Breaking Into Memories

Arnacia was in deep thought as she walked alongside Ester and Ceceli. Suddenly, her attention turned towards the approaching group. These maids were crossing the bridge to the tournament grounds.

Her eyes met with Victoria, who stared back intently. She didn't mind and tried to look away. The next person who came into her sight was Miss Rosalia. Their eyes met, but she looked away again.

Something slowly brewed inside her chest. She turned her back towards Rosalia and Victoria. Now it was Naomi Eeich near a stall, who was looking back.

Additionally, Arnacia noticed the maid who accepted her participation form earlier was also looking in her direction. An ominous feeling filled her stomach, and she felt an urge to look around.

All eyes could see were maids, boxes, baskets, ropes, canvases, and trees in the distance. She took a deep breath and held it as her mind counted seconds. Wasn't any one of these things enough to cage her under the sky that could not be breached?

She exhaled for 8 seconds*. But the pressure of the mind made her look around frantically, yet again.

"Ester thinks something is wrong with you."

"No I am good," Arnacia replied quickly while looking into Ester's cool eyes.

The stone skipping incident briefly crossed her mind. Ester and Emma tricked Naomi, who could be viewed as shrewd among her naïve fellow maids. These maids felt more distant than ever. Next, her head turned to Cecelia, who snorted and looked away. She felt an invisible pressure, as everyone felt a stranger now.

"Arnacia!" a voice called out. Ester and Cecelia looked back at the source of the voice, but Arnacia did not. "Arnacia," the voice was louder than before and the speaker hugged Arnacia from behind.

A brief shriek left Arnacia's mouth as she struggled to get away from the hold.

"Arnaica! It's just me," Naomi said worriedly. Everyone was looking in their direction now. Even Naomi experienced an icy horror for a moment.

"Let's get away from here," she said as she pressed Arnacia's hand between her palms. On her way, she made sure to stay aloof and did not give anyone a chance for eye contact.

Two maids crossed the bridge on the opposite side and walked upstream. Naomi looked back towards Arnacia and the tournament ground. She stopped now that they were at a safe distance.

All this time, Naomi was holding back her tears. The feeling of helplessness was too overwhelming for her. To make her mental worse, memories slowly resurfaced.

***

Houses with slanting roofs carrying chimes were scattered randomly as far as eyes could see. A five-year-old girl was running as fast as her tiny legs could carry her. She had neatly tied green hair and green eyes.

In such places, the path most traveled was completely devoid of grasses. The small pebbles that remained on the brown soil weren't even able to trip the little girl. She trailed the narrow road that breezed many houses and eventually met the wide main road.

Despite being muddy, it was considered the main road. Carriages and wagons passing through the village chose this route. A river could be seen flowing alongside this dirt track.

The girl stopped when she saw the river. But tears only flowed faster from down her eyes. The blurred vision could see the river going further in the distance into tiny cloudy mountains.

"Are you lost?" Arnacia found herself standing in front of the little green-haired girl. She was utterly shocked to find herself in the body of a five-year-old girl. On top of that, she had no control over the body.

As a spectator, she watched.

Little Arnacia walked towards the little girl and patted the green head. But her hand was immediately slapped away.

"What's your name?" Arnacia didn't mind in the slightest and asked. But a thought crossed her mind, and she added. "Yes, my name is Arnacia. What's yours?"

Little Naomi ignored the sweet talk and wiped her tears. She wanted to get past the girl but the annoying girl stopped her.

"You can't go there," Arnacia said. "Do you know that our house is the last house in our village?" She held the little girl's hand. "Kids can't go there." But she felt a force that wasn't too strong. In fact, it got weaker with every passing second. And suddenly, little Naomi fainted.

All this while, an old man was lurking far away. He saw the scene and heaved a deep sigh. As he got closer to Naomi, tears formed in his eyes. He looked at little Arnacia, then carried little Naomi away without saying a word.

The scene faded and skipped to the next day.

It was inside a house bigger than its peers. Little Naomi was weeping with her face buried in a pillow.

In due time, her eyes ran dry, and she lifted her face from the dampish pillow. The sobbing continued for a long and got worse when an old man entered the room. Shilo Eeich was the grandfather of Naomi. He also had green eyes, but most of his hair had turned white.

"Naomi," he stroked his granddaughter's back. "Stay with your mother for as long as you can. The village road is very long, and the mountain is far away. Be a good girl." He pulled his hand away when Naomi shook her body and pushed him. "Come to your mother," he said as he got up.

Naomi got up as she covered her eyes with the left arm. Her right hand searched for her grandfather's tunic. The sobbing had lessened as the two made their way into an adjacent room.

This room was dark except a few candles on long candlesticks were arranged in a semicircular arc. A man in his thirties was working with a mortar and pestle in hand. His female assistant was sitting beside an ordinary-looking woman.

"Mother!" Naomi sneaked a peek at the ordinary-looking woman who laid lifeless on the ground.

A sheet was used to cover Maya Eeich except her face, palms and legs were in the open. Visually, there were no signs of sickness, as it looked like she was simply sleeping. But her daughter, Naomi, knew the truth and so did everyone present in this room.

Deep lines had formed around Maya's mouth and her lips were dry. This gave off an impression that she was a middle-aged woman, but in reality, her age was only 24. But the scary part was hidden underneath her clothes.

The doctor was busy with his preparation, thus didn't see Naomi enter along with Shilo. He crushed a small branch inside the stone mortar and grounded it into paste. Whereas, the nurse respectfully approached Shilo.

"May we talk for a moment," the nurse said to Shilo, then looked at Naomi.

The little girl knew what it meant and ran out of the room. She had been eavesdropping past conversations and knew too much. Her eyes were red and her heart ached as she thought of her mother's condition. She couldn't just sit, listen, and cry about it anymore.

The nurse had mentioned a way to heal her mother a few days ago, but her grandfather refused to act. The doctor also shook his head. It was up to her now.

Yesterday she was stopped by that girl Arnacia, but today she was going to get past this little obstacle.