Memory Lapse (1)

It was past the stroke of midnight by an hour, and the mansion was wrapped in stillness. But the silence was shortly shattered by the pounding of footsteps hurrying down the hallway.

Aurel had been sleeping soundly when the sudden noise jolted her awake. She rose immediately from her bed and checked outside who had been running at this hour.

She found Secretary Cade hurrying past her door. Disturbed from her dream, she called for him with evident annoyance, "Hey! What in the world's going on?"

Without breaking from his tracks, Cade announced in a yell, "She finally opened her eyes!"

"Wha…t?" She was confused at first, his words did not register with Aurel for a few seconds.

But when their brief exchange sunk in, she understood that her sister-in-law had now come back to consciousness from a week of coma.