fumbling.

I don't know what the fuck is going on around me. My eyes adjust to the brightness and I turn my gaze to the man before me, my lips curling in an almost disapproving frown.

"Hold your tongue." I snap, as I tear my eyes from him to glance around the room.

There is nothing around that I recognise. No sound from the exterior that my mind deems determinable to establish the location that I am currently situated. Fuck.

I sit straighter and pull myself up to stand. The ceiling is low, surprisingly, and if I didn't know any better, I would have thought that the room was closing in on me.

In a flash of a moment, I falter. My knees tremble as I suddenly realise where I am exactly.

Nowhere.

The arrangement was for her freedom. My sweet sister's life in exchange for mine. I bite my tongue, holding back tears as I realise that the world I once belonged to can no longer exist. I am in a different life entirely.

I steal a glance upon what cloth covers my skin and find the feeling utterly unfamiliar. Pantaloons of the coarsest fabric cover my legs, and on my torso... I almost gasp. I am near naked, clad only in a shirt that does not even cover my arms.

In my desperation, it did not occur to me that I would be left with nothing of myself in this world. In this life--whatever a life this was.

All I can now think of is to escape this room. To see the world beyond and find my place. To find if I have anyone left, though as the thought enters my mind, I already know the answer: there is none. And I am alone.

I breathe deeply in an unsuccessful attempt to calm myself down.

I hear the quavering of my voice as the words directed at the man I am trapped with escape my lips, "Who are you?"