Disclaimer: I do not own any part of Once Upon a Time.

Remembering

xx

The doctors say she is insane. They fill her full of pills that makes her head fuzzy. Sometimes she dreams of another world where she would sit upon a stone bench in a garden, reading. Of high pitched laughter and dancing eyes. Of spinning golden thread. Other times she dreams of herself in another prison made of stone and darkness, the sounds of triumphant laughter echoing against the walls.

They tell her the dreams were hallucinations; side effects of her medicine. They tell her not to pay it any mind and give her another pill. This makes her nauseated and leaves her trembling. When she refuses to take them, they force a needle into her arm.

The prison she sits in is cleaner than the one in the other word, but just as cold and dark.

Her world is quiet, except for the occasional wheeling of the janitor's cart and the sounds of nurses doing rounds.

She never had any visitors for as long as she remembered, but today the small window upon her prison door opens. She slowly turns her head to see dark eyes peering through the opening and ruby red lips curled up on the pale face. She stares into the woman's eyes while fighting against the thick haze in her mind.

She knows that face! How could she forget the one who put her in this cell?

Whether the queen found what she was looking for, she did not know. Her face disappears as the slat is shut once again and the sounds of clicking heels grow fainter.

She returns to her world of silence, heart racing. She does not know what is happening, but she knows that the dreams were not hallucinations. She sees the lies they spew from their mocking smiles. She knows she cannot believe a word they say. She knows she isn't who they say she is.

She is Belle, not whatever name they gave her. She was the girl who gave herself up to save her village. She was a fighter!

The steel door opens as the nurse comes in with another dose of pills. The haziness comes back and she forgets herself again.

2/19/12