Above The Time

The next day, I was woken up by Meimei. It wasn't exactly a perfect slumber since it's still early in the morning but I didn't complained more since I didn't want to be haunted by those nightmares again.

Still half asleep, I joined my annoying relatives for breakfast. I yawned in the midst of the energetic atmosphere surrounding the table but it got interrupted when Ling squeaked out of the blue.

"My, Huang Jia! What happened to your hair? You look like a hag!" he even held onto his chest, exaggerating his statement.

"It's not like you don't look and sound like a lady, anyway," I fired back.

"What? Why are you so mean?!" he pouted. I scoffed at how immature he acts sometimes. For Pete's sake, he's two years older than me!

"You were the one who started it!" I replied, getting pissed off by the second.

"Stop it, you two! It's still six in the morning!" I groaned at Zhen's words.

"You don't have to remind me that it's still dawn!" I whined, trying to close my eyes and get more sleep while waiting for breakfast to arrive.

"You should thank me that I woke you up, sis, or else you'll be left alone in that 'creepy' room," Meimei seconded. I tried to murder her using my stare but she didn't seem fazed about it.

I admit she has a point. If I don't want to miss my lifestyle, I should get used to live alone in this house or at least get used to rise at six AM like my sister so I won't be left alone.

If I choose the latter, I should plan a new routine.

And speaking of routine, I would really need to do anything productive once a day, at least, or else I'll bore to death.

But then I remembered the boys' conversation last night about the library somewhere around these corners. I know I hate books but Chen said it's the only entertainment I could do here and I must admit that he's not wrong.

I only arrived here twenty-four hours ago but I have already accepted fate's way for me the moment my feet met the green grass of this mansion's backyard.

"Grandmother, may I ask where your library's located?" I wanted to ask that question but even before I swallow my pride, Zhen voiced it out.

Bolts of unknown feeling traveled through my veins as soon as I heard her laugh again. Why does she need to laugh every time, anyway?!

"You should spend your time roaming around our big halls, young ones, but I don't intend to answer your question with specific directions since I planned to take you all there later!" she said bubbly.

Flashing her usual toothless smile, she then glanced at me. I sighed heavily and endured my crept-out body.

"Fancy! It looks like grandmother planned an itinerary for today!" Lei, one of my cousins, clapped her hands as she blurted that nonsense.

"Pfft, what is this, a school trip?" Lei flashed me her irritated expression. Ling, on the other hand, bursted out laughing at my statement.

"Why are you such an antagonist, cousin?" he butted in the conversation, like he always do.

Lei wasn't wrong, though, because after breakfast, the old lady toured us in her land. She even made us climb on those hills nearby the mansion.

Like I said, I am not actually fond of nature for it is plain and vast for me and the only color you'll see is in shades of green but this gave me a different scenery.

Watching the environment from the top of hill and under the shade of a big tree, I watched the tall grasses dancing with the wind and those bushes of flowers from our home's backyard.

I only did not appreciate the nature for our territory is undeniably well-groomed too. The concrete ground and small bridges from its north resembles those Japanese gardens I have been to or at least seen in magazines.

Near the doorway from the inside of the house are the bushes of red roses and poppies I am admiring while metal chairs and coffee tables sat near it. I must admit, it looks so peaceful in there.

After spending time with the whispering wind and dancing pastures, we proceeded to the library.

"Woah! It really is so big!" Lyn, one of our youngest, exclaimed. "It kind of reminded me of the one from Disney's Beauty and the Beast!"

"I know! But rather than those intricate Greek columns and frames, ours has golden dragons!" Yujie added.

Pretty dazzled and amazed, I roamed my eyes around the two-floored library. Carpets in shades of red and gold laid on the floor as couched and tables with the same color sat on its wide halls. Huge shelves filled with hardbound books, both thick and thin served as the room's wall.

Looking above, banners made of golden dragons served as the second floor's barricade as more numbers of books are displayed. Not only books, of course, for I could also see some paintings preserved from the ancient times. Globes and statues also stood in high tables meters apart from each other.

