I think I was dreaming before my consciousness arrived here.

Not again…are the first words that come to mind when I finally see my new self—-the girl staring back at me in the reflection of the estate's pond. Maybe I died a few minutes, days or perhaps even years ago…I can't remember. Only, this feels familiar in the worst of ways. But why?

And I'm much shorter than what I expected when I first opened my eyes here.

Around the pond the garden seems to stretch on for miles, filled with a scintillating glow and flowers blooming all around. There seems to be a manor not too far away. I wish I knew the reason for my existence, or even my name, but…

Nothing.

My mind is absolutely empty.

“Hazel! Hazel—where are you?” a voice calls out to me in the distance. I turn to face a young woman in a maid’s dress, her long ginger hair is an elegant sight as it sways in the wind once she runs toward me. I wonder if it’s the stress from waking up, or if at some point I'll realize this was all some bad dream and I'll be able to laugh it off once I open my eyes, but observing her makes me dizzy. And soon, the world spins. Everything is dark again. It occurs to me that my skin is drenched, carrying the stink of pondwater. I wonder, briefly, if I was swimming before. But those thoughts are long gone when I sink into shadows that grab at my limbs, until I am dragged underneath the ground. “Help!” I cry out, as I reach into the dark void that has surrounded me. “Help me, please, I—”

“Hazel, it’s all right!”

I blink, and turn my head to the side. I'm laying in bed now with my head pressed against what could possibly be the softest pillow in the land. Above me is a silhouette, and for a brief instant, the image of a woman I feel like I knew in a past life flashes in my mind—until the blur in my vision clears, replaced by the maid from earlier, once more.

“H-Huh?”

I reach out to her on instinct, and then—tears stream down my face. I'm so confused, my voice is so high, I feel like I’m a child all over again. I am a child. But I remember things.

So many things.

Tall buildings made of silver.

Strange contraptions that could carry people to places at such fast speeds.

I feel like I've lived a long life before this one, I just wish I could remember.

“Hazel…” The maid presses a cool cloth to my forehead, she looks genuinely worried for me; oddly, that is an expression I don't ever recall seeing on anyone in my past.

Without thinking too much, I find myself smiling back. “You keep calling me Hazel,” I croak, as I continue to observe her, and how the sunlight bathes her pale skin in tangerine lights. How much time has passed since I arrived here? Is the sun already going down? “Is that who I am?” I ask. “Hazel?”

The name feels wrong, but it's better than being nameless, for now.

“Oh, honey.” The maid puts the back of her hand to my cheek this time, as if to check my temperature. Her brows arch up in pure concern again. “It's only a mild fever, and yet you’re so confused…” The maid shakes her head. “This won’t do.” She gives my hand a reassuring squeeze, before she rises again from where she’d been kneeling at my side. “I'll be right back, Hazel, I think we should call a healer just in case—”

My eyes widen. “No! Wait!” I lunge at her. My voice is dry, I wish I had some water. Yet as my pulse rapidly beats inside my head, as I cling to my maid, the only thought that enters my mind is: I must stop her.

I must stop her.

I must stop her.

Because I feel like if she were to call someone right now, they would realize that I am not me, not Hazel. And gods only know what they do to outsiders here.

First, before anything, I need to learn more about this world. And more about me. I’d like to figure out how I got here, why I am here, and why I am a girl—why it is familiar, and not, all the same.

Has my soul been crafted from two people?

Have I been cursed?

“I—” I clear my throat as I raise my head. “I mean…” I stare up at my maid apologetically, and muster the best smile I can, even when being in this vessel feels foreign. “I think I feel a little better now.” I hope she doesn't notice the lie in my voice—in Hazel’s voice—but what’s done is done, this’ll have to do. “Could I just have some water and food, uh…” I zone out. “Pretty please?”

My maid’s eye twitches.

She looks over her shoulder, towards the long and seemingly endless corridor to make sure no one is around, before she stares down at me again and rests her hands against her hips. “Pretty please?” she scowls, her golden eyes seem to glow and see right through me. “Hazel never talks like you—who are you, really?” she asks me, and I freeze.

“Um…H-Hazel?” My voice squeaks as I force the name out past my lips.

The maid takes a deep breath and observes me for another moment, before she finally sighs then pinches the bridge of her nose. “Right, I sure hope that's true…”

My maid turns around once more. As her back faces my gaze, I wonder what sort of face she could possibly be making in this moment. Until her shoulders fall, once she takes another breath. “Hazel would…always demand I be punished for even walking out of line. I—” She sighs. “I do not know what has gotten into you, or if it is the fever, but…” Hazel’s—or, I suppose, my maid takes another breath and looks to the ground. “I am glad we're finally getting along now, Hazel. I will…return with your water soon, thank you for being so merciful today,” she quickly tells me, before the heels of her shoes echo and tap against the marble flooring.

I watch her leave in complete, utter silence and disbelief.

Hazel sounds like she has a cruel streak for a girl her age, I feel sorry for that maid. But, more than that… My head hangs low as I huff. Somehow, I’ve managed to get away with being me in this strange world. “...What now?”

I frown, then look around and take in my surroundings, all the while I slowly walk back to the bed. I definitely think I was taller in the past—having to struggle, to merely haul myself up onto this mattress that’s slightly too high for me, does not feel like it is something I was used to doing. “What a hassle…” I sigh again. “Still though, this place is…” My voice trails off, the bedroom I'm in is rather luxurious, a chandelier towers above my head. Though I am likely no older than eight, it seems I have all I could ever want and more, I feel like it would take someone three lifetimes to even buy a quarter of all the toys, jewels and dresses in this room. And honestly, it kind of annoys me. For a kid that has so much, what’s her deal with mistreating her maid? Yet, before I can ponder on the matter any longer, a shimmer in the corner of my eye catches my attention.

Across Hazel’s desk, is a necklace holding a glass artefact, that contains an iridescent glow in the shape of a star. I want to rise again to inspect it, but the fever makes my head feel heavy. I’m too tired to get up. I’ll check it out later. My heads falls against my pillow once more. This illness feels like an annoyance, though thankfully not a grave one. For now, I'm going to assume what happened back then was just… stress, hopefully.

I shut my eyes. If I truly did die in a previous life, and this is my new life now, then…I should make the most of it. I don't know if I'll regain any of my memories, I don't know what this all means, but I know standing around and waiting for an answer won't do me any good—I must  seek one out myself. As I wriggle into the covers once more and wait for my maid to return, I  make a mental note of the things I want to do once I'm better:

1. Learn more about Hazel so that I can better act like her.

2. Educate myself on this world, its rules and its customs.

3. Leave the manor, and explore its environs…

And, of course, I hope at some point I’ll regain my memories and understand the true reason I’ve ended up here, but…that is a question for tomorrow’s sunrise.