Proserpina

Proserpina

I felt the white light around me fade away gradually.

A sense of being in unexplored lands overcame me.

I saw myself turning away, facing a land that lay in front of me, familiar and new, all at once.

And then I was opening my eyes slowly.

My heart swelled with trepidation and a deep unrest, a disquiet. And with it, a longing. A desire to return.

Return where? asked my rational brain, kicking in at once.

I opened my eyes slowly.

*

Cautiously.

*

My first thought was,” Where was I?”

The room was unfamiliar. White walls, cool air…

I squinted and winced. My body, especially my stomach, felt as though I had been under a road roller.

The thoughts began to swirl in my head.

What was I doing, lolling about in bed?

I needed to fix breakfast; where was Claude…?

And the twins? What about them? Was Lucien back home from wherever he had gone?

Urgently, galvanised into action, I tried to swing my legs over the bed, but my body was too heavy.

My legs refused to cooperate.

And a large, d