Atarah's Realm

Chapter Three

“Did you not recall what happened last night, princess?”

I have no idea how to answer her question. I remember every single thing that happened before and after the accident. Perhaps this is something related to what the enchanted gnarled tree was talking about. But what exactly is my mission?

“Princess Atarah?”

“I guess…I lost…some of my memory.”

She gasps exaggeratingly which prompts me to put my index finger in front of my lips.

“Shhh! Can we keep this between the two of us?”

She gawks at me with absolute reluctance.

I stand up from the bed and walk towards her and place my hands over her shoulders. “Just tell me everything I need to know until my memory comes back. Deal?”

“S-sure,” she says, nodding gently.

I clasp my hands against each other and grin. “Great! Let’s have breakfast then?”

Her expression manifests confusion more than anything else but I dismiss it and head to the table and take the glass lid from the wooden tray. My mouth is salivating when the scrumptious smell of the toast with scrambled egg and baked salmon teases my nose. Before my hand could reach for the teapot, the young lady quickly grabs it and pours me some tea.

“I can do it myself.”

“It’s my job to always serve you, princess,” she answers, bowing down.

My eyes are directed to the yellow square tattoo on her right knuckle the moment she lifts the teapot. It has scriptures written on its perimeter, though curious what it symbolizes, I refuse to make a fuss out of it so I brush off the idea of starting a conversation about her tattoo.

“What’s your name?”

Her eyes become rounder as she leans her waist backward but she doesn’t respond.

“What’s wrong?” I ask.

She shakes her head and rectifies her posture. “Nothing. You’ve never asked for my name. You always referred to me as the red head girl.”

I bite my lower lip then I clear my throat. “I’m sorry,” I say before holding her hand which causes her to jerk. “This time I wanna call you by your name.”

She smiles, a shy one. “Micah. Micah Bache.”

I respond with a warm smile and offer her to join me for breakfast for the second time in which she refuses.

After finishing my meal, Micah escorts me to the massive bathroom. The word ‘wow’ flees from my mouth several times the moment I glide my feet on the gray ceramic tiles. Little do I know that I’m not the only one who needs to enter the bathroom. One by one, ladies in uniforms with tattoo like Micah’s on their right knuckles come over to me and begin undressing me.

They stop when I shout. “Wait!”

They look at each other before shifting their eyes back to me.

“You can leave now. I’ll take a bath alone, please.”

“I’m sorry princess but we can’t do that,” one of them says.

“You mean to say that you’ll watch me bathe the whole time?”

I smirk when they all nod. Without a choice, I rotate away from them, shut my eyes close and slide the silky robe from my body until I’m completely n***d. A warmth flushes on my cheeks as eyeballs trail me even after submerging my body in the large oval Jacuzzi. Some of them toss flower petals and spill scented oil to the water. The aroma of the oil and hotness of the water soothe my senses. I may have fallen asleep while enjoying the Jacuzzi when a voice calls out my name.

“Princess Atarah.”

My eyes fold open then I look around to search where the voice is coming from, it’s Micah’s. She’s standing closer to the Jacuzzi than everyone else while dangling a white towel and a robe on her hands.

“Sorry for disturbing you. But Mr. Ward has already arrived,” she says.

I fake a smile, pretending to understand the essence of meeting this stranger. “Right.”

When we get out of the bathroom, my eyes and legs wander in amazement as I’m lead to an exquisite walk-in closet. Its aesthetic is incomparable to anything I’ve seen in magazines. My lips stretch from ear to ear as I shriek in excitement. The women in uniforms stare at each other with an obvious perplexity on their faces but they immediately lower their heads the moment they realize that I’m looking at them, still smiling.

“Is this my closet?”

“Yes, princess,” says one of them.

I giggle then jog at the island table. It has a glass transparent top that enables me to peek through what’s inside. My hand touches one of its drawer’s handle then I shift my sight to the ladies in uniform. “May I?”

Once again, they offer me baffled expressions.

“You…may,” Micah replies.

“Thanks!”

My hand quickly slides the drawer open. Crystal and gold jewelries occupy its entire space and my fingertips trace their shiny surfaces. As much as I would love to put them on, I still retain a little dignity not to do so. However, I couldn’t bring myself to stop looking and touching especially when the others open the cabinet doors simultaneously while searching for the perfect outfit for me to wear. My hands unconsciously press my jaw and cheeks as arrays of colorful luxury clothes are presented in front of me.

I gently grab a purple dress then a floral jumpsuit then a leather pants. “Which one should I wear?”

Again, they all stare at me as if I’m a fool or something. I’m surprised when all of them take a step back the moment I frown. Micah walks towards me and hands me an elegant three piece suit – a sleeveless printed crop top, a white jacket and a white fitted pants.

“These look beautiful! Thank you!”

Micah bows down then directs me to the other side of the island table. She slides the drawer and reveals different kinds of cosmetics, some brands are familiar but most are unknown to me. She then dries my hair before brushing it.

One of the ladies puts a mirror in front of me. “Shall we call a make up artist to put your make up on?”

I smile at the notion of having someone paint my face which never happened before. “No need. I’ll do it myself.” I’m no professional with this kind of stuff but I know the basic. First, I dab the sponge with small amount of liquid foundation on my face to hide the blemishes and to minimize my pores. Though my eyebrows are thick and trimmed, I still want it to look fuller so I take the eyebrow pencil next. Here comes the hardest part, choosing the shades of lipstick. There are about more than fifty shades to choose from. After thoroughly thinking, I end up putting a matte nude pink color on my lips. With one final look at my reflection on the mirror, I realize that there’s something missing – a headband.

“Do you have a headband? A fabric one would be nice.”

Micah opens another drawer. After a few moments of searching, she offers me a white ribbon. “My apologies. What you’re looking for isn’t available yet on your closet but I will make a request for it…”

“It’s alright, this will do.” I take the ribbon from her and tie my hair into a ponytail.

When I know I’m ready, I’m the one who initiate them to bring me to where this Mr. Ward is. We amble to the glass corridor then ride to a glass elevator before we reach our destination, a classroom. The room is nothing out of ordinary than a regular classroom I’ve seen before the only difference is there are only two chairs and two desks. I’m directed to sit to the chair with a much smaller desk so I assume that the other chair with a much larger desk opposite to my direction is for Mr. Ward.

I slowly pull Micah’s skirt to call her attention. “So who’s Mr. Ward?” I ask in an almost inaudible voice.

But before she could answer, a loud click resounds in the room then the glass door squeals open. Entering is a tall slender man in his 30’s. He’s wearing a bright green tuxedo and his hair is short and curly with dye that ranges from blue to purple to crimson. He literally looks like a walking rainbow, that’s the best word I could describe him. I purse my lips to control myself from laughing at the sight of him but I stop tittering when my eyes lay on the tattoo on the left side of his neck. It’s almost the same as the others’, it has scriptures but it’s rectangular in shape and blue in color.

The meaning behind these tattoos is still messing in my head when another unexplainable moment takes place. A woman who’s younger than me slams the door open, sobbing. She runs to me and puts me in an embrace. Her body against mine makes my muscles paralyzed while wild thoughts muddle in my head. All the unnecessary emotions that are weaving in my chest trigger me to push the woman away from me. My action causes everyone to gasp.

My body is shaking in both anger and disbelief. “Take this woman away from me!”

“But Atarah…” she says.

“Now!!!” I could feel my fury amplifies within.

The guards and the ladies gently take her out of the room. When the door shuts close, I flump to the chair and take a deep breath while a tear falls down from my eyes.

'What is she doing here?! Why is Elise here?!'