1 Chapter 1: A Strange Reflection

For Elaine, taking care of her grandparents is all she could wish for. She wants to return what they gave her, materials and appreciation. However, despite the fondness for them, she finds them annoying sometimes.

Sarah, Elaine's grandmother, was no doubt industrious but complains about the most trivial of things, from the thin layer of dust on surfaces to the small pecks of dirt on the floor. She busies herself cleaning every nook and cranny in the house. Elaine's bedroom is not safe from Sarah, her sheets and curtains thrown into the washing machine every so often, trashcan emptied, papers organized, but what triggers Elaine the most was Sarah's habit of reading her journals.

In those notebooks, Elaine wrote the journey to finding her mother. It started way back, when she was a child, when she wished she could at least hear what her mother sounded like. Was she sweet? Was she strict? Elaine never really felt like she missed her, due to the misfortune that she grew up not knowing her. She had Sarah, her grandmother, and it wasn't any different to having a mother.

But Elaine just wished that Sarah could at least leave her journals be. Now Sarah knew where she spent most of her time on – the internet.

"Stop that. Come help me clean, that'll do us both good," Sarah had commented, and she remarked it almost every time but in different words.

Elaine would take a break for a while to clean the porch, where the ducks stay in for the shade and leave feces all over the floor.

Meanwhile, Zacharias, her grandfather, who was tasked with the chore, leaves the house to embark on long walks on the vast land of the countryside. He doesn't do much, and if he is given something to do, he'd leave it to Elaine. The girl would find herself wandering around the property to capture escaped chickens or fixing the rotten wooden barricade on the hen pen – all Zacharias' supposed work.

There were a ton of things to do in her grandparents' house and in their farm. It was easier back then when her father used to live with them, but he went away to find better work. Now there's three of them living in a three-bedroom house, and one of it is empty. And if it were occupied, Elaine wished it'd be her mother.

In all her life, she was raised by her grandparents in the countryside. Bryce, her father, was mostly absent in her childhood due to his college. He was a cool dad, in her eyes, always providing her what she wanted but there wasn't much in their relationship. He never really addressed who her mother was or what she looked like, except that her nickname was Ann and that she was sixteen when she bore Elaine.

Unfortunately, it wasn't enough information to track her down, and it was discouraging enough to abandon the search. No matter, she liked to think she had a complete family anyway, with Sarah as her mom and Zacharias her dad. Bryce was more like an uncle who visited from time to time.

Elaine kept countless journals since her youth, and one of them is in Sarah's hands again, unsurprisingly. Elaine walked into her bedroom after scrubbing the porch clean and stumbled on to the predictable scene.

She went to grab the journal from Sarah's hand with mild anger and vexation. "Can you please stop? There's nothing new in here," Elaine muttered. "I've stopped searching for mom already."

Sarah, having been caught many times, had no shame in being confronted. "Why? I thought you're onto something," she replied with surprise. "You were chatting with a woman who lost her baby when she was sixteen. I'm interested to know. Is it her?"

"No," Elaine huffed with an exhale, pressing the notebook to her chest.

She had found a woman searching for her daughter and they happily got in touch through chat. However, when Elaine scrolled down the woman's pictures, she was dismayed to see that the mother was of dark color; dark hair, dark eyes, dark skin, whereas Elaine was brown-haired, blue-eyed, and fair. Maybe it was possible to inherit most of Bryce's features with a woman of color, but the mother apparently knew that Elaine was not hers too.

Sarah was looking at her expectantly for an explanation, and all Elaine could do was sigh and shake her head. "It's just not her. We shared pictures and I could have been her child except her missing baby has brown eyes," she said. "We stopped chatting."

"What about the other woman? The one who emailed you." Sarah was reciting everything from Elaine's journal, making the girl groan.

"Grandma, just how much did you read?"

"Tell me."

"It's not much different with the other mom with her missing baby," Elaine shared, setting the journal on her study table. When she looked up, Sarah was ogling her journal. "Ugh, grandma, I know what you're gonna do. Just stop, please. You already read everything."

The old woman laughed. "Sorry, but I should've told you earlier," she began, crinkles around her eyes. "The truth is, Elaine, we did the same thing when you were a baby. We searched too. We even went out of the country to find this woman, but Bryce said to let her go. So we did, but I don't think he stopped searching despite what he said. He still talks to us about her on the phone. He would love to bring her home to you, if he could."

Her chest filled with something warm. Elaine didn't really think her dad could still be searching even seventeen years later. Maybe it's why he chose to work away from the farm, to find Ann. Hope raised her spirits, and she was encouraged to pick up on her journey again.

