore, and lacked the muscle I had before.
"Well that is only natural. After all, I am superior to you in every way. I bet this is the same to you, as a god complimenting a mere mortal." He responded with a satisfied grin plastered on his face. I didn't know this child, but I could tell that was his default face; and this douche bag attitude was just his personality. A typical teenage boy with some power and a superiority complex. One who luckily had three slaves that couldn't both be happy and stick up for themselves.
He seemed happy about how that conversation went, and walked off back towards the house. I watched for a bit as that proud stride stumbled for a second then stood up straight and kept walking. Somehow even the way he walked seemed cocky.
"Listen!" my head snapped back towards Hilda when she yelled at me. "I don't believe for one minute that you actually conveniently lost your memory, but here is some advice if you want to keep up this act. Don't go near that boy. Keep your head down around him, don't try to be noticed and play the, 'I am ignorant and lonely, will you save me' bit, with him. You are the same slave you were yesterday, and the madam will beat you plenty hard if she thinks you are trying to pull anything with her son. You are not in lov…" Hilda wasn't done with her lecture, but I couldn't let her continue this nonsense.
"Listen lady, I didn't 'Forget' anything, this is all a dream, and even if it wasn't I wouldn't go for that little brat!" I yelled, appalled at the notion of me falling for some teenage dirt bag.
Hilda covered my mouth with her hand, and Penny was laughing to the point of tears.
"See I told ya she wasn't right!" Penny said between laughs, "She doesn't love the young master anymore, and she almost insulted him loud enough for the whole farm to hear." She finished saying, while wiping stray tears from her eyes.
"You definitely have somethin' wrong with you…" Hilda stared at me for a bit before continuing. "Hurry up and finish your work, and no bad mouthing the Master or his family, lest you want a beating."
The last words came as an obvious warning. She didn't look like she would tattle, but after experiencing how real this morning's flick felt, I was going to make sure I didn't do any bad mouthing in front of her. Penny on the other hand looked thrilled. Like I had voiced the words she was holding back.
"Alright Not Asha, sounds like you are done with the cows, let's go take care of Duchess." Penny said as she ushered me towards the barn.
As we headed towards the barn, to take care of whatever or whoever Duchess was, I thought back to my work, did Penny actually do anything? So far I only saw her pick up some eggs and weirdly talk to chickens.
"Penny, what is it you actually do here?" I asked genuinely curious, but realizing too late that it sounded rude.
"Are you really asking me that after watching me work all day!?" Penny asked, obviously frustrated. I couldn't do anything, but shrug "Uhh, Hilda was right. Potatoes for brains." She said as she rubbed her temples. "Okay, I talk and listen to the animals. Madam says it makes the produce better." she said plainly.
"Yeah, but anyone can talk to an animal, I don't think it has any effect on eggs or milk though." I said back, trying my best this time, not to sound rude.
"Oh sweet Not Asha, yes anyone can talk AT an animal, but few can talk to animals. I can hold a proper conversation with them, I listen to their drama and complaints, and they understand me too." Penny explained a bit, seeming proud of her skill.
She is insane. To avoid losing my guide I stayed silent, left alone to my thoughts of her 'skill'. Does she really think animals can talk? Then again stranger things have happened today. I magically made: dirty water disappear, clean water appear, chicken food come from out of a solid metal pole, I cleaned up straw by making it disappear, and magically made new straw pop into existence. Not even to mention the twenty-five cows I temporarily paralyzed.
"This is a really strange dream." I whispered to myself.
"You don't believe me? Or do you truly think you are in a dream?" Penny asked, seeming ever so slightly irked. Though my belief that this was all a dream was beginning to falter.
"It's all just a lot to take in." I replied meekly. I was tired, and ready to give up trying to convince her that all of this was fake.
Penny rolled her eyes, grabbed my hand, and pulled me through the barn. We stopped directly in front of a horse stall, where Penny called out.
"Duchess, we have someone here who doesn't believe I can talk to you."
Suddenly what I initially thought to be the head of a horse popped out of the stall door, but quickly I noticed a single thin, straight, white horn jutting from the animal's forehead.
"A Unicorn!" I pointed and yelled excitedly. This was closer to my childhood dream than I had ever been. Even if this only further solidified this whole day as a dream, it felt so real.
The unicorn whinnied, and Penny turned her head to speak to me.
"The duchess says that it is rude to point, and that we are late." She then turned to look at the unicorn, "Isn't that right Duchess?" The unicorn nodded its head. "Now let's talk about that Pegasus in the neighbor's field. Is he still bothering you?" I stared gobsmacked as the unicorn rolled its eyes, then made various horse noises. "Hurry up and get to it, Not Asha. We don't have much daylight left."
I slowly walked into the stall. I had definitely never been this close to an animal this big. Perhaps the cows earlier, but in this enclosed space, the unicorn seemed gigantic. Sometimes I could see mounted police on their horses, when I ventured into the park, but I had no idea how big they would be up close. I moved slowly trying to find the symbols to trace so I could leave as soon as possible. Forget the unicorn being spooked, she scared me way more than I could possibly scare her. Soon I found the symbols: Clear Debris, Empty Water, Water, Pellets, and Apple. Quickly I traced each, in the same order that I had done the chickens. To my surprise, despite the plain description, the apple came out looking like it had been dehydrated.
"Give her two apples today, she wants compensation for us being late." Penny said, still standing in front of Duchess.
"But the apple looks all dry." I told her, not believing that this is how it was supposed to look.
"Well duh, you can't make anything living pop out of whatever dimension your symbol stuff comes from." Penny said as though that was painfully obvious.
