1 ~ 1: A New Beginning ~

"Finally," I breathed. "Let's see where we got into."

I closed my eyes for a brief moment and made a small prayer, before opening the email that the college entrance exam committee had sent to me. Even though I knew it wouldn't change anything.

I was waiting for the email to arrive for a whole month. But a month of doing nothing felt like a year to me. There aren't many things a poor girl, who lived near the lonely sea, could do since she had very few friends.

High school life had never been the one I had imagined: meeting up with friends, watching movies, playing games, reading books at the nearest comic store or library. That bliss was never to be mine. Who would even want to be friends with a poor girl from the countryside who only knew about the Drafilian sea and its terror? And how can one do so many things if they wanted to go to college?

Besides a few friends, such a dream was impossible. My friends and I couldn't go to many places because: firstly, they were costly as we barely managed to live with the money we earned and secondly, we were all devoted to our studies as we wanted to get a good higher education. It was only during one's birthday that we went on such adventures. Our regular ventures, which were twice a month, would be eating ice creams and playing a sport, reading up on our favourite series at the library or playing at the internet cafes. We only got to spend an hour with one another.

I was never a part of anyone's conversations, although I was a fan of many cultures like games, books and movies. To avoid any sort of harassment, I was only allowed to keep my eyes glued to my books. It did pay off since I got a score that no one could surpass in my class. But all study and no fun had taken a toll on my health, and it had ceased me from enjoying any of the small things I did for leisure.

Just this time, I promised myself the bliss I had missed out on. I wanted to go to the capital of Adrian, Faydra, to study and enjoy my time there while I studied. And the only way to do so was to get into a university in Faydra with an endowment from them.

I opened the email and read the body in a glance. Next, I opened the attachment and read that. Not being able to believe my eyes, I read it twice or thrice. Then I squealed.

I had gotten one of the best ranks in my district and was amongst the top ten thousand students in rank across the country. Surely nobody could contain such excitement.

Then I looked at the universities that I could apply to and the ones that had invited me to theirs with a scholarship. And among them, I found I could apply for the top three universities in the country that were located in Faydra ⁠–⁠ Adam's School of Foreign Studies, Harlem University and the University of Wildon ⁠–⁠ with a 100% grant.

Nothing could decrease my joy. I tried all the methods: skipping around the house, drinking water, exercising. I had to go and tell my family about the big news in my heated state.

"Mother! Father!" I called out loudly. "Guess what news I have got!"

Only the wind answered me. At that moment, a terror that I never thought existed seized me. I ran from room to room in our small, simple bach which was the only house near the sea.

'Your father will be at the marketplace, remember?' my brain told me, calming me down a bit.

'But mother was supposed to stay in today because she was ill. Where could she have gone?' I wondered.

So I ran down the road, with the first aid box, to the Main Market a few miles away from our house, hoping that she would be there with him. The rather short road seemed endless with time running out.

"Dear God, tell me my dear mother hasn't got any deadly disease from the sea," I prayed.

The marketplace, at noon on a Saturday, was packed with people moving from one shop to another, either failing at making a bargain in one stall or buying another item at the next stall. There didn't seem to be any breathing space for anyone. That's just how crowded a market could get on weekends and worse during the public holiday seasons.

I pushed my way to the usual spot my father would set up his catch of the day. There, laid on the counters, was the freshest fish of the year, as there was no spawning. And they were the best ones, quality-wise, in the whole market as the queue at his stall seemed never-ending.

"For the love of God!" I yelled. "Let me get to the fisherman at the stall! It's an emergency!"

The people, knowing me to be the daughter of the fishseller, left an empty aisle for me to pass through. I quickly paved my way before they closed it up.

"How's the sale, and where's Mother?" I demanded when I got to him.

"The best in months!" my father exclaimed. "We will have more than enough if we keep this up with the help of the new breeding technique. Didn't your mother say that she would be staying in? Or else, she might have gone to the mountains for the fruits."

"She went to get the finest fruits of Mount Jyran in her ailing state?! How could you let her, Father?!"

"You know that it is only during this time that the mountains are blessed with fruits in abundance. And she wanted to make a great sale at today's Night Market so that she can see you go off to college. Our families couldn't afford the fees. Otherwise, we wouldn't be here today, doing the same trade they did."

Tears welled up in my eyes. She had left early in the morning when I was asleep and recovering from the fatigue of the illness that had just left me. She had spent the entire night nursing me and making sure that I was in good health. And here I was, doing everything in my power to get a part-time job that would be enough to pay my fees.

"Don't worry, Lesty dear. She knows what she's doing. She will get the required herbs from there and use them to treat her malady. Now hurry along, and scurry home. There must be someone to take care of the house and receive any uninvited guests."

I nodded my head. He was right in having allowed her to go. But it's not like I couldn't have gone instead of her. I knew about the fruits as well as her, if not more. She should have rested before going to collect those herbs.

'Why is today not going well?' I murmured to myself as I left the market in disappointment. 'If only the world were kinder to my family in health, if not in giving us its riches.'

I walked back slowly to the road I came from, thinking deeply about my life. A happy moment in my life was never long-lasting. There always had to be something to deem it worse, not even equivalent to the happiness I received.

'And here they said the world was fair in giving joy as it brought sorrow,' I said and sighed.

'Just wait a little while longer,' said a voice in my head. 'Just a wee while longer, and you shall see the wonders this universe has kept for you.'

'Whatever. What do you even know? Nobody knows what the future holds.'

'Many things you didn't realise you knew. You have a small clairvoyance ability.'

"What rubbish!" I yelled out loud and realised that I was causing people to stare at me. Then, I whispered sharply, 'I'm not believing that nonsense like the rest of the village people.'

'But this one is true,' it insisted. 'You see...'

And then it showed a blur of pictures, of which I caught only a few. There was one of a handsome man smiling down at me, another of a stage with people with lights around it, and one with the city landscape at dawn or dusk. There were some of something ancient, but I couldn't figure them out.

'Now do you believe me?' it said with a tint of hope.

'Not entirely,' I replied. 'Isn't what you just showed the city life I will be having when I enter my dream university? And the ancient pictures, it could be some memory of the museum visits we took to the outskirts of the capital.'

For a brief moment, I thought I could see it shaking its head if it had any other than mine. In an exasperated voice, it said, 'You will see when the time comes. I'm cheating myself by telling you anything before my scheduled time. You shall see, and only then you will believe.'

'What scheduled time?' I asked inquisitively.

There was no reply. It was done with my behaviour and had kept to the sayings of "Silence is golden".

I journeyed to the seashore and sat down on the soft sand, observing the blues waves come running towards me. I spent the rest of the afternoon listening to the calming waves. I sobbed for a while and then prayed to have my mother cured. And before I knew it, the sea was singing to me its lullaby.

The last thing I remember was lying down on the soft bed of the beach, with my head in my arms, peacefully slumbering away.

That was until someone or something decided to haunt me and drive my sleep away.