The Rink of Time

Chapter Eleven

Let go of what you can't control.

ELIJAH STARLING

I've never felt this out of control or out of balance in my seventeen years of breathing. It's like I'm in a place where I have no control over anything, not even my own mind, it's driving me completely insane.

I am literally internally freaking out.

We're now sat in the living room of the cabin/mansion, the woman asked us to recount to her in details what happened from yesterday till the very minute we are in and that's exactly what Skai and Dexter are doing right now.

It all feels so surreal.

I feel a warm hand on mine and immediately know who it is, I tilt my head in her direction and smile at her.

"I'm fine" I lie.

"If you were fine in this situation, that would be concerning Lijah" She whispers but I could tell a plethora of thoughts were running through her mind "It's okay not to be okay"

I smile again "What would I do without you?"

"So, you are from earth" The lady sighs, I assume they have finished retelling the tale of our journey over the past 24 hours.

"So, what you're saying is that we're not on earth?" River asks.

"P-" I cut her off

"Does that mean we're in another dimension?"

"No-" Skai cut her off before she could answer.

"We're not humans?!" Skai asks

"You're all just asking the same question in different ways, let her speak" Emily shuts us all up.

The lady smiles at her appreciatively "To answer your questions Yes, not necessarily and no" she answers our questions accordingly.

"What are we?" Dexter asks staring at his hands, fear filling his eyes.

"Assuming you are from this world that would make you sprites" she surmised.

"Like the soda?" Skai asks nervously.

"I don't think she meant the soda Skai" Emily muttered.

"Bro, this is absolutely nuts" Skai groans pulling at her hair while stomping her feet, Emily let's out a heavy sigh "This isn't humanly possible" I hear her mutter under her breath, playing with her fingers aggressively, something she does when she is anxious.

"Nah this has to be a damn dream don't pull this shit on us" Dexter stands up instantly exiting the house. "It's not fucking Halloween" I hear him breathe out, before he left.

"Look woman" River breathes out trying to be as calm as possible "It's not April fools neither is it Halloween, tell us what's really going on" River urges tapping his heel on the floor in a repeated motion. "Where are we?" he practically pleads.

I'm finding it really hard to process anything that's currently happening, this has to be a dream, that's just it. I grab Emily's hand and squeeze it to help her calm down, even though I was a raging mess internally.

As long as I had her everything was going to be okay, I'll see the darkness so she can see the light.

After a long while everyone seemed to have calmed down and Skai had coaxed Dexter back into the house.

"So, how do we go back?" Dexter asks not seeming fazed by it anymore, but the way he played with his fingers said otherwise.

"That is what I don't know" she gives us a sad smile "You see, I'm the guardian of the lake of life" she picks up what I'm guessing is a cup of tea from the coffee table—which could buy me if I may add. "My job is to stop our people from misusing it and to send any human back through the portal if they happen to end up here, to do that I have to make them lose their memories of this place and create a portal only they can pass through immediately" she takes a sip from the cup before continuing "I don't encounter humans often, in fact I haven't seen one in decades"