16-year-old Christina Ammeen is an orphan. Simple as that. Nothing great or interesting about it. She's bounced from home to home and along the way she's searching for her mother who seemed to have dropped off the face of the earth. Only struggle an...
Christina trembled at the center of white space that stretched as far as her eyes could see in every direction. She narrowed her eyes in suspicion as she recalled her last moments with her mom.
Did she drug me? What did she do?
A sickening feeling dropped in her gut. Am I dead? No. Ma wouldn't kill me. Would she?
She shook her head to rid the horrific questions. Her mom loved her just as much as she loved her. Christina spun around wondering if she should start walking.
She took a step and the void of white flickered like a flash light. Christina froze, heart leaping into her throat waiting to see some scary creature pop out to eat her. Instead, a wind, swift and precise as if it possessed a mind of its own, began to dance around her.
Samelia, an angelical voice spoke from the white void.
"Who goes there?" she shouted spinning around hoping to see someone.
The strange name was repeated, slowly overlapping until it sounded as if multiple people with angelical voices were speaking at once. She covered her ears despite the serene aura the voices were unveiling. The winds picked up in speed and the air grew dark. The floor beneath her feet cracked and grew into tiny cracks and Christina's worst fears happened. The floor gave in releasing her to the mercies of gravity. Her stomach heaved, clogging her scream in her throat.
Colors flashed before her eyes until her fall ceased into a soft bed of grass. She shielded her eyes from the piercing daylight and panted in the clear air. Birds singing in the whistles of a warm breeze urged her to take in her surroundings. She had fallen into a forest with trees bent low as if bowing to their new visitor. She stood wiggling her toes in the ankle length grass and scrunched her nose.
There was something familiar about this place, the way the trees were lined up beside one another to form a circle. She stood in the center of this circle just like times before.
"What in the world?" she said scratching her head.
Then her gaze caught onto something very familiar. A tree, its trunk coated with white spots and years of gathered vines, sat apart from the rest. She approached it and spotted a carving hiding underneath the vines. She pulled them away to reveal a symbol; a large circle with three leaves in its center. Instantly, she felt for her pendant and held it up to compare it.
"It could be the same," she said and noticed something else was carved above the symbol. She tore away the vines and gasped. Scratched into the tree trunk, so childishly yet precise, was her name. The faint memory of a little Christina doing this popped into her head followed by a headache.
"This is just a dream," she said massaging her forehead.
The distant sound of horses neighing drew her attention into the forest. She couldn't fight her curiosity, especially when this place felt so familiar and real. Real as the calm beating of her heart. With careful steps, she followed the neighing into a clearing much larger than the one she fell into.
In its center was a two-story cabin with a porch. Smoke rose from its chimney and shadows of people can be seen through the curtained windows. Littering the front lawn were wagons, carriages, and a stable filled with horses. A man was inside feeding the beasts and she took it upon herself to see what was going on.
She approached the stable and cleared her throat. "Excuse me."
The man looked up from pouring a bucket of water into the horse's water stand. His jaw dropped and so did hers. He was probably a few years older than she with half his head shaved leaving some hair to fall to the side. Strange tattoos decorated the bald side of his head leading down his neck into the collar of a cloak. By his breeches tucked in knee-high boots and the sword at his belt, she wondered if she had time traveled or just had a wild imagination.
"Tu," he said in a bit of disbelief.
"You?" she said remembering some Spanish.
"Tu none Christina Ammeen?"
You are Christina Ammeen? she quickly interpreted this foreign language and backed away now in her own shock.
This is not Spanish.
"How is it that I understand you?" she said only for him to narrow his eyes as he processed her words. When he took too long to respond, she continued. "How do you know me name?"
Still the young man looked lost, eyes staring at her lips. She indicated the area, "Where are we?"
"Ah, Valeera," he said hand fumbling the hilt of his sword.
He didn't seem dangerous, but she sensed the young man didn't have a sword just for cosplay.
"Valeera," she said the name sweet to her tongue. Just like the voices whispering Samelia and their serene aura and the forest with her name carved in a tree, it was familiar.
New words seemed to unravel within her mind and her heart. She decided to try something.
"Yueh none tu?" she said realizing the language had slid off her tongue like melting ice cream. This made her note to investigate that later, except this was just a dream and it meant nothing.
The young man looked to grow nervous to tell her who he was. He shifted uncomfortably and said in an unsure tone of English, "I am Sii."
She gave a slight chuckle, wiping her sweaty hands along her sweatpants. That's when she realized she was still in her pajamas. Cheeks now hot with embarrassment, she noticed the man's face looked just as uncomfortable. Then he held up his hands.
"Tu, stay. I go get her," he said with great urgency. With that, he sprinted off to the cabin.
"Wait," she shouted. Who was this 'her' he was getting?
Should I follow him? She exited the stable and walked towards the porch. Then the hot atmosphere dropped to a dangerous chill. She frowned seeing there was no wind or no clouds alerting a coming storm. Then a flash of darkness appeared across the clearing between some trees. Fast as it appeared, the dark splotch slithered through the cabin's structure and disappeared inside.
Christina didn't know what it was or what to do. The lights inside blew out and the muffle of voices inside fell silent. The horses shifted and stomped telling her something terrible had just occurred. She thought of the young man, Sii, and started for the porch.
The front door burst open halting her in her steps. Her jaw dropped to the grass seeing her mom exit onto the porch.
"Mom?" she said soaking in the cloak she had draped over her pajamas, and the boots she had put on her feet. The sunlight glinted off the sword in her right hand and the fear in her eyes. Her mom jumped down the steps and ran towards her. The shadowy splotch she had seen slid out the doorway and slithered after her mom.
"Ma watch out!"
The splotch latched itself onto her mom's feet and ankles sending her crashing to the ground. The sword flew from her grip and landed inches from Christina's feet. Within seconds, whatever grabbed her mom swallowed her whole and pinned her to the ground.
Amid her mom's heart chilling screams Christina heard one word, "Run."
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