This place in the dream was more naked than Sal thought it was. The windows get to be opened all the time and it was bane to close them during the day. The room was terribly bright. She would have pretended to sleep but the light is making it difficult. Sal willed herself to stand but not before clocking in the relative lack of other footsteps in the place. 

It was best to close the windows but she could not bring to tear away her eyes on the sight, the sight of children playing below on the yard. They are like little heads of mushroom that are now buzzing bees hovering to and fro just outside within the gates. They ran about and giggled, and shrieked and laughed. Strange, happy creatures playing a game whose name that was almost at the tip of her tongue. 

A woman, who must be the maid, put an end to the bustle.She signaled at the children with one flick of the arm before calling them in. Slowly, the children trickled back inside the house like ants on a funnel. 

Soon,the yard was empty. It stood quiet as only dried leaves littered the reddish-brown earth. An old, mossy fountain lay in the center hogging all the spotlight unto itself. Just about the horizon were trees. Trees that looked like those in the Casa. 

Sal climbed on the windowsill only to discover that onlyair lay beyond the sill. But she paid no heed. She stood on the sill, savoring the slight familiar lurch in the stomach as she fixed her gaze below on the ground from the second story where she was. 

“Get off! Right this instant!” 

Sal found her feet welcoming air as she landed in almost a freefall. She nursed a sore hip while on the floor. 

“That hurt!” the woman said as she rubbed her hip before straightening herself up then reached a hand to her. “Six days in and you’re trying to jump off windows before telling me your name.” 

Well, Sal was not trying to jump off. She was… 

“Look! If you have problems, talk it out.” 

Sal bristled at her searching gaze and angled her head towards the window. The woman closed the gap between them so Sal darted for the window, taking the mattress to cover herself. 

The woman sighed. “Girl. I’m calling you girl since you haven’t told me your name.” She craned her head out the window, taking in the air. “The clear, fresh air should purge all that aftereffects of the poison in your system.” 

Unwell? Sal felt a hand to her stomach. She was perfectly fine. Whole. A little ache here and there, but nothing out of the ordinary for her within these past few days. 

She wheezed. 

“Called it! If you have the stupidity to stand on the ledge, you are strong enough to run around.” The woman held her by the hand and tried to wring the mattress out from Sal’s body. She failed. 

Sal should’ve resisted. She cannot come outside. Not with her bare face duly uncovered. She should have refused, yet the allure of the idea of going outside was too tempting. And this woman was forcing her out. 

Sal walked the long winding hallways with the scratchy mattress as a protective shield. Long stretches of hallways in the same, dull floorboards with even duller, plainer walls welcomed her. 

The woman led her down a big flight of stairs leading from the second story to a large, open door leading to the yard below. Sal paused, taking in the picture,contemplating, when the woman pulled her down the stairs like a rag doll. 

The yard was how the sea would feel like. It was an open space with small mounds of red earth and trees dwarfed the place like giants guarding the vicinity. 

Sal dipped a bare foot into the earth, then another. The heat surged up on her feet, slowly turning into a comfortable warmth. 

She stretched her arms and light air found its way onto her face. She breathed in. The air gave her some kind of new found strength in her back. Strange, duly strange. 

Another step into the warm earth had her pulled in. She crouched down to the ground and scooped up some earth and rubbed it on her hands. She took in the color of the landscape, how everything towered over her. A big space, intimidating wide space. She found herself cold, but it didn’t matter as she took another step. The woman was speaking to her but her words blend with the noise and the sounds of the wind and of the tweeting of birds
nearby. 

It was then that she realized that her mattress has fallen on the ground. Sal was bare and exposed to everyone. Sal crouched, her hair dangled on her face. A sharp pain pierced her stomach. Her chest heavy like a brick was dropped into her airways. Sour bile on her tongue. 

Sal vomited on the yard. For a moment, it felt like her insides were being pulled out. She shivered as lightheadedness pervaded. 

“Did you vomit everything out?” 

Lea was watching. She did not realize. That woman was watching. The woman leaned down to her before she could hide her face again.
The woman took her panuelo and wiped Sal’s mouth, albeit a bit roughly. 

“Now, that’s a mess! “ The woman snickered before proceeding to kick up earth and dust to cover the vile mixture. 

“I-I’m sorry.” 

The woman instead leaned by her side and continued to wipe her mouth before assisting her to stand and laughed and fussed over her more. 

Strange. Really strange.