Real

"It's a horrible place to be, lost in your own darkness."

~ A Horrible Place to be

"Because if you know your future, then you have no future."

~Paycheck

She was so scared. Closing her eyes she tried to remember everything, anything. But there was nothing there for her to grasp onto. It was just mist; meaningless. She wasn't even sure if she opened her eyes back up, because it was dark. It was always dark here.

She pulled herself further into the corner against the cold, damp walls. It's a horrible thing to be trapped; but it's even worse when you don't remember how you came to be trapped in the first place. Closing her eyes she tried to close off the threatening tears.

It's a horrible place to be, lost in your own mind. But, that was what was keeping the young woman sane; the memories. Memories of times when she would laugh with all her heart. Times when she always knew something no one else did.

But not here. Here she was the one that knew nothing. They knew everything. Whoever they were. She would hear them sometimes outside the door, or maybe there was no door, she didn't know. They would laugh mercilessly and talk in low gruff voices. She could never make out the words. But it was their voices enough that sent shivers up and down her spine. If only she could remember.

Sometimes she thought that maybe, just maybe, she was stuck in some horrible dream. But she knew it was real, somehow she knew it wasn't a dream. Maybe it was the same rhythm of the dripping water that brought her back. Or maybe it was something else; she never knew.

She returned to the place that always took her from her misery, if only briefly; Hogwarts. She wished that she could be back there now, even if it was in Snape's classroom; she wouldn't care, anywhere but here. But Hogwarts was in her past now. She wasn't a student there anymore, and she certainly wasn't a teacher.

But there was something about Hogwarts and this place that triggered her worst memory. One that had haunted her when she closed her eyes, even in her happiest moments. But she didn't want to go there now. Because maybe, after sitting here for days, possibly weeks, she didn't want to go insane. And that memory might, because it involved him.

The woman brushed away a tear that leaked down her cheek from her tightly closed lids. There was so much about her past that she wanted to forget; so much that reminded her of her present situation. But right now it was time to think of something, anything to get out of this place. But she hadn't moved from the corner since she woke up days, weeks ago? She didn't even know exactly where she was or just how big this place was. She didn't know anything about where she was. Muttering curses under her breath she sat up tighter to the corner. No one would ever find her, wherever she was. And maybe that was it; she would just be lost, forever.

A sliver of light suddenly appeared in the room, showing that she did have her eyes open. It eerily cast the flooding light across the cobblestone floor and she watched as dust flew about in the air from the commotion. But, no matter how afraid this woman had been about never being found, she was even more afraid when she saw just who had "found" her. And for once, since she woke up, she just wished that she were alone in the darkness again.