Ch. 5:

                                                                    ♦︎Reaching out ♦︎

Ena



(I) blinked back to reality, slowly focusing in on my surroundings. I stilled for a few beats. Nothing came. No memories of yesterday night's dream. Strange. I would normally always remember after, every morning, each dream. Now I was a bit confused.I blinked again a few times , as if the action would bring me back my memories. Then I sighed, giving up.

I rolled over my bedside and reached under my pillow trying to find my phone. The screen was flashing 5am, already? I rolled myself over lazily and fell off the bed with a loud thud.  

I decided to stay on the ground since it was desperate to meet me so early.

Then I remembered all of the sudden that it was school day. I quickly got dressed and went down to take my breakfast, hoping that Lone was already up and ready as well. I found downstairs Greta who informed me that Mother had already gone to work and that Dear sister is still soundly, cozily asleep in her room.

Typical Lone. Always the laziest of us two. Except unlike her I actually liked going to school for the courses and not the bullying. And knowing her and how tight she could sleep,I had no choice but to use drastic measures to wake her up. I headed back upstairs as fast as lightning and burst through her door. The poor girl startled awake undoubtly believing that Thor came crushing down her room... Only to disappointedly find me standing there instead.

She frowned. "What do you want ?" She asked flatly her hair sticking out in impossible directions looking funnier then I've seen her on her last birthday. After the twins popped up her cake at Mrs.Reynold's.I hid a smile behind my hand.

" It's time to prepare for school ~."I singsonged knowing full well how uncooperative she could get when forced awake. Which I do all the time. I do enjoy annoying her in the early mornings.

Seemingly used to my antics, she chose not to cave into my provoking, outrageous action. Instead she tried to be the mature one.

" Ena it's like five. School doesn't start until 7 . We are like half a hour away. So there no chance for us to run late, so why in all hell do you take a sick pleasure in waking me up at 5 FREAKING AM IN THE FREAKING MORNING UH??!!" She took longer to lose patience than the last time. Jeez I am rusting, I need to hone my skills.

I just gave a small smile at her outburst. I crossed over her room and made myself comfortable on her bed. I sat leaning a little forward my hands clasped in front of me.

She looked at me as if trying to sense something but soon gave up. She scrambled out of bed, yawning and trying to rub sleep off her eyes.

"You seem a lot more eager to go to school today than usual." She remarked , as she went to her wardrobe to pick out her school uni. I glanced down at my own outfit wishing that I could wear school uniform like her. Our school was a complex which included junior high - that my sister attended - and high school. My A-lister privilege implied that I didn't need to wear school uni if that I didn't want to but our class made it a point to follow this rule strictly so as not to be lumped in with the 'lowlies' as Margie would put it. And as a team we had to abide by the majority's opinion since our school grades and A-lister title depended on it.

I still didn't like it though because I wanted to wear cute neck bows and look like anime schoolgirls.

"Ena , hey, I'm not talking to a wall am I ?" She asked waving her hand in front of me.

"Oh, sorry Lone. I was just thinking about... about..." I left to trail purposely. She lifted an eyebrow, expectant. I didn't want her to know I wanted to look like anime when she already mocked me to no end about my blue wig.

When I didn't finish my phrase she just rolled her eyes and headed to the bathroom.

"Fine if you won't tell me about what's gotten you into such a good mood , I'll just have to use Ann and Mawa's help to find out." She said threateningly as she closed the bathroom door behind her.

I was left to worry again about the horrors that would happen if Mawa or Ann were to meet him.

I picked up a scoubidou strand laying on her bedside drawer and fiddled with it to occupy my hands and hopefully take my minds of off things. I had bigger things to worry about. I still didn't know how to go about at it to have Lone confess to me. I still needed to know the full truth about what happened the other day. Sitting back and having to make assumptions all on my own was driving me crazy.

I dropped the strings to pull down at my hair in frustration. I hate having to rely on people for information. I didn't like it at all that Lone could have the possible answer to solve the cryptic message Greta told me about that one time. Your fate is set for that day.

What did this mean for God's sake ? Is it that I'm going to die that day or is there some potentiel danger waiting to happen ?

