I had never remembered a lot about my childhood. My juvenile memories were scarce but the few I had were ones which gave me the impression that as a child, I hadn't really had the best time. One memory, rather deemed as a nightmare for me, which had scarred the young six year old me was when Milo was eight and Adrienne was ten. You might say that from the ages they were at, that they were innocent in their games and their mentality, and they were. They were an epitome of innocence when they stood before our parents, gaining praise after praise while stood in the corner as they scolded me and asked why I wasn't as good as my siblings, why I was so different. A gleam in their eyes always told me that deep down the answer was prominent in their minds.
When Milo was eight, Adrienne ten and I was six, they had called me out to play in our vast garden. The thing with our garden was, that it was never ending. It led on into a forest. Adrienne and held my right hand and Milo, my left and they had dragged me towards that forest. Being so naïve, I had happily skipped along with them with the impression that my siblings had finally wanted to play with me. They led me further and further into the forest and towards a huge tree which grew.
"You have to stay here now, Avery," Adrienne had told me and I had asked why. She had replied saying that she and Milo were going to collect some things for our game.
"But why can't I come," I had huffed as I had crossed my arms across my chest and pouted my tiny little lips. She has shuffled closer to me, placing her lips next to my ear and had whispered.
"Because the monsters live in here so you've got to stay here where you'll be safe."
Adrienne had known about my fear for monsters and she knew perfectly well how it scared me to death. My lower lip had begun to shake in fright as I asked if she would be okay. After a large amount of reassurance, she had finally managed to convince me. As the minutes had passed and passed, the anxiety within me grew and grew. Adrienne and Milo had not returned yet. Being the loving sister I was, I decided to push back my thoughts of how they had been eaten by those monsters and that they had just gotten lost and I began to head in the direction they had gone in, in hopes to find them. I began to walk, my flowery dress swirling around my knees and my little white sandals getting stained from the dirty ground. All of a sudden, a high pitched scream had escaped from within me as a thing had jumped out at me.
Monster.
There hadn't been just one, but two. So I forgot about Adrienne, I forgot about Milo and I made a run for it. I had ran and ran, in the direction which this six year old me had hoped was the way to my house, all the while a stream of screams dangling behind me. I could hear laughter erupting behind me but I continued.
"Mommy!" I had shouted as I neared our house and she came rushing out onto the patio asking questions in confusion, not worry. I had run right up to her and wrapped my tiny arms around her legs, soaking her prim pencil skirt with my tears. She had pulled me off her, in fear of ruining her clothing but when she saw how shaken up I was, she let me be. As I sobbed, I had explained to her in my gibberish what had happened. The laughing behind me increased and I turned to see Milo and Adrienne walking up our garden with plastic masks clutched tightly in their grasps. In the end, I was the one who gained a long scolding. That night, my room was also filled with my shrieks as monsters chased me in my dreams.
I picked up the two cups of coffee before, shaking my head to rid the memory within it. I made my way out of the kitchen and back into the living room of the house we were staying in. Myron sat there on the couch, watching some TV programme I didn't recognize. I walked over and placed his mug on the coffee table before sitting down on the single arm chair, lifting my legs up so they were under me. I gently sipped on my coffee.
"Any plans?" I asked Myron, hoping that during the time we had walked home and I had made coffee, something had come to his mind.
Myron shook his head, "absolutely nothing."
I groaned in frustration, leaning into the comfort of my chair and took another long sip of my coffee. I began to think, of something, anything that could be a lead to finding the next note to finding Allie. As I thought I continued to sip on my coffee. As I drank, I felt the coffee having a reverse effect on me. My eye lids became droopy and I struggled to stifle a few yawns which escaped my mouth. I looked across at Myron to see a similar effect on him. It was almost as if someone had put something into our coffee. I began to slump in my arm chair, as did Myron. I watched as his eyes fell, along with the mug onto the ground. I finished my drink, unable to process anything around me. I pushed myself up, staggering on my feet as I walked across to pick up Myron's mug and put it in the kitchen. I managed to wobble my way across and bend down to pick it up. I even made it to the kitchen and I placed the mugs in the sink. On my way back to the living room, my vision blacked and I crashed down to the ground, unconscious.