I did as she said and traced Apple again. I slowly walked around Duchess, and handed Penny the two totally dry apples. She gave them to Duchess, said her goodbyes, then grabbed my arm to drag me somewhere else. We walked for quite a for some time. Trudging through the same tall yellow grass that I had gone through to get to the barn; though this time I was walking through the oposite side of the barn. Penny wasn't talking, just leading down a semi trodden path in the grass. She seemed tired, much more so than me, though I couldn't imagine why, since I had done far more than she had after all, physically at least. I could soon see an end to the long grass. There was a rocky pond at the edge of some forrest. Penny let go of my arm as we clearned the grass then plopped onto the ground with an exausted sigh.
"Why are you so tired?" I asked her, just a tad worried.
"I used up a ton of energy. After all since you were late I had to spend more time talking to the chickens." She answered.
"Does just talking drain your energy? Should I shut up?" I asked, still a little concerned.
"No no, using your skill takes a lot of energy, you might not feel it at the time, but at the end of the day you really feel it. That is unless you just drain your energy all at once." She explained, then lifted one arm towards me. "Alright pull me up we need to get clean so we can sleep."
I grabbed her hand pulling her up. We both walked towards the pond, which I had gathered was going to be our bath. In the fading day I could just barely see my reflection when I neared the pond, and that was when I really got to see how I dreamed myself to be.
My face was very bruised, but even I could see this person was beautiful. I had long pure white silky hair that was in a dirty tangled braid laying halfway down my back. My eyes were an amazing shade of blue, though one was a bit hidden from the swelling of a black eye. I hade light freckles dusting the brudge of my nose and cheeks. Furthermore I was shorter than my normal 5'7", I was maybe 5'5", and very skinny. Still I had to agree with the boy earlier, even with my bruised face and burlap dress, I was very pretty.
"It's a shame I will go back to my old face when I wake up." I found myself saying to no one in particular.
"Are you still on that? This isn't a dream, the smell you are giving off alone should prove that. Hurry up and get clean." Penny said. She stripped off her burlap dress, and brought it into the pond with her.
I thought it odd, taking off her clothes just to get them wet; until I saw her putting it on some rocky gravel under the water and rubbing all of the day's sweat and animal filth from it. I followed in suit, revealing more bruises on my body, all at different stages of healing. Penny didn't seem shocked in the least, as her body had the same spotted purple pattern as mine.
Her dress came out much cleaner than mine. I would love to give the excuse that mine was indeed far dirtier, as I had done more manual labor; but in truth I think I was just bad at this. We wrung out our dresses and threw them onto dry land before going deeper into the pond and washing ourselves. I unbraided my hair, and tried to run my fingers through it. I only now realized how itchy my scalp was. I hoped to dear god that I didn't have lice in my dreams too. Being helplessly plagued by them in reality was already a continuous torture. I couldn't feel the bits of scabs and flakes that was indicator of them. For now, I think my hair had just gone unwashed for a long time. Brushing my hair out with my fingers was difficult, it was dirty and matted. Even as a homeless woman I didn't let my hair, what was left of it, get this dirty. If it meant sneaking into campground bathrooms, or using a drinking fountain, my hair was always rinsed and brushed. It was by no means attractive, as it didn't grow where my burns were; and even if I did manage to have my version of a good hair day, the knowledge of all of the little parasites on my scalp ruined the feeling.
Eventually I managed to untangle my hair, as well as you could without a brush, and rinced it in the water. I knew not to expect any kind of shampoo, didn't seem like something the slaves here would be privy to.
I re-braided my hair before it could dry, tuing it with the same piece of twine that had held the last braid. My hair was quite pretty now, much more so than the white frayed rope it style it had previously taken.
"Wow you did your hair really well, when did you learn to braid? Hilda did your last one a week ago." Penny asked.
"Well now I know why it looks like a mouse lived in it, a full week without being combed. I told you this is all a dream, braiding hair is really commonly done where I am from. Little girls do them at sleep-overs. I must really want some sort of recognition if even this is impressive. Penny rolled her eyes before swimming close to me.
"Do mine now, I don't know what a sleep-over is, but if you say even little kids can do it you should be able to do mine." She told me, it almost sounded like a request.
"I dont have anything to tie with." I told her simply." She got out of the cold water for a bit, and came back with a long cat-tail that had been growing at the bank of the pond. She then peeled the stalk, and handed me what was essentially two pieces of string, made entirely of the reed she had plucked. I was fairly impressed at her ingenuity.
"That was pretty cool." I told her being honest, "Come over here with your back to me, and I will braid it." For once today I was the one giving an order, even though it was just giving me more work. I braided her dripping wet hair into two even braids, tying the ends with the cat tail strings.
"Wow, you have skill." Penny said, as she looked at her reflection in the water.
We got out of the water to drip dry, though it was far from pleasant. The sun had since dipped behind the horizon, leaving our only light to be the moon, and our drying material was the cold air of the night. We both put our very damp dresses back on, and made our way back towards the barn. Penny was practically staggering she was so tired at this point; so I decided to stay silent as I followed her. She walked me back to my shed, and kept walking towards a slightly larger shed a few yards away.
I was tired, not so much as Penny, but I had done a lot of work. Even the wooden platform with the small blanket, that was called my bed, seemed comfortable. At least no more uncomfortable than a park bench. Quickly sleep came to me, and I found myself thinking: Living like this forever wouldn't be so bad. Before I could think of anything else sleep consumed me.
* FIVE HOURS LATER*
I stirred as I heard the crow of a rooster... A Rooster! I shot up and quickly realized that this wasn't a dream. I didn't wake up in my reality. What is this?