I was interrupted from my internal turmoil by the sound of Lone opening the door to her bathroom , stepping out. I averted troubled eyes to avoid Lone seeing them. I also kind of disliked it that she could see right through me. It made hiding things from her hard but it made letting embarrassing things out easier.

Still she was able to spot something was off no matter how impassible I was trying to be. I had to be like that around Mother anyway.

"Ena ? What aren't you telling me ? Is this about the boy at school again ?" I didn't let myself be surprised too long by the fact that she guessed right about my reason for being in a good mood in the first place. I chose instead to think about the correct words to say.

"Shouldn't I be asking you the same ?" She stared longer into my eyes before her eyes blinked in realization. I saw her clutch her bathrobe at her sides , her stance suddenly on guard. I knew I shouldn't push and she was still probably under trauma but I was itching to know.

I stood up and stepped towards her, my pace cautious. Then I lifted a single hand to try and stroke her cheeks, but she recoiled reflexively. This stung as hard as a slap in the face. I felt tears well up in my eyes and dropped my hand in defeat.

"Ena I'm sor- "

"It's fine." I didn't want to hear her telling me that I broke her beyond repair. I didn't want to have a mirror of myself in front of me that I carved  with my own hands. I didn't want to end up being a person like Mother who traumatizes people and especially not the people I love. I swallowed back my pain, my tongued darting out to wet my dry lips.

"Just come down when you're ready." I said my voice hoarse as I hurried out of the room.

                               〜♦︎〜

As I was gliding downstairs , I was met by noises of arguing voices coming from behind the door. I stopped abruptly and tried to eavesdrop. I couldn't recognize the voices. But they sounded like Greta was trying to throw someone out the back door.

"And I am telling you Herr-I-don't-know-your-name that I can't receive you here without permission !" I heard Greta yell at the top of her lungs. The poor woman seldom yelled unless someone really pushed her to her limits. Which meant that the other voice must be a really annoying person.

"And what I'm trying to say here is I'm a friend of hers. She won't mind me being here." My heart skipped a bit. In that moment I really thought that it was one of my fits starting again. I put my hand on my heart suddenly wary of the pain.

I waited a few beats and nothing happened. I sighed out of relief. I felt thankful to whatever reason it was that I didn't get any pain until now. I pasted an ear to the door , trying to pick up on the conversation. I recognized a male voice but I couldn't quiet place to whom it belonged.

Then I couldn't feel the support of the door on my ear anymore. Because I was met with the one of the floor. I let out a disgruntled sound. I fell again. The male voice started laughing over my head.

"Don't you know it's rude to eavesdrop ?" He asked all amused. the boy under the cherry tree turned out to be a mean person. I thought with a frown. Meanie. The crappy-idiot. Crapiot. Great, I created a new word in English vocabulary. I'm sure it will even get voted by the academy. Thanks to this crapiot, I will probably become famous. I thought as let my sarcastic side resurface under stress.

How come he even knew where I lived ? I wondered as I sat up. Wait shouldn't that worry me ? Strangely I found that rather reassuring. I started thoughtfully munching on my charm bracelet given by my grandmother as a gift before her death. Then the crapiot slapped my hand out of my mouth.

"Why did you do that ?" I asked barely fazed , carefully keeping my reactions under check.

"Stop doing that. It is dirty." He says matter-of-factedly as if him being here wasn't a dubious fact to aknowledge. I frowned further and ignored him.

" What are you doing here ? How did you even get my address?" I asked as I stood up. I purposely avoided looking at his eyes for fear of the colour they would be.

They might be icy blue out of being cold and unconcerned or warm green out of bring angry that I kept his bunny to myself. Worry was creasing my insides yet I did best in hiding my emotions. I still didn't know how to take things with boys and was still overwhelmed about meeting him again too early.

"Where's Greta anyway ?" I wondered changing the subject not really wanting to ponder on the implications of him knowing where I lived , I would have to deal with those problems later anyway. I still had more bothersome problems on my plate like my situation with Lone.

" I'm here Dear and I was- "

"Then how come that crapiot was able to get in the house in the first place?"I asked mildly. Greta knew she wasn't allowed to let people in the house without Mother knowing. That fact being one of the reason why Lone never had any friends stay over much less sleep over.

