Beautiful Darkness

➵The Guidance of Misdirection

           

I open my eyes to see a lavender meadow surrounding me. The sun beats down on my face and causes a feeling of peace and tranquility to settle over me. The land looks foreign, as if it is a picture of a better world. My eyes drift down to myself. My skin is the first thing I notice. It is light, pure, not tainted with the purple tint that has ruled my life. I outstretch my hand in front of me to further observe it in complete fascination. My silver hair remains the same as it is curled over my shoulders. A light red sundress is drifted over my body and seems to glimmer from the sunlight. I look back up and see a figure across the meadow. It seems young, like a teenager.

"Hello?" I call from afar. My voice sounds lighter with more life breathed into it. The snickering that responds is definitely feminine. From the voice, whoever it is can be no older than sixteen. As I near her, the girl begins to look more familiar. It is as if the memory of her is being repressed and subdued. I walk several steps closer to her. As I move closer her features become clearer.

My initial reaction is that I am seeing my mother when she was younger. It takes me several moments to realize that the girl in front of me isn't her albeit sharing very similar appearances. Her pure black hair and sharp hazel eyes are all too familiar. With my brain pounding my head tries to find an explanation. Everything clicks into place.

"Nessy?" I dare to ask. Her eyes look up with response to her name. A sob escapes my lips as all of the broken memories piece back together. I close my eyes in an attempt to pull myself together. When I reopen them the meadow has disappeared and I am in a complete different setting. Did I imagine it all?

The floor below me is linoleum. The walls are all made of mirrors including the ceiling. My reflection stares back at me from every hypnotizing angle.

"Alia" Anessia's voice calls out the nickname only she gave me. I turn around to find her behind me. I dare to move closer to her as my heart races inside my chest. Its pounding rings throughout my head.

"Where are we, Nessy?" I ask cautiously, afraid she will disappear if I do something wrong. She simply looks up at my face with a sad smile. Anessia grabs my hand and leads me to one of the mirrors.

"Follow me." She presses then walks through the mirror. I don't hesitate as my body reluctantly slips into the glass. We are both back in the same lavender field from earlier. Confusion swirls around me. My eyes drift down to Anessia who is still holding my hand. She is staring straight ahead at the field with an unreadable look. I follow her gaze and notice something.

The field is slightly flickering between this one and another. The other field is completely black. Bodies are scattered across the dead grass, some torn to pieces, others burned. The area looks a lot like the Dark Forest. Both fields begin to flicker between each other quickly so fast I can hardly recognize which is which until only one remains. The dark field.

Nessy begins walking to the middle of the field, dragging me behind her. As we walk I look around at the slaughtered lives amongst us. Who could do something like this?

"You did this." Anessia answers my internal thought aloud. My eyes snap to hers. Her expression is darkened, angry, compared to her once soft features.

"What are you talking about? I didn't do this." I defend. She shakes her head.

"Not that, this." She moves aside to reveal her body shred apart on the ground like all of those around us. I drop to my knees and stare in shock. Words jumble in my mouth refusing to escape. My hand covers my quivering mouth. Once my body gets over the initial shock I look back up to Nessy, only to find that she is no longer there. Wildly, my eyes search every inch of the field.