Harmony

The Mystery Deepens

In the right-hand bedroom of house number three, Suria woke not long after dawn. She was glad to be home.

That was an unexpected thought. She wasn't home; she was in that strange village.

The previous day was spent struggling with memory loss in a completely foreign environment, with advanced technology and waves of peace that stopped her from feeling bad. She had met a lovely young lady named Pixie who might or might not be her friend, if she could only remember. So why did she feel at home, even for an instant? It was all too hard to figure out, for now.

She got out of bed and took a shower right away. It really was calming, as Pixie had reported the day before. It was nicer than she expected before she stepped in, as if it was indeed doing more than just cleansing her. Had some chemical or mineral been added to the water to make it more vibrant? It was a foreign concept, and there was no way of knowing that was within her present grasp of reality, as tenuous as it was. When she ventured out to the kitchen after dressing, she met Pixie, already working the food machine.

The first thing Suria noted was that her new housemate was relieved somehow, as if she'd found something she'd lost, or avoided something she was worried about. Suria tentatively asked her if she slept well, and Pixie's reply in the affirmative was perhaps more enthusiastic than it might have been. Suria studied her for a moment. Why she might be enthusiastic about her sleep? Was that a normal situation for most people? Those thoughts disappeared as Pixie talked more about the upcoming day. Her name was so apt. She was quite small and fairy-like, and the wavy blonde hair and girlish voice added to the appropriateness of the name.

Pixie's words startled her out of her distracted state. Suria pretended she'd been listening all along and not away with the fairies. Pixie was asking her about going to the community centre and whether they should look around some more. Suria agreed this was a good idea. Some purpose in their day was a good thing.

On entering the community centre, she paused for a moment, as did Pixie. Something was different. Suria couldn't figure out what it was; at least not initially. They gave up trying to work out what had changed and instead went to the library the art and music room, looking for any book or text that might explain the symbols above the doors on each house. Disappointingly, they found nothing on symbology or anything like that, although the library was quite extensive.

She and Pixie went there into the kitchen to make a morning tea. Before they headed out to the patio for some sunshine, Pixie spoke up suddenly, startling Suria.

"Look!" she exclaimed, pointing to the tables and chairs at the front of the kitchen. "The chairs are all back neatly together! I'm sure we didn't leave the two we used yesterday perfectly in line with the table when we left. I remember spilling a few crumbs of my pie, too, which I thought I would get later when I got around to sweeping, but I forgot. They're not here on the floor anywhere."

"You're saying the place has been cleaned?"

"Must have been. I know these are small things, and we hardly made any mess at all, but someone has cleaned this kitchen since we were last here!" Pixie's excited words led to an obvious conclusion: they might still be here.

"Hello! Anyone here? Anyone?" Suria's immediate and somewhat desperate calls echoed around the kitchen.

She and Pixie then took off, running quickly through all of the community centre rooms, calling as they did so. No-one answered them. The last room they checked was the gardening room, before exiting through the back door. Suria motioned to Pixie that they should split up so they could check each of the houses, which they did. Frustratingly once again, they found no-one.

"Oh, that's so annoying!" Pixie was clearly exasperated, panting with the exertion of the search, as they met back in the kitchen at the community centre.