TaLi63372
Adventurer
The girl sat on the floor next the bookshelves. In front of her spread out in a layered crescent were at least a dozen open books. The books appeared to be different titles and a wide variety of topics. Brown intelligent eyes looked back and forth between all the different pages. She sat quietly as she attempted to make sense of the odd marks. In her lap, sat the loaf of moldy bread. Always with her.
She couldn't read language and as such the writing in the books held little meaning to her. However, she did recognize familiarity in the shapes of some of the individual letters and numbers in these books. She didn't recognize them as 'letters' or 'numbers' as such concepts were foreign to her. She knew them only as shapes that she had seen before in her short life. Her earliest memory of them was seeing them on the backs on some of the Others. Since having left the First Place, she had seen more of these shapes on flat places and now in these objects.
The symbols were grouped together in lines resembling a broken brick wall. Some of these bricks were short, some were long and some symbols stood all by themselves. Other tiny marks she didn't recognize were peppered among the shapes in seemingly random places.
She reached up and rubbed one of her eyes with the back of her hand. She was rather intelligent for being only twelve years. It had been this attribute that had earned her extra attention from The Doctor. She had spent hundreds and hundreds of hours being subjected to various of tests to explore the extent of her mental capacity. After all, Intelligence is not measured by book knowledge or of memorized facts to be repeated back. Intelligence was ultimately the ability to problem solve and to identify and analyze patterns.
She took a deep breath and let out an equally deep sigh. The symbols were frustrating to her young mind. She closed her eyes and tried to visualize some of the backs of those who had been with her. Some of them shared symbols between each other. Although she had never seen her own mark, she knew she had one. She remembered when she got her own mark. She involuntarily shuddered as she saw flashes of the marking time.
No. No.
Her right hand involuntarily signed as if to emphasize the command. Like a bird's beak, her index and middle finger tapped her thumb over and over. She shook her head side to side and attempted to refocus her mind on remembering the marks on the backs of others. She did not wish to remember that time. She wanted the bricks and only the bricks of the Others. She tried to concentrate on visualizing on what their backs had looked like. Flashes of her memory of that day continued to interrupt her effort. Her closed eyes squeezed shut as if in effort to keep the tears at bay.
She saw.
The cloth masks covering their mouths and noses. The bright light.
She heard.
The crying and strangled cries of the Others. The sound of herself as her turn came.
She smelled.
The awful, acrid stench of burning flesh. Smoke.
Sight
Flesh blackened, cracking like dried earth. Fissures of pink and red.
Sound
The hissing of red-hot metal upon flesh. The bellows as they sighed on the fire.
Smell
Burning hair and flesh. Bile and vomit. **** and fear.
She gagged slightly as the phantom scent was so strong it seemed to coat her mouth. She wiped her face roughly with the palms of her hands as if to rid herself of the smell she swore clung to her face. She sat there for a moment for several, eyes still closed as she composed herself. She slowly opened them and looked around. She was alone.
Not here.
She sniffled a bit, wiping her nose on a forearm and looked down at the books. There was a connection she was not seeing. Her stomach was angry. She swallowed the bile that rose in her throat as her stomach voiced its complaint. She looked down again at the bricks. The symbols appeared random. Sometimes they stood at the first end of a brick, sometimes inside one and sometime at the other end. Her eyes looked over the bricks, her tiny brow furrowing. She didn't understand them. She took a deep breath and sighed aloud. She would try again later.
She laid down on the open books, curling around the bread loaf protectively. Thin arms tucked up against her chest. A couple minutes of shifting as she moved to do her best to alleviate any pressure on the ever-present rings. Soon as she was as comfortable as she was going to get, she closed her eyes. The tiny lump of girl rose and fell slightly as her breathing evened out. Sleep claimed her.
She couldn't read language and as such the writing in the books held little meaning to her. However, she did recognize familiarity in the shapes of some of the individual letters and numbers in these books. She didn't recognize them as 'letters' or 'numbers' as such concepts were foreign to her. She knew them only as shapes that she had seen before in her short life. Her earliest memory of them was seeing them on the backs on some of the Others. Since having left the First Place, she had seen more of these shapes on flat places and now in these objects.
The symbols were grouped together in lines resembling a broken brick wall. Some of these bricks were short, some were long and some symbols stood all by themselves. Other tiny marks she didn't recognize were peppered among the shapes in seemingly random places.
She reached up and rubbed one of her eyes with the back of her hand. She was rather intelligent for being only twelve years. It had been this attribute that had earned her extra attention from The Doctor. She had spent hundreds and hundreds of hours being subjected to various of tests to explore the extent of her mental capacity. After all, Intelligence is not measured by book knowledge or of memorized facts to be repeated back. Intelligence was ultimately the ability to problem solve and to identify and analyze patterns.
She took a deep breath and let out an equally deep sigh. The symbols were frustrating to her young mind. She closed her eyes and tried to visualize some of the backs of those who had been with her. Some of them shared symbols between each other. Although she had never seen her own mark, she knew she had one. She remembered when she got her own mark. She involuntarily shuddered as she saw flashes of the marking time.
No. No.
Her right hand involuntarily signed as if to emphasize the command. Like a bird's beak, her index and middle finger tapped her thumb over and over. She shook her head side to side and attempted to refocus her mind on remembering the marks on the backs of others. She did not wish to remember that time. She wanted the bricks and only the bricks of the Others. She tried to concentrate on visualizing on what their backs had looked like. Flashes of her memory of that day continued to interrupt her effort. Her closed eyes squeezed shut as if in effort to keep the tears at bay.
She saw.
The cloth masks covering their mouths and noses. The bright light.
She heard.
The crying and strangled cries of the Others. The sound of herself as her turn came.
She smelled.
The awful, acrid stench of burning flesh. Smoke.
Sight
Flesh blackened, cracking like dried earth. Fissures of pink and red.
Sound
The hissing of red-hot metal upon flesh. The bellows as they sighed on the fire.
Smell
Burning hair and flesh. Bile and vomit. **** and fear.
She gagged slightly as the phantom scent was so strong it seemed to coat her mouth. She wiped her face roughly with the palms of her hands as if to rid herself of the smell she swore clung to her face. She sat there for a moment for several, eyes still closed as she composed herself. She slowly opened them and looked around. She was alone.
Not here.
She sniffled a bit, wiping her nose on a forearm and looked down at the books. There was a connection she was not seeing. Her stomach was angry. She swallowed the bile that rose in her throat as her stomach voiced its complaint. She looked down again at the bricks. The symbols appeared random. Sometimes they stood at the first end of a brick, sometimes inside one and sometime at the other end. Her eyes looked over the bricks, her tiny brow furrowing. She didn't understand them. She took a deep breath and sighed aloud. She would try again later.
She laid down on the open books, curling around the bread loaf protectively. Thin arms tucked up against her chest. A couple minutes of shifting as she moved to do her best to alleviate any pressure on the ever-present rings. Soon as she was as comfortable as she was going to get, she closed her eyes. The tiny lump of girl rose and fell slightly as her breathing evened out. Sleep claimed her.
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