The Dark Awakening

Chapter 3

I remembered Robynn Goldric well. We were the same age, although she was almost exactly a month older. It was through her that had met herr older brother Nick. I had met the Goldrics when I was five and as far as I was concerned I was related to them. Even at the age of six, Nick didn't mind playing with us even though we were girls. But thing changed when Robynn and I turned twelve.

One day, completely out of the blue, Robynn disappeared. The police looked for her for a few months, but one by one people just stopped looking for her until it was just Nick and I. I remembered basically living at their house and falling asleep crying with Nick. We went to counselling for months on end. The therapist saying that 'she was in a better place' and that we 'needed to move on, so things would start looking up'. Although eventually Nick and I pulled each other out of that pit of despair. We mourned her for years. Visiting the 'grave' we had made for her twice every year. Once on her birthday and once on the day she went missing. Nick and I moved on from our grief but we never forgot. How could we forget the girl that had been a sister to the both of us?

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I couldn't make out what Nick was saying. I could see his mouth moving but I couldn't hear anything. My ears were ringing, a sound that made my diminishing headache come back full force.

Robynn was alive? I couldn't seem to accept it. How could the person that I had mourned for so long be alive? How could she let up go through this much pain? How could she........

The rest of the world swam back into focus as Nick began gently shaking my shoulders. Nick looked at me with a concerned expression.

"Cana, I know it's hard to believe, but I saw her. I saw her." He said as if trying to believe it himself. Disbelief surrounded my brain like a wall. How could she be alive? Nick hugged me again.

"Where is she? Who took my dad?" I asked, denial beginning to enter my thoughts. So many questions buzzed through my head.

"I'll show you." Nick said, pulling away and walking toward the door. I realized then, that I was in the same room that I had previously woken up in. The flowers seemed to glow even brighter than before, providing enough light in the room to keep out the night. Even with the bright lights within the room, bright as day through the windows. I was snapped out of my thoughts when Nick grabbed my arm and gently pulled me out of the room. I was lead down a series of hallways and rooms that I wouldn't have been able to remember for my life. My mind was too distracted, too many questions, and not enough answers.

We stopped in a library of sorts. Towers of books spiraled up from the floor. Some in stacks, some categorized on shelves. People milling about re-shelving books and reading. The room smelled of musty books and old leather. Nick led me down one of the staircases on the side of the room, and through a series of doors to a room that had a vaulted ceiling and looked like a relaxation area. It was a long room with floor to ceiling windows. Circular couches were placed around the room with tables in the center. Most of them were full of people laughing, reading, and joking around. Nick and I headed over to one that only had one person in it. She was looking out the window, giving us a perfect profile view of her face. Her hair fell in a perfect braid of gold and blonde down her back. It was Robynn, even though years had passed since the last time I had seen her, she hadn't changed. She looked toward us and smiled. Nick pulled me toward her, it felt like I was in a dream and I would wake up at any moment. Nick and I sat opposite of Robynn. We sat in an awkward silence for what felt like forever.

"So you're probably here about your father." Robynn said looking up at me nervously. I hardly heard her, I still couldn't grasp the idea that she was alive. I nodded, unable to speak.