Eye of The Wyvern

V

1 day until Karissa's 18th birthday

The water was still, and a cool breeze caressed Karissa's body, sat in the lake as she stared into space. Even the cold water kissing her legs couldn't snap her out of the trance. Her friends were gone. Amanda was gone. Her childhood was gone. And she didn't know why. She didn't know where they went.

What if... She thought, that man and woman took them..? She shuddered with anger. "I have to find out where they went." Karissa stood and marched back to the village. If anyone was gonna know where they went, it was Amanda's grandmother. So there she went.

Karissa walked up to the house, and she saw Rhian harvesting some herbs Amanda had planted last month; sage, mint, and basal. "Excuse me?" Karissa said calmly, "Can I talk to you inside?" Rhian stood with her basket of herbs and looked at Karissa. "If this is about my granddaughter and that girl," she turned a cold shoulder, "then politely leave me alone, and go one with your day. Take some Lavender with you if you'd like. Just leave me the hell alone." Karissa was stunned, Rhian had always been nice to her, why the sudden change?

"What did I do to you?" Karissa asked, "Did you send Amanda with those people?" Rhian stopped in her tracks. "What are you talking about, child?" She turned on her heels to face Karissa, "What people?" Karissa tried hard to contain her frustration; Rhian was just an old woman, she couldn't shout at her. "I know you and dad were talking to those people," she said, "that man and woman who came here the other day? Isn't it strange how they appeared, you both were talking to them about us being 'sent away' or something, and now both my friends are gone? Where did they take them?"

"Karissa." Rhian bellowed in anger, "How dare you question me! Your father raised you better than that. Those people have nothing to do with my granddaughter and you know it. Your lucky I could care less to tell Peter about you snooping around, and listening to conversations you aren't in." She stormed inside and slammed the door shut, not giving Karissa any chance to respond. Karissa stood frozen, Rhian had truly shocked her with the way she acted.

Karissa walked inside her house; Peter was gone, so she had the whole day to herself until he returned. All she could do was watch out her bedroom window, anxiously waiting for her father's arrival. She sat there for hours, not moving, waiting. By the time the sun reached her window, she realized how long it had been, and decided she would try to distract herself by studying.

She grabbed all of her history books and began looking through every single one. All of them had no information on Magicks, but there were a few who told stories of the war and their disappearance. Unfortunately for her, she found nothing useful about the Magic Folk. She continued her studies anyway, keeping her out of reality even for just a moment.

I don't even want to celebrate my birthday anymore, Karissa thought, I just want everything to be normal again.

*     *     *

Dusk arrived, and her father still wasn't home. She worried, but when he was out, he usually stayed out until Karissa was asleep. He's fine, she thought. A bird flew by the window, snapping her out of her studies. She sighed and decided to eat something small, even if she didn't feel like it. She could feel her stomach grumbling as she approached the kitchen.

Shuffling through all the food, she settled for some bread and butter. The bread was a little stale, but soaking it in melted butter made it not so bad. Once she ate a few pieces, Karissa cleaned up and went back to her room. The town fell silent, the faint sound of crickets whispered from the bushes outside. Karissa laid down, listening to the distant chirps and wind lightly blowing the trees. Tomorrow was the day. Tomorrow, she would be 18. Tomorrow, she won't get to wake up to Amanda tapping her window and running inside to wish her the happiest birthday of all time. Tomorrow, she would have to visit her mother's grave, her best and worst favorite spot in the whole town.

Tomorrow

*     *     *

Karissa was startled awake by a burning sensation in her eye. What the fuck..? She thought, shuffling to the bathroom to wash her face. As she splashed, the burning turned to a light itch. It was too dark to look in a mirror, and she was too tired to care. So itch she did, and she went back to her bed. Eventually, the unbearable itching came to a stop, and she drifted back into a deep slumber.