The Great War

I

Circa 2007—

I swing my legs under me as mom applies a Band-Aid to my knee, "Be more careful next time." She mumbles helping me down from the bathroom counter.

"It was just a scratch. Theo was the one freaking out." I shrug and hold her hand as she walks us back outside the house.

"Yeah, well, still."

Once Theo saw us he ran over from Lilium and smiled at me, "Are you okay?" I nod and let go of mom's hand and grab his, squeezing it with a toothy smile. He returns it with a shy small smile before pulling me back to Lilium.

I plop myself down on the grass of our front yard. Theo situating himself beside me, my hand still in his.

𖤐

I pull Theo up from the ground with a giggle and run after Lilium. She thought it'd be a good idea to go to the town fountain. Theo releases my hand and slows down seeing something. I ignore it and keep up with Lilium. I run past her with a cheeky laugh before slamming right into someone and roughly falling onto my back. I gasp and let out a small cry as I rub the back of my head.

I hear a woman gasp as someone's warm hands cup my elbows helping me sit up, "I'm so sorry sweetheart, are you alright?"

I look up and see a woman's bright blue and brown eyes staring at me with worry. I nod with a smile, "I'm okay!''

She gives me a smile helping me to a stand, Lilium and Theo rush over to me, Lilium looking at the woman with a bubbly smile, Theo just holding my hand with a worried look. "Are you okay?"

I nodded with a happy smile, squeezing his hand, "She helped me!" I pointed to the strange looking woman.

She sat down on a bench and waved us over, "Come, come. Now as a proper apology, why don't I tell you a little story?"

We all nodded feverishly and ran over, dragging Theo with us. She helped us all onto the bench with her, she didn't look much older than my mom did. She pushed back her long brown and white hair behind her ears and looked down at us and began her story.

"Once upon a time, there was a girl, young and full of life. Yet the town she lived in didn't like that. But she found people like her. They became her family. But one day, when she wanted to have something of her own the town didn't want her to. So, they took it from her, left her sad and alone. But she declared that day that she would get it back no matter what.'' The woman looked down at us with a smile, yet her eyes looked so sad. I wonder why.

"Did she?" I ask, she boops my nose with a sweet toothy grin, "That's for you to decide."

I nod quickly and look at Theo when he speaks, "What was taken from her?" He asks curiously,

She looked down at him and a look of longing came over her face, "The love of her life."

Theo slowly nodded, slumping, a sadness to him. "I don't know what I'd do if someone took Daph away."

I giggle and look from the woman to Theo again and hug him, "No one's taking me away silly!" He gives me a shy smile and nods returning my hug.

"You kids should get on home now, it's getting late." She got up and smoothed out her dress before helping us all down from the bench one by one.

"Okay! Thank you for the story miss,"

She gives me a soft smile and bends down brushing loose hairs from my face. "Call me Ophelia."

I nod and hug her, "Goodbye, Ophelia!" She pats me back and repeats my bye before letting go and we all run off back to my house.

Present—

I inhale sharply and squint as I open my eyes. All the lights felt like they were inches from my eyes. I tiredly turn my head to the side and gasp at the sharp but dull pain that pierced my head. I look up and see a hospital monitor.

Really? Back here again?

I let out a soft sigh and look up at the room door, no one was in here with me. I plant my hands at my sides and push up slowly. I felt like I weighed a ton of bricks. I successfully get into an upright position and look around the sterile room.

I look to my left at the small side-table next to a chair, I carefully maneuver my legs out of bed and stand up, the IV needle making it insanely uncomfortable to move my arm.

I grab whoever's phone was on the table and turn it on. 4:52 AM. Jesus, how long had I been out for?

I look at the door as the knob twists and in walks a man I haven't seen before. He was wearing a white button-up shirt with suspenders and black loose pants. He looked so familiar yet not at the same time.

He looks up at me and smiles softly, a look of longing in his mismatched eyes. His eyes reminded me of Ophelia's. He takes a step forward unsurely and when I don't make a move to back away, he walks closer and places his hands on my arms. "You need to get out of here. It's not safe."

I clutch the phone in my hand as I stare at this man, "What...?" I breathe out finally getting through my shock.

His hands move from my arms to my face as he cups it. "You need to leave. Something is here, something bad."

I nod slowly and he pulls away his eyes filling with a gut-wrenching sadness. "Who are you?"

He looks down at the ground before back at me, "You'll find that out soon enough darling, for now just listen." He hesitates but after a second places a hand on my jaw and leans forward pressing a kiss to my lips.

I stand there absolutely puzzled. Who was this man? why the fuck is he kissing me? Where did he even come from? He pulls back and leaves without a word.

"What the fuck..." I whisper and look down at the phone, which was no longer in my hand. I snap my head back up and gasp jolting forward, up from the bed which I was somehow back in.

"Daph?" I look to my left and see Theo half asleep on the chair I was just standing in front of. My eyes wandered to the table and on top of it was the phone I had in my hand. What?

"Love? You okay?" I slowly nod and look back at the tired noirette.

"Yeah... I think so." I furrow my brows in confusion and bring a hand to my head. "How long have you been here?"

He sits up rubbing the sleep from his eyes as he gives me a sad smile, "All night? Why?"

I nod and inhale quietly, "Okay... uhm. So, what happened?"

He shrugs and scoots his chair over to the bed, "Kinda hoped you'd be able to tell me." I look up at him and smile subconsciously upon actually looking at him for the first time in who knows how long it's been.

"I just remember..." I pause and look down at my hands, "I remember seeing that thing again." My eyes widen, and I look back up at him. "We need to go."

He looks at me with confusion, "Okay slow down. What are you talking about?"

I stare at him, something feels off. He didn't feel like him.