PEARL
I woke up shivering. It felt like a fall day, not one in high summer.
I opened my eyes. A bad thing to do, for as I did, I opened myself to a swimming vision that churned my stomach and a thundering headache. My left eye did not seem able to open as wide as the right.
I tried to lift a hand to fell it but could not. My arms would not move. I looked up – up? – at them. They were shackled by rope wound round and round one of two marble columns, or at least one of the two I could see.
Marble. Expensive. Cottage?
Someone holds me prisoner. Who? Why? Where?
Stuttered thoughts roiling so hard to find answers.
I closed my eyes. Rested for a moment. Opened them again.
I could see enough to know I was not in my own home. I could see too much.
I sat on a dusty floor, one that looked h
