The Elements

Chapter 13 - The Waves of Marone

"Why? Whyyy..." I groaned, my sentence not even sounding like a question. What kind of yellow page was so vague?

"This is so annoying!" Olivia nearly yelled in exasperation. I stared at that page, hoping that it would somehow tell me where that mysterious "company" was. I mean, a rectangle as an address?

"Guys, let's calm down and-"

"Make a plan," Olivia and I chorused in unison. We knew our friend well enough by now. "Gosh, we know, Aura. But how are you suggesting we go about doing this? Make a plan for making a plan?" I asked, rolling my eyes.

"Yeah, totally," Aura replied, sarcasm layered in her voice. "What I meant is that maybe we try figuring out what the rectangle means."

"Argh, couldn't you have just said that before?" I asked, a sliver of irritation making its way into my voice. "And anyways, we all know we're supposed to figure out what the rectangle means. But there's no way anything like that could even suggest the address of something."

"Well, don't give up hope before even trying," Aura winked at me. So the three of us ended up thinking our heads off, staring at that one baffling - wait. Rectangle?

"Aura! Olivia! I think I know!" My jaws dropped agape as words spilled out from my mouth faster than I could control them. The image of a yellowish, fainted page came into mind. One of the books in the tiny library at the orphanage. Thank goodness I hadn't much to do at the orphanage except read, I sighed. I strained to recall the words on the page. There had been a rectangle, yes, and... something about the length and breadth? "Wait, what? I can't remember..." Collective groans echoed from Aura and Olivia. I cursed myself for reading it so many years ago.

"Just when I thought we hit something," Aura sighed. But just when I thought we didn't hit something, Olivia spoke.

"Guys. I think... I got something," Olivia told us, scrunching her eyebrows, "I think I read a book in the orphanage" - at this point my heart broke with joy - "that said something about a rectangle. I... can't remember that clearly, but... it had something to do with... latitude and longitude?" Well, that was a terrible one. Just when my hopes were up.

"Wait. From the book. It said something about the length and breadth of the rectangle as well," I announced, not sure how this information was any use but trying anyways. Another bout of silence descended over us as we tried to decipher the mysterious information. But I wasn't always (fine, I admit to you) - was never - good at concentrating, and, well, it didn't take much for my mind to wander off. I looked down at the floor and realised a little rainbow had formed on it, presumably from the light of the window-tunnel thing. The rainbow flashed magnificent colours, and, as I stared at it, I was pulled into another memory.

The rain pattered at the window. I put both hands at my ears, blocking them up as tight as possible. The voices were still getting through, though, loud and clear, piercing through my ears. My eardrums felt like they were about to explode with pain. I scrunched up my eyebrows. This was one of the first times it had ever happened to me. Sighing, I curled into a ball on my bed, wishing it was as soft as my previous one. In the midst of all this noise, I didn't hear the soft click from the door. Slowly, it creaked open, and an elderly woman walked in.

"Are you alright, dear?" she asked as she came up next to me. I groaned inwardly when I realised who it was. Lady Leah. She was the only daughter of the founder of the orphanage, some guy named Lucas. But rumours in the orphanage went that he only started it for the sake of having a 'good social image' and, well, let's just say he wasn't all that nice to the orphans who lived there at that time.

"Uhh, yeah, I'm fine," I replied, not sure what to tell this woman. Obviously, I didn't have that good a thought of Lady Leah, given her father's notorious reputation. But another bout of rain sent me rolling on the bed in agony, wincing in absolute torture.