(Part 6) My Name

“Dominik! Long time no see.” says the woman behind the stand, her eyes wrinkling at the corners as her smile stretches across her face, brightening her gentle features. Dominik, what a beautiful name. I haven’t heard anything like it. He gives the woman one approving nod and turns to face me. “My friend Elanour here said she needed some herbs,” he exclaims, his icy blue eyes looking deeply into mine. I am frozen. I don’t know who Elanour is or why Dominik was calling me that, I had let two people see my face. Nona will be furious. “Ela…? Is everything alright? Why are you so stiff all of a sudden? You have been acting weird the whole time. What’s up? Dominik asks, confusion and worry twisting his features making his eyebrows scrunch. I feel the panic rise inside of me and spread throughout my body. My bones itching for me to move, I turn around and run the opposite direction. I hear Dominiks’ voice calling after me, but I do not stop or turn around, I have to lose him in the crowd. I sneak past a few stands and behind a dozen workers. I’m still too terrified to look behind me, so I keep running. After about 20 minutes, with my head hung low, I stumble upon a small alleyway, afraid that he might still be behind me, I hide in it and take a seat on a small set of stairs. As I try to catch my breath, I lift my hood up from my face and look straight ahead. I freeze at the site. A girl… a girl like me… me. It feels like I’m looking at my own reflection, only that my reflection is wearing different clothes. Her face is stained with tears, but she remains as frozen as I am with shock spelled all over her expression. “W-Who are you?” she stutters. “Why- Why do you look like… me?” she starts getting up slowly. I mimic her but instead of going towards her, I back into the wall behind me. I assume she realized I didn’t want her to get any closer because she holds her hands up in a defeated motion saying “Hey, don’t worry. I’m sorry I just- ” she stops. “My name is Elanour, my friends call me Ela… what’s your name? She asks with a soft voice. I never had a name, but I dreamed of having one. A good thing about being with the Nameless and being one of them is that you can have any name you desire. Everyone was given one at birth and remained stuck with it for the rest of their lives, even when they passed the names would mark their gravestones. I could be anyone, anywhere, anywhen. “Elena.” I say in a whisper. I heard a woman on the radio once. She introduced herself as Elena and other people on the radio kept complimenting her for it. “That’s a beautiful name… Elena…” Elanour repeated my name as if only to herself. Before I returned the compliment I realize that the boy today, Dominik, he called me Ela, he introduced me as Elanour and, seeing our resemblance now, I don’t blame him. “I haven’t seen you around before, where are you from?” As the question leaves her lips, I start feeling panicked again. No one can know. I haven’t gotten the herbs, I’ve shown my face to three strangers and one of them looks like the spitting image of me. She takes my silence as an answer and slowly approaches me, taking a seat at the bottom stair I sat on before. “I feel like I’m looking in the mirror… how old are you? Do you have any siblings? Who are your parents?” I feel overwhelmed by all the questions and after a long pause, I answer. “I-I don’t know…” she looks up at me. “What do you mean you don’t know?'” I slowly take a seat next to her. “I don’t know when my birthday is… my parents died when I was young…” I say hesitantly. Elanour gives me a gentle look full of understanding.