"Conquering any difficulty always gives one a secret joy, for it means pushing back a boundary-line and adding to one's liberty." -Henri Fr�d�ric Amiel, The Private Journal of Henri Fr�d�ric Amiel
Secret opened her eyes, greeted as an unwelcome visitor to the bright lights that danced around in the world beyond the inside of her eyelids. She looked around wildly, hoping to focus on at least one solid thing that would tell her if she still existed in the world. She could feel a throbbing in her stomach and her neck was too weak to lift her tumultuous head.
�What happened?� she searched her dismal and distorted memories for the answers and could only remember the knife being plunged into her stomach. She could remember being at the pinnacle of loneliness when the thing that she thought was the most sure in her life had come to end her pathetic existence. It was times like these that prevented Secret from allowing anyone to feel her, to truly embrace her.
Secret�s eyes finally came into focus, seeing only the most intriguing shade of brown. She was startled by the beauty that came in those brown eyes. It took her a minute to adjust to what she was staring at and gather her speech back.
�Shhh�don�t speak,� he put a finger to her lips. Secret closed her eyes, feeling his finger brush against her lips. For a moment, the pain disappeared from her both physically and mentally. She got a sudden flash of Hope, alive and well, instead of sick and dying on her bed of dying flowers. Secret�s regained her full vision and was staring face to face with P, the Conqueror. He brushed the hair out of her face and she took in a deep breath, feeling very at peace. Secret�s feelings of safety and security were a complete turn from the previous feelings of fear and loss that P, the Conqueror had instilled in her previously. The confusion made her shudder, shaking away the feelings of security that she had felt only moments ago. Now she only felt cold and her memories of D, the Sweetheart twisting the knife that was meant to kill her reawakened the somberness that only Secret knew of.
P, the Conqueror, gently pushed her shoulders back toward the pillow, kissing her forehead in such a gentle fashion that Secret instinctively smiled in return. Warmness fell over her once again, engaged in a civil war with her other feelings. The feelings of betrayal and fear seemed to be winning over her sense of security. She started to shake as she drifted back off to the unknown.
�Everything will be alright. I�m here for you,� P, the Conqueror said, gently squeezing her hand.
�I hope so,� Secret thought to herself, still afraid that another knife would twist in her, fearing more this time she would be stabbed in the back.
