ANMARA
My sweet sleep is ripped apart by a strong jolt, followed by a muffled voice.
“Miss, we arrived at your destination!”
I hear a door opening. I try to part my eyes, but a strong headache surrounds me, and my vision blurs.
I feel like I’m being lifted and sat down by two strong and agitated arms on a softer surface. The dizziness subsides, and I realise that I was lying on the ground on a burgundy carpet just a few seconds ago.
”Miss, are you ok?”
I finally succeed in looking around and realising I’m in a luxurious train berth, and the one who helped me is a member of the staff.
How the hell did I end up here?
“Where are we?”
I try looking outside the window of the cabin for the town’s name, in which we supposedly arrived, but the light from outside is too strong for my tired eyes to be able to see anything. I grab the pair of sunglasses from the table next to me and put them on.
“Tamwine, miss,” says the man just before I read its name on the panel in front of the train station. “You need to get off immediately! The train is about to leave.”
I’m still confused, but I start gathering all the things that are supposed to be mine while admiring the interior of the cabin I’m in. The bed I’m lying on faces two cosy and elegant chairs, one of which has a bag that I think belongs to me. Between the two sets of furniture, there’s a table, on top of which are a multitude of sweets, a glass of orange juice half full, and a candle in the middle that seems barely blown out.
Above the chairs is a big suitcase, which makes my eye twitch when I think about having to get it down alone, but I exhale with relief when the crew member sees my reluctance and decides to help me with it.
My gaze turns to the window above the table, which offers a view of the splendid train station. I freeze for a few moments, drawn by all the greenery spreading across the building’s facade, which creates a beautiful natural decor. Around it, a lot of elegantly dressed people, like barely off an important meeting, are walking around the unique and colourful flower pots.
Everything seems… perfect.
The train staff member clears his throat, waking me up from my thoughts. I hurry to get out of the berth with my luggage before checking if I haven’t forgotten anything.
Not that I know exactly what I have to forget, considering I don’t remember how I got into this situation.
Walking through the hallway by the lined-up pots with low flowering shrubs, I admire the decor on the train cabin’s exterior, which fascinates me with the same intensity as the magnificent train station.
I get out of the train, with no exact destination in mind, and I don’t even manage to admire its exterioras it quickly departs.
I’m more than confused. I don’t even know why I feel so damn weakened, where I came from, or why the hell I'm in a town called Tamwine.
I just know my name: Anmara Brown.
Nothing more.
Wanting to calm down, I manage to close my eyes for a few seconds. Inside me is an entire hurricane of emotions, full of restlessness and frustration because I don’t know anything about me or this destination I’m in.
Feeling the movement and the continuous humming around me, I decide to finally open my eyes and go around the train station in search of a toilet to just look for a second in the mirror. A big sign takes me to it, and I get in front of a mirror surrounded by small gold details. When my sunglasses come off, I feel a deep shiver down my spine.
Why the heck do I have a black eye?
Getting closer to the mirror, I softly touch it and flinch when I feel the deep pain just from the light pressure I applied to it, a sign that the wound is pretty recent. It’s probably linked to my sudden awakening.
I look down at my clothes, and I feel like I don’t have anything to do in a place like this, seeing the people from here. I’m wearing a pair of blue flared jeans, a low-cut red blouse, and a fucking pair of sneakers.
I have to find a hotel, lie in a bed, open my luggage, and find a freaking clue that could tell me how I ended up in the situation I’m in now.
Putting back my sunglasses, I get out of the toilet. I don’t want to keep staring at my lost expression in the mirror.
I get closer to one person who’s walking in my direction, but she doesn’t even notice me when I greet her.