"Wait, what's crapiot ?" He looked genuinely confused. Wasn't it obvious ? What the word stood for, I mean ?

"I was saying dear Ena, before you interrupted, that I was waiting to see whether you were going to stop flirting with the gentleman that you refer to as 'crappot' or whatever it is , to explain to you that he forced his way in the house onto an old woman." She said mimicking the words, her eyes crinkled from keeping laughter in. I crunched my brows in ignorance, wondering what she was going on about. How do even you flirt ? I heard people say it a lot but I always thought it was another word for joking around.

"Hey what do you guys mean by crappiot ?" I looked at him flatly. He raised a brow in questioning. I quickly averted my gaze. I was kind of happy he didn't ask anything about Malie yet. I probably left him at the Reynolds now that I think about it. Then I blinked a few times realising the conversation completely went off track.

"Wait up whose questioning and who is being questioned here? I thought we where trying to figure out how and why you broke into the house-". I was cut off by a gasping voice. I sighed internally. I readied myself to embrace my embarrassment.

"A boy ! In the house ?! So it was true Ena, you didn't dream him alive!" Mr crappiot doubled over from laughter. I just felt heat creep up my cheeks and an imminent sensation pain starting up from my back. This time I accurately recognized the onset of my fits. I took a few steps backwards and succeeded at putting myself out of view behind all of them.

"Fraulein Lone ! Have a bit of restrain please ! Have you never seen a young gentleman before ?" Luckily Greta was trying to come to my rescue. Barely. But now this was being the least of my worries. I thought quickly trying to find a way out before he could see me succumb to my dark truth and I successfully end up driving him away.

"This young man here has come to see your sister of course. Though I'm not sure I like his method for trying to see girls."

"Oh he did now did he?" I heard Lone ask sounding elated. But I sensed it was fake.

I tried sending Greta silent signals that my fits were going to happen , but my already blurry eyes were probably making it hard to make myself heard. My face was probably a disparate mixture of pain and alarmed distress.

And my sister seemingly didn't want to let go of her very own opportunity to embarrass me though I knew she would have something to say about the matter of having a friend that's a boy. I just felt it.

Right now it would be hard to drive her attention away from her amusement and it was getting harder by the second to contain myself. It was surprising that I was still able to think this straight. I suddenly felt something of a hard blow on my back which made me bend down and I bit back a surprised yelp. I needed to run . Now. He can't see me like this.

I weakly tried to turn on my back , aiming to get out by the living room door.

"Hey , are you alright?" I faintly heard  him ask, before all the ropes broke loose. I felt myself sprint outside, as someone started screaming after me in the distance. I wasn't in control and saw the sceneries zoom past me as if I were a traveler looking outside the vehicle's window. Each time my conscious tried hard to break free from what was happening, pain would surge through me and somehow fuel me into running more.

Finally I relented and let myself fall down deeper and deeper into the oblivion. When I opened my eyes, I found myself far away from home. I didn't recognize the place either.

I stood up and looked around. There was just a single bus stop across from me, a big road separating us. I turned my back to look at my side of the road. It resembled a dream. An empty, plain , greenery of space. From where I stood, it seemed to extent itself beyond and beyond. Just then a swift wind caressed the soft glittering grass.

How was that possible ? There were no apparent sign of a proprietary's domain. Nor was there any signs of post occupation of the place. Not even a stray can of soda thrown away by a passerby. The land was completely virgin. I didn't understand. How did I even come across such a place in the modern city of Vergennes? Even odder was I felt as if magically attracted to this place. As if somehow it would give me some of the answers I needed. As if it held some sort of secret I needed to know. Then it struck me. A Secret ?

"Yes, like the ones you would find in a diary." A voice sounded strongly from within me as I felt my mouth move along with it. I felt a sudden pain in my chest and clutched at it falling to my knees. Then I remembered it. My dream.

Author's note:

Hey guys I don't  about you but when I was a little girl I used to play around a lot with the scoubidou (lanyard in some countries) . It was a fun and creative game but I was never able to make figures out of it. I just discovered today that it was possible and that's amazing. Please admire the awesome dragon made out of scoubidou strands on the banner ! What do you guys think !?

Le jasmin est une fleur que danse la rosée.

~ Arielna ♦︎ ~