CHAPTER TWO: THE FACE IN THE MIRROR

ELLA

'When life gives us a second chance, it is not in the way we want it to be' rang in my ears as I sat up and looked around. My heart raced against my chest as my eyes flew open. It felt like I had run at the speed of light and managed to wake up at once.

"Okay, so I did not die," I say as my vision unblurred and I studied my environment. The room was strange, not like a hospital room but more like a bedroom, one of someone who owned so much wealth that they had no other way to show it than like this.

The sheets under me felt soft, like something one would never want to get off. It luxuriously brushed against my skin. The mixture of a strong man's cologne and incense that seemed to be burnt continuously filled my nostrils in contrast to the look of the room.

"Mrs Montrose?" The sound came after a bowl crashed to the floor and the contents spilt over the rug.

I turned my head to the door, and a maid stood staring right at me. She stepped into the puddle of water and rushed to the bed, jumping in right beside me. Her hand flew to my forehead as she blinked rapidly.

I shift my head back because her actions terrify me. "Who are you?" The sound that followed my mouth did not belong to me. It was softer, higher and wrong. I blinked as I turned to her, and her eyebrows connected with her hairline.

"Oh goodness gracious! This is a miracle," she exclaimed, her lips curved up in a smile. Her hands went up in the air, fingers intertwined in gratitude.

Was this some kind of dream? She inspected my face gently and then clapped in joy before jumping off the bed. Her voice lingered in the room as she rushed out by herself.

"I have to call Mr Montrose."

I looked down at my hand, my complexion fairer and my skin smoother than I remembered. How long had I been out? It did not feel like it was that long ago, but if I were in a coma, then it would feel that way to me. On my ring finger on my left hand stood a diamond ring wrapped in something; I stared at the ring.

Why did I have a ring on my finger? My heart's response was beating heavily against my chest as I tried to understand the situation. "Is this a dream?" I asked out loud, and the unfamiliar voice carried in the air again. I tapped the bed beside me, and it felt real. Too real – it was uncanny.

The door opened, and standing in the doorway was a man, hair slicked back with enough gel for two hair days. His face was sharp, and his jaw was tight. His expression relaxed when they fell on me.

"Jaelle!" This unfamiliar man, whom my body responded to, rushed to me and held me by the shoulders. "You are finally awake. Oh, thank god!" he added.

His head whipped on his neck as he turned to the maid who followed behind him sheepishly. "Call the doctors this instant." Her response was a frantic run out of the room, leaving just us.

I wiggled my body until his hands dropped from my shoulders. Clearing my throat with my voice low and steady, I asked. "Who are you?"

"Jaelle?"

"Why do you keep calling me that? I am not Jaelle; my name is Ella."

"Yes, Elle, we all call you Elle for short," he chimed in, and I shook my head.

"Ella, not Elle." I looked around again, and then it clicked in my mind. "Did you hit me with your car and bring me here because you felt guilty?" His eyebrows furrowed, and his mouth opened slightly. "I won't hold it against you since you did the right thing by not leaving me alone by the roadside, but I have to go now."

I did not know where I was going to go, but I could not remain here with this strange man. I waited for him to clear off the road, but he did not, so I crawled over to the other edge of the bed, which felt impossible because of how big it was, but finally, when my legs connected with the ground and I looked down, they looked very strange to me.

The dress flowed down to my ankles, the silk brushing against my skin gently. "Hmm," I cleared my throat, and the confused man looked at me. "Can I get the clothes you brought me in here with?" I asked, and he shook his head, getting off the bed and standing tall.

He was not near yet, but I felt like he was towering over me from a distance. "What clothes?"

"I mean the one from the rain when your car..."

"Jaelle? What are you saying? Are you fine?" I walked towards him, my legs dragging against the rugged floor, allowing the fur to sink into my skin gently.

"I am fine, and you need to stop calling me Jaelle. I just told you that my name is..." I stopped when I saw my reflection in the mirror. I was looking, but the girl staring back at me was not me.

She had long hair that stopped mid-back, thin lips and a well-lifted face. Her eyes shone with joy even though she looked a bit sick. Her round face was glistening even in the dark.

"Argh!" I scream and jump back.

"My love!" This man was standing beside me; in a flash, his hand was holding my waist as he looked around. "What is it? Did something happen?" His voice was tight as he clutched my body, fingers trembling against my skin.

I jumped out of his hand and pointed my finger at his face. "What did you do to me?" I asked, and he tilted his face, the expression from earlier still on his face. "Who are you, and where am I? What happened to my face?"

"My love..."

"Don't call me that," I screamed. My hands went up to cover my ears in despair. The room tilted a bit, spinning out of control. I closed my eyes to try and steady myself, but my body is in the air. He was carrying me so effortlessly, as if he had done it a million times.

"The doctor is on his way so..." I nodded rapidly, my neck feeling as if it was going to snap off my neck. Maybe the doctor should explain what was going on. Why was a woman like me in the body of a woman I did not know?

"She is probably confused and would get better with time. "It is the effect of being in a coma for three months," the doctor dismissed, like I was making things up.

I get up and stand in front of the mirror, poking at my body gently, and everything seems so real that I feel like my brain is about to run out of my head. Did my soul enter the body of a woman?

"When life gives us a second chance, it is not in the way we want it to be."

I turned around, looking for who had said that, but there was no one else with me in the room. Was this a second chance?