What She Left

-entry 4

"To whomever reads,

Michael dropped off Marina a few hours ago so I could help her with a creative writing assignment about what you could change in the world. We had just finished when she asked, "Grandma, why don't you write poetry anymore? It was so beautiful." I simply answered, "Because you don't write tragedies after you become one." Is it so wrong that I can't bring myself to write after all the hardships that have happened in my life? If you want to read a tragedy, here I am.

April 23rd. -present time

Love, Wren Jennings"

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Marina

     It's hard to see what's right in front of you when you are so focused on what you want. Sometimes you just have to open your eyes a little wider to see what's really there. I wanted Michaela to be different, and she wanted the same for me. We were both too caught up in the anger we held to realize that we just needed to listen to each other. If only I would have listened I wouldn't be in an unfamiliar place without anyone to go to for help.

     All could see was black, shades and shades of different blacks all around me for as long as I could see, but still it held an ethereal light. Water was sparsely gathered on the floor around me, puddles of it. I could see my reflection in one of them. I got to my feet and carefully swept my finger across my forehead and scalp. No blood, no bruise; I came out of a fight completely scratch-less. It didn't make any sense because I knew that Michaela could do some real damage.

     "Hello?" I cupped my hands around my mouth and screamed again, though I knew it would get me nowhere since I had already tried countless times. It was deadly silent and not another soul was here, the silence was enough to make you go crazy. 

     "Hello? Help! Can anyone hear me?" Minutes if not hours passed and I began to pace. I started to panic when a figure appeared in the distance. It was a woman dressed in an expensive looking cardigan vest and jeans. She walked toward me slowly, her luminescent skin shining from a distance source, bringing light to the dark place. As she drew closer I couldn't believe what I was seeing. The woman couldn't be much older than me and she held a striking resemblance to my father's dead sister, Macy. The woman wore the same shock on her face as she drew closer to me. 

     "Marina my dear! I knew you would be the one that was sent here." Her smile was so bright I swear it lit up the dark. "After all this time you didn't come, I was starting to believe you never would." She drew me into a hug but I quickly pulled away, puzzled by her words. I had no idea who she was or what she wanted from me but I was taught that you shouldn't talk to strangers, and certainly not hug them.

     Her smiled disappeared. "Marina, do you know who I am or where you are?" How did she know my name?

     "No, ma'am," I replied certainly not going to tell her she looked like my dead relative.

     "You're in the depths of time and the unknown. History and the undecided, or as us welcomers like to call it, the In-between of death and the life. You're here because your sisters punch and the fall it caused you resulted in a comatose state for your mind. The In-between isn't as bad as it seems, here you have a chance to change time before yours runs out or see life through another's eyes." She smiled and then lowered her head into the darkness "Life is beautiful Marina and I was too naive and young to see that." She lifted her eyes level to mine. "I'm Macy. Your aunt." She tried to smile but it faltered as her eyes filled with tears. I opened my mouth to speak but there was nothing to say so I just closed my mouth again and muttered an 'I'm sorry.'

     "I miss my family so much," she whispered. "and I have made far too many mistakes." She stopped and sniffled. "I'm so sorry Marina for screwing up everything for you and taking away something that should have stayed forever." Her eyes danced with fear and anticipation. "I screwed over time in ways it's not supposed to be messed with. I have broken someting in ways I'm not sure the smartest people would understand, but to put it simply," She stopped and made a breaking motion with her hand. "I snapped it in half." 

     My face filled with emotion and pain for Macy. I know she could be lying but what else did I have to believe in anymore? I was alone and scared and any explanation would do, even one as crazy as breaking time. I spoke softly. "How did this happen, Macy?"

     "I did more wrong than right." She got quieter and her whole face drooped. "I'm the reason my mother is dead. Your grandmother, Marina. She's dead because of me." She cried and cried for so long and I cried with her because I felt that pain too. And for the first time in forever, I didn't feel mad or angry at someone. I shared the emotion and didn't try to hide it. 

     "Do you blame me?" Macy asked, looking into my eyes after the silence became too much.

     "No," I said simply. She engulfed me into her arms and this time I didn't pull back because I didn't need to know Macy for long to know that she was someone that I could trust and pour my love into, just as I did with my grandmother. 

     "Thank you, Marina. Thank you so much." She stayed quiet for a long time as if savoring the moment, then finally spoke. "I need your help, to save her. I obviously can't do it alone without messing stuff up, but you can Marina. She loved you more than anyone, and I know that you felt the same toward her. In the end, you're the only one who has enough connection with her to patch up what was never supposed to tear." 

     I started to breathe heavily and quickly pinched myself; maybe I really was dead or dreaming How did Macy know all these things about me? I had never even met her before. What if I was hallucinating?  Although I wanted Macy to be real more than anything, it was just unbelievable: surreal. 

     "Marina. You have to believe this is real." Macy said her face drooping.

     "I'm sorry Macy but it's just a little hard to believe that my dad's sister who committed suicide when she was 16 is consulting me about fixing history and undoing my Grandmothers death. Admit it, Macy, doesn't it sound a little far-fetched to you?" I looked down into the darkness that engulfed my feet and thighs and looked up at her. She looked more broken than I had ever seen anyone, but maybe that's what happens when you convince yourself you screwed up time. "I'm sorry, it's just so much to understand."

     A pained expression crossed her face as she spoke. "Am I giving you too much information too fast? I can slow down if you want me to, but we are on a tight schedule..." She trailed off then murmured, "and time is something that cannot be slowed.

     "What do you mean?"

     "Well," She paused, pondering her next words. "History states that your coma lasts for 1 months, and in the In-between, every hour you spend here with me is a day out in the real world. That only leaves us with hmm.." She looked above her head and counted on her fingers. "A little over a day."

     I exhaled slowly. "That's not a lot of time to fix history is it?"

     She smiled slightly. "No, but I believe in you, Marina." She picked up my hand and held it tightly. "You're the only hope I have left."

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hi guys! thank you so much for reading this far! as you can tell, this story will mostly be focusing on how sometimes things are meant to be and sometimes mistakes are made, but the biggest mistake is not fixing them. now tell me, do you think Macy and Marina are going to be able to save Wren?

-rissa