SEVEN UPON A STAR

Home Again

Meilin stepped into the mansion, the door closing behind her with a quiet thud. The house was vast, cold, and suffocatingly quiet. Its emptiness was like a void, a reminder that she was alone here now. This had once been her home-a place where her grandparents filled the rooms with warmth, laughter, and the comforting smell of tea. But now, it felt more like a museum of her memories, each piece of furniture and portrait haunted by what was gone.

Her footsteps echoed as she walked through the hallways. The house had never seemed this empty before, but now every room was a reminder of the people she had lost. First her parents, when she was too young to fully understand the weight of their absence. And then her grandparents, who had raised her and given her a second sense of home. She had lived here with them for so long, but now, the mansion felt alien. Could she even call it home anymore?

The weight of it all bore down on her, filling the space around her like a heavy fog. The silence felt louder with every step she took, and it seemed like the walls themselves were pressing in, a constant reminder of what she no longer had. Yuvi, her golden retriever, padded beside her, his quiet presence offering some small comfort. His gentle paws against the hardwood floor were the only sound that didn't feel like an disturbance.

She paused at the grand staircase, resting her hand on the banister, her eyes tracing the familiar woodwork. Every inch of this house had a story, a memory, but now, those stories seemed distant, like echoes she couldn't quite hear. The house was filled with everything, yet it felt like nothing.

It is strange how emptiness could feel so heavy.

She climbed the stairs slowly, Yuvi at her side. Each step was heavier than the last. By the time she reached her bedroom, the weight of her exhaustion pulled her down. She dropped onto the bed, Yuvi hopping up beside her, pressing his warm body close. Meilin absentmindedly ran her fingers through his fur, finding solace in his constant companionship.

But as she stared at the ceiling, the weight of everything that had been said earlier returned to her-the riddles, the nightmares. She closed her eyes, but the images remained-fragments of things she couldn't quite place.

It was then that she felt it again. That strange tug, deep in her chest. Like a memory long buried, just beneath the surface, trying to claw its way out. It wasn't just her grandparents or her parents that she had lost. It felt... older. Deeper. As if there was something from a time before this life, something hidden in the shadows of her mind that she couldn't grasp.

The house, the emptiness-it wasn't just about now. It felt like she had been here before, like this loneliness was tied to something ancient. Something forgotten.

Yuvi whimpered softly, nudging her hand with his paws as if sensing the shift in her mood. She gave him a small, tired smile, grateful for his presence. He was the one thing keeping her from drowning in it all.

Meilin finally let her exhaustion pull her under, her body relaxing into the bed. But as she drifted into sleep, the images began to come-hazy at first, like dreams.

And then, that weight in her chest returned. Not the kind she lived with now, but something else. A memory of love and loss, of something or someone she had lost long before this life.

She heard voices. Voices hauntingly familiar.

"Meilin, they are your friends."

" Don't you dare tease me!"

" What on heavens, Estella!"

" I-I-I-let's go. I'll tell you later!"

"Aren't you two being too obvious?"

"She's an enemy!"

"I curse you all. You all would never be happy. You all would be separated from your love."

"Why would you do that, Orin?"

"I want you to know that you are the only person whom my heart can love."

" Forgive me sweetheart."

"I can't live without you and you won't let me die."

Meilin jolted awake, her heart racing, as fragments of the vision still lingered in her mind. She lay there, staring up at the ceiling, her body tense and trembling. It felt as though the veil between past and present had been ripped apart, leaving her exposed to a truth she had long forgotten-or maybe, something she had been trying to escape.

Slowly, she sat up in bed, pressing her palms to her temples. The throbbing ache in her head returned, but it wasn't from the dreams this time-it was from the memories. Memories she hadn't known were hers until now. She was no longer just Meilin; she felt as if she had been living two lives at once.

She had seen glimpses of it, pieces of a future filled with pain and loss, but the full picture had remained out of reach. That had been her greatest failure-her inability to see the path ahead clearly.

Her breath came in shaky gasps as the images flooded back-visions of the Seven gathering around her, the tension in the air, the way they all seemed to be waiting for something, or someone, that never arrived. She had tried to warn them, to prepare them for the unknown, but she hadn't been able to stop the curse that had followed them through lifetimes.

And now, here she was again, in this life, forced to remember all that she had once been. The weight of it pressed down on her, filling the emptiness that had lingered for so long. She had always felt that something was missing, a part of her that had been lost. Now, she knew what it was- the memory of her past, the knowledge of what they had all been through together.

Yuvi stirred beside her, sensing her unease, and she reached out to stroke his fur. His presence was a small comfort in the midst of the storm raging inside her. But even as she tried to focus on the here and now, the memories of her past life kept pulling her back.

She hadn't just been Meilin, the girl who had lost her family and lived alone in this empty mansion. She had been someone else entirely- someone who had tried to protect those she loved, and failed. The visions that haunted her weren't just dreams; they were echoes of a life she could no longer escape.

But this time, she wouldn't let it slip away. She wouldn't lose herself again.

She wouldn't lose Him. Not again.

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