From the far north of from the library's double doors are the grand staircase made of both wood and gold. It's a weird combination, yes, but what's more weird is the six-foot tall cloth lying in the middle.

maybe it was just nothing but i sense something is hiding behind that thick cloth that everyone is forbidden to see.

I squinted, finding suspicion in the huge fabric but in the end, I decided to shrug it off and just started scanning for books I might find an interest in.

The smell of old pages and fragrance of dried flowers inserted inside the books attacked my nose as I scanned through every word embossed in its hardbound covers.

Titles. Those words should always reflect the story's content and the author's heart. But even though some of them have really good titles, I couldn't seem to catch any interest to read even just a page.

Giggles and squeals created by the young ones echoed through the halls as they ran around the antique carpeted floor but even though their little voices dominated everyone else's, grandmother's words didn't escaped my ears.

"Having trouble to find something to read, my dear?" from facing the shelves, I turned to her to acknowledge her presence.

"Nope. I have no plans to read, anyway," although that was a lie, I just didn't want her or anyone else know that the lazy and rebellious Huang Jia is trying to nerd herself with these thick textbooks and novels.

She laughed again. "Well, your face says otherwise," I rolled my eyes at her comment.

I didn't replied, but I instead waited for her next words and as if reading my mind, she jolted.

"Why don't you read this, my dear? I am well aware that you dislike the past but I think you'll like that one," she then handed me a red book with and embossed serif letters of the title 'Above The Time'.

With creased brows, I stared at it as my hands touched it textured surface. "What's this about?" I asked.

"It's for you to figure out, little one. I believe that will answer all of your sister's question about Empress Luo Yi and the general," she answered.

The story about a dirty little secret that happened in the Zhou dynasty? The blood-filled scenes that happened to surface from generations to generations?

With that lingering in my head, the image of me wearing the red wedding dress flashed right in front of my eyes so vividly. My heart then started to pound again so fast that I decided to shake away the thought.

The gap between my eyebrows deepened more. "I thought you answered her queries already, and is that supposed to be in her school's textbook already?"

Her laugh resounded once again. "There are things, little one, that is yet to unfold," she answered again. I didn't understand her statement but I chose to ask another question.

"Why not give this to her instead?"

What pissed me off right now is her upside down smile. Leaving my question hanging, she just shrugged her shoulders and left me to attend my whiny little cousins from afar.

I sighed and decided to go on a nice place to read. If she didn't want to answer me, then I think I should find it myself.

Humming birds and yet again, the never-ending whispering wind now dominated my ears. Now that I am gone in the noisy library, I found peace while sitting on the metal chair near the flowers on our backyard.

I took a moment to watch the outdoors from here and from a distance, the tree standing on top of the hill made the scene so majestic.

I then opened the book and just like any other ones I touched in the library, the smell of old pages and dried peonies attacked my nose.

My fingers felt rough as I ran through its pages but then because of the wind, the paged turned violently and from along the run, petals flew everywhere but what caught my attention was the paper who escaped from within.

I immediately placed the book on the table and ran after the piece of paper and from the ground; I sat on the concrete as I opened what I came after.

With the thin type of paper and its broken edges, one can immediately tell that it was as if a letter preserved from the ancient times.

I shouldn't be surprised about it because almost everything in here is antique, which is not my forte but driven from curiosity and the old woman's words, I read the little letter.

'In the darkest hour, all you could ever think about is turn back the hands of the clock,' it reads. I assume that this is a fragment from the book for it discusses time so I decided to start reading it.

I stood up from the ground; aware that the aggressive wind has turned calm in an instance and the dark skies from a while ago seemed to fade away, now that the bright sun has conquered once again.

I wasn't bothered by any of it but turning around and witnessing all of this, made my thoughts entangled and horror. It was as if I was back in my nightmare but with a living body and I'm pretty sure I wasn't hallucinating.

Gone was the flowers and metal benches I am sitting on. Gone was the two floored painted mansion and all was left was a plain-looking wooden house that looks like the size of a big caravan.

"Where the hell am I?" I whispered.