2 Chapter 1: Miracolina

When Annalise first arrived at the camp, her hands had been bound by handcuffs and her neck had been tightly constricted with a collar and a leash. Two guards on either side of Annalise gripped her leash with their full strength as their face remained in a constant expression of worry. They seemed scared of her, and even as they were unnaturally large men dressed in entirely black, they eyed her suspiciously as if she would pull a bomb out of her breast pocket.

Annalise's mind was blank at that point. She knew nothing. She remembered nothing. She recalled nothing. But, a twisted feeling in her gut compelled her to keep her mouth shut. And she did.

Annalise was sitting in a wooden chair in a dark room, the only light came from a feeble outside source and entered through a small window in the top corner. Annalise fought the strange urge to reach out and grab it. Savor the light, and treat it as gold.

Gold, she thought immediately after. What is gold?

As her mind scrambled for any sort of meaning to attach to the foreign word, Annalise saw a figure approach from the darkness. She jumped, then relaxed after seeing it was a dainty old woman.

"Ah," the woman smiled, giving Annalise a toothy, crocodile-like grin, erasing any sense of comfort she had. "Hello, my dear."

Annalise eyed the woman carefully, and she noticed the woman was dragging another wooden chair behind her, similar to the one Annalise was sitting on. The old woman set the chair down across from Annalise and plopped herself down on the chair, groaning as she did so.

"These old bones have been through too much, I tell you," she shook her head. "Too much." Annalise refused to respond.

"Anyway." The crocodile grin was back on. "Welcome to the lovely planet of Miracolina."

Miracolina. Miracolina. Annalise knew the word, she swore she did. Once again, she shuffled through the files in her brain for any sort of inkling of a memory. And once again, she recalled nothing.

The old woman frowned, shifting on her chair as a wave of dark clouds passed her face. "You recognize the name?" She questioned, allowing only a seedling of irritation to take root in her tone. When Annalise didn't answer, she continued, "It means 'miracle' in Latin. Perhaps you studied Latin?"

Latin. Annalise felt nothing from this word. No tug of recognition this time. The old woman took notice, and she sighed as she clasped her hands together before saying, "Regardless, Miracolina is a planet. Do you remember what a planet is?"

A wave of relief and pride washed over Annalise. This, this one she knew. This one she remembered. Betraying her inner conscience that told her to not say a word, she permitted the tiniest of smiles onto her face as she whispered, "I remember."

The old woman laughed, almost lovingly, at Annalise's gleeful expression. "That's amazing, dear. My name is Lina. I am the astronomer that discovered this body of space. But nevermind all that, we have a lot to go over today."

Annalise, growing less and less wary of the woman in front of her, sat eagerly in her wooden chair despite the handcuffs and the collar around her neck, wondering if she would get to learn more new words.

However, whatever hope of knowledge and wonder Annalise had obtained was quickly snatched from her fingertips as Lina gave her the sweetest of smiles and declared:

"Annalise Blackwell, you are here, on Planet Miracolina, because you have been found guilty of murder."

Annalise felt everything shatter around her.

But when she looked up, the room was still intact, and the woman was still smiling devilishly.

"M-Murder?" sputtered Annalise. "I killed someone?"

"So you remember the meaning of the word," Lina's smirk only widened. "Wonderful. Strange, but wonderful."

I don't want to go to hell.

Annalise stared into Lina's defiant, hollow eyes. Desperation and fear enveloped themselves around her core, as she shredded whatever ounce of dignity she was left with. "Please," Annalise begged, "I'm sorry. I'm so, so sorry."

Lina reached over a pale, skinny arm and cupped Annalise's cheek. "I know, Annalise. I know."

Something about hearing her name in such a way triggered Annalise. Lina sounded like a mother calling out her daughter's name one last time before they buried her. Letting out an unexpected sob, Annalise felt a strangely unwelcome sense of comfort as streams of tears rolled down her cheeks.

With Lina, smiling sadly, and the two guards staring ahead solemnly, Annalise cried. How long she cried for, Annalise didn't know. It could have been ten minutes. It could have been an hour. She could have vomited at some point. It was only when she had finished that Annalise realized she had lost her soul.

Suddenly sweeped out of her trance of self pity by Lina's booming voice, Annalise heard her say:

"Now that that's out of the way, it's important you know, dear. Miracolina's camps aren't jail. They aren't a prison." With an unsettling, excited glint in her eye, Lina whispered, "it's a rehab center."

Annalise didn't understand. The words, like most, seemed like ones she knew but she couldn't put her finger on what they meant. Lina shook her head, clearly not discouraged from Annalise's inability to follow her. "It means, it's a place for you to start fresh. My team has erased all your memories of your life on earth, all of it! And here, you can redo everything before you make your way back into society."

Although some words didn't connect with Annalise, she followed the general direction of what Lina was saying. She would stay here, relive her life, reform herself, and go back to—what had Lina called it? Earth. She would go back to Earth, her home.

Lina took Annalise's hands into hers and asked, "Do you understand, dear?"

Annalise nodded. Lina grinned her crocodile grin. "Excellent." She motioned to the two guards who had been as still as a statue up to this point. After Lina had given them a signal with her hands, they moved forward, tugging on Annalise's leash which sent her lurching forward.

Annalise looked at Lina pleadingly, placing her handcuffed hands over her sore neck, but Lina paid no heed to Annalise's silent request. "The Warden will explain all the rules and logistics of this camp." She informed her, suddenly no longer playing the caring grandmother role, taking the stance of a businesswoman who cared little for those under her. Then, she turned on her heel and wobbled off into the darkness she emerged from.

"Guards, take it away."