A Portal of Entrancingly Woven Stories

│4│Dwelling of the Long Gone

(18/12/2023)

The sound of the stream, the splish-splashing of the water hitting the banks, and Anna's unmelodic singing are the only things my ears can attend to. My mind wandered into somewhere else. My eyes are sealed shut, barring myself from the present. A familiar image - a surreal view welcomed me again. I am thankful Anna's singing didn't stop or else my mind would've drifted completely into a nonexistent world - or so at least what Anna calls it.

From the earliest moments of my memory, there has been a vivid image etched in my mind of a world that seems almost too perfect to be real. It's a place where towering acorn houses dot the landscape, and fields of dandelions sprinkle the grasses like pixie dust. Parrots perch on the branches of Narra trees, hares dart between the bushes, and an endless chorus of birdsong fills the air. In the center of it all sits a girl, surrounded by a cloud of delicate butterflies, basking in the warm glow of the sun.

As I sit here on a fallen log, watching her from a distance, I can't help but be struck by the beauty of it all. The acacia trees and rough grasses that surround me seem almost unsightly in comparison. But when I look back towards the girl and her idyllic paradise, it's like stepping into a dream. Everything is enchantingly majestic and majestically enchanting.

Everything around her is glowing; my world completely contrasts hers. Then, her head momentarily turned in my direction as if aware of my presence. She opened her mouth and mouthed something that made the hairs at the back of my nape stand.

"Elias."

Although I couldn't hear it, somehow I knew she was saying my name, calling me. A breath of air resonating a sound. She mouthed something again but this time, I could not make it out. She smiled without any special meaning. A smile for the sake of smiling. And then, everything went pitch black.

"I'm losing you again, Elias."

I unlatched my eyes and was greeted by Anna's "know-it-all" gaze. I only realized she had let go of the oars and stopped rowing. I swallowed and tried to formulate a sentence.

"I..." couldn't.

She let out a sigh. "It's all right. I understand," she said, her voice tainted with sympathy,

She stood up, letting me know we had reached our destination so I did too. She helped me balance on the canoe as I tried to get off it. I picked up my luggage and set feet on the grass. There is a small cabin in the middle that looks like it has been standing there for decades, appearing to be made out of wood. Pine trees were planted on the sides, serving as the only decor on the grass field lot, minus the jungle at the back which served as the only affirmation we'll be staying in the middle of a woodland.

"From now on, we'll be staying here. In the meantime, you can zone out all you want while staring at those pine trees-" she pointed in a direction that seemed to be a jungle full of spruce trees. "-while I cook us something."

"Those aren't Pine trees."

"Well, they resemble one, so I'll call them how I wish," she replied, rolling her eyes as if saying I'm such a smart-ass.