»»————-　　————-««

"What was Sarah thinking when she wanted these spawns of the Devil? The old woman must want me deaf," Zacharias complained, grimacing when the geese honked at him in a series of cries.

Elaine ignored him as she dumped a bucket of Bermuda grass on the ground for the geese to eat. It's been growing wildly around the property. The free-roaming ducks have grazed on it but the geese loved it more.

"It's easier if we leave them around to trim the grass," Zacharias suggested outside the pen.

"We could if you keep your eye on them," Elaine replied, facing her grandfather.

He scowled. "Waste of time. Just let them be!"

There was no fence around the area to keep the birds here. As for the ducks, they never strayed far from the house so it wasn't a problem. However, the issue with freeing the geese was Zacharias' little friend.

It was a wild Asian leopard cat that comes and goes whenever it pleases. It had stolen chicken eggs numerous times, even snatched hatchlings, but chickens populate fast. Unfortunately, not so for geese.

Sarah had argued with Zacharias to hunt it down, but he loved the wild thing and named it Jasinda. The feline was notorious for kidnapping chicks, and Zacharias allowed it. It initially wasn't much of an issue, as the chickens were many, but when the eggs of the geese started disappearing, Sarah was furious.

That morning, they were expecting eight goslings; the first three had been peeping in the nest house in the past three days, so most of the chicks should have been hatched by now. But when Elaine went to check, there were still the same three hatchlings with four missing eggs. There was the eight one, but the sight of an almost empty nest enraged Elaine.

Fortunately, the thief was not lurking far from the scene. Jasinda was walking away from the geese house with a big egg in its mouth, no doubt one of the geese's. It had probably already eaten the missing ones.

Fueled with brimming anger, Elaine rushed to chase the cat by hand, quick on her shoes as she dashed out of the cage. It glanced back at her with keen senses and headed for the forest, where it easily blended with the colors of the dead leaves and the old barks of the trees. Even so, Elaine was very keen on distinguishing its spotted coat.

She scooped pebbles from the ground and sprinted after it, throwing a piece only to miss. It was not enough to kill, but that was not her intention, it was Sarah's; it's just so that the cat would drop the egg.

With swifter legs, Jasinda outpaced her and proceeded to lead her deeper in the forest, where the trees were bigger, their trunks chunkier and leaves more luscious. The trees formed a canopy that limited sunlight from penetrating through and instead provided shade. Then the feline slowed down, glancing over to Elaine. It went on to walk instead of run.

"Well, you're a cocky thing," she remarked, hurrying her pace. Hand darting for its tail, she stumbled forward when Jasinda took off again on swifter legs.

The chase ensued. Cool morning breeze pushed back her dark brown locks, her face smeared with determination. That one egg could procreate ten more geese in its fertile years.

The smell of nature was so strong; the stink of the earth, the odorless breeze, and the musty whiff in the air. As Jasinda led her further into the forest, her eyes came upon a narrow lake ahead. The cat kept on, not changing direction, so Elaine quickened her pace. It couldn't possibly go for the water.

To her surprise, the leopard cat leapt into the crystal clear surface with the egg still in its mouth.

"No!" With a cry of surprise, she picked up a pebble and threw it at the feline with failure. Even with her shoes on, she jumped in. At this point, it wasn't about gaining back the egg but going after it out of spite. The water reached mid-calf, low enough for her to navigate quickly.

Unfortunately, luck smiled down on Jasinda and it was able to reach on the other side. Climbing over the shore, the cat shook its soaked fur then paused to glance at Elaine with a mocking glint in its eyes and sped away.

She shouted to the cat in frustration, reaching out a hand as if to catch it. Zacharias wouldn't be pleased to hear that she drove away his little friend, but Jasinda had feasted over the eggs in the farm for too long.

Elaine grabbed another pebble underneath and hurled it at the cat. It never touched Jasinda. Groaning loudly, she turned back, lifting her leg after the other with annoyance. She got deep into the forest just to catch a cat and lose it. If she did go across the lake, she could risk getting drowned in unknown depth.

As she traversed through the lake, something smooth grazed her shin, causing her to jerk, splashes of water jumping out to her knee-length denim. A catfish lingered around her leg. When her gaze focused on the surface, her eyes connected with her reflection. The sky above was a great blue, and a woman was looking back at her.

The image was blurry on the moving surface, causing her to blink rapidly. However, upon her second glimpse, the stranger didn't go away.

Elaine paused and gaped down at it in shock. Then she frowned, and the woman mirrored the expression of her lips. She processed what was happening, then waved her hand. The woman waved back. Certainly, there was nothing wrong with Elaine. There was something odd with her reflection, or with the water.

Bending down closer to it, she was face to face with the person on the lake. The woman had such bright eyes that Elaine could see her actual reflection in them, the hair in contrast to her brunette shade; the stranger was blonde. Curiously, Elaine reached a hand on the water's surface. The woman copied her action until they were both touching each other's fingertips─

Splash!

Unexpectedly, Elaine was pulled deep into the lake.

Water rushed into her nostrils and through the slight crack between her lips. Panicking, she attempted to breathe, allowing liquid to seep up her nose, and she coughed. Her arms attempted to shoot up to carry her to the surface, to throw her head back, eyes wide open, running out of air. She could see the blurry image of the sun from above as strands of her hair floated over her vision like tentacles. All was fading fast as she struggled to stay underneath.

For some reason, she could not control her body to swim. It was as if she had turned to stone. Her mouth opened helplessly, the last bubbles of air escaping through her mouth and nose. She wanted to writhe, yet she was immoveable until she no longer breathed.

In the depths, Elaine laid still, wide-eyed and buoyant in water. Yet strangely, her ears could detect noise in the water: the slow movement of the current above, the faint calls of birds from the forest, and the fishes themselves. She could hear them gurgling pockets of air through their mouths and see the catfish lingering around as though concerned.

What was happening? Powerless, Elaine was numb to her body.

Just then, a person looked down at her from above. The stranger was identifiable with fair features and Elaine knew that it was the woman who stole her reflection.

The person smiled at her and Elaine's lips were forced to mirror it. 'What's your name?' The stranger asked in a very clear voice. It didn't sound distorted as when one speaks underwater.

'Elaine,' answered the paralyzed girl, finding herself able to communicate through her inner voice. Her mind must be making up things. 'Who are you?'

'I'm Annette,' introduced the woman. "Nice to meet you, Elaine. Sorry for scaring you. Here, I'll help you up." She reached out her hand and Elaine mirrored the gesture until they were touching each other's fingertips. When they were connected, Annette yanked her out of the water.

Elaine gasped a greedy amount of air when she arose from the lake. Panting, she stood up, her clothes clinging to her body and strands of hair sticking to her face and neck. "H-how did you do that?" She questioned with such wonder as she looked up to Annette but was taken aback when the woman was not there. She searched for her but Annette was nowhere to be seen.

Elaine stepped up on land and rung her clothes dry. Curiously, she glanced down at the surface of water once again and found Annette as her reflection. In utter but pleasant surprise, she bent down to gaze at the woman and Annette doing the same. "How are you doing that? Where's my reflection?" Elaine queried in amazement.

"I don't know either," replied Annette as she copied the girl's baffled countenance, sounding like a voice struggling to speak from underwater. "Well, Elaine, you have to go. There's a bridge somewhere around here. It'll take you back home. I'll be waiting on the other side."

Immediately, Elaine searched for the said bridge. It was not too hard to find, for when she raised her eyes, the bridge was right beside her. A wave of anticipation struck her, but it was a good one, and it was making her excited. Nervous too.

Though, she was in doubt. She looked down to Annette, saying, "This place is strange. I don't think it's not gonna take me back home." There was no bridge in the lake as far as Elaine remembered when she chased the cat.

"I don't think your home is the home I'm referring to," Annette said. "I'm talking about Motherland."

There was a moment of silence as Elaine frowned at the stranger. In her mind, there was complete confidence that she woke up from bed that day.

Elaine shook her head. "I must be dreaming."

"Then it must be a very good dream," acknowledged the woman. "Don't you recognize me?"

For a moment, the girl took the time to scrutinize Annette. Bright blue eyes, light hair… something about her caused shiver on Elaine's skin. "Who are you?" She asked, now cold from the gentle wind.

A flicker of amusement passed in Annette's eyes but was limited to mirror the girl's serious visage. "This is really sad… but I can't blame your father for not remembering," she said. "You haven't really seen me in pictures, but I know you since birth. I don't belong to your world, so I had to go. I'm sure Sarah and Zacharias must have been taking care of you ever since I left–" Annette was stopped abruptly when Elaine straightened up and backed away from the reflection…

It couldn't be possible. But Ann is probably derived from the name Annette, so who else could it be?

Slowly, Elaine's arms came untangled to sway by her side. The morning breeze was making her cold. Without a word, she walked away from the shore, uncomfortable with the heavy feeling in her chest. Eyes on her soaked shoes, she went the bridge.

There was no familiarity with her surroundings. The trees were different here, more crowded and strange. Only the bridge could lead her somewhere, to reality perhaps, if this were a dream. Facing the path ahead, Elaine proceeded to cross the bridge.