Hellions of Arcadia

Chapter 42: !@#$?

&*#!3) - $%+?

The girl is alone.

She is kneeling on the invisible ground in the realm of darkness. She is weeping, weeping for the girl she is, but does not know. She is weeping for he people she must be leaving behind. She is weeping for the people she does not remember.

The girl does not see an end in sight, she only sees the darkness stretch on forever. She does not want to continue, mourning the death of herself is much easier than to persevere into an unknown realm. But if she wants to figure out who she is, she doesn't have a choice.

With her arms wrapped tightly around her chest, hands squeezing her upper arms, the girl fumbles her way without any knowledge of directional awareness. Her voice is too weak to be heard, her throat is throbbing with an unfamiliar pain.

Her next step is too uncertain, and it causes her to trip onto the ground. She catches herself with her hands, knees smacking against the cold surface below her. A sense of frustration boils under her skin while she stares at her splayed hands. The skin is pale, a ghost against the contrasted space around it. On her wrist there are bracelets, four different bands that vary in colour. Red, blue, purple and black.

When she stands, the girl picks at one of her bracelets, the blue one. For a reason she can't explain, she is strangely drawn to that one in particular. The pretty light blue is a mesmerizing colour, and it fills her chest with warmth.

Delicate fingers pull only the blue bracelet to the front of her wrist, admiring it even more. With the pads of her index finger and thumb, the girl inspects the bracelet even more. It is thick, but almost like an elastic, it's made of soft material, one that feels comfortable under her fingers. She felt a surge of comfort and power from her fingertips all the way to her stomach, the blue band was some sort of beacon that the girl didn't quite understand.

Her confidence swelling, the girl felt more of a pull to continue on. The bracelet gives me power. She notes to herself, power is perseverance.

However, she doesn't know what to do next. It's not like it is easy to navigate in an abyss of pitch darkness. The girl feels overwhelmed by her surroundings, despite how dark and empty they are. She has no idea where to begin with any kind of search, but one thing she does know, is that wandering aimlessly is an option.

She doesn't like it, but that is her best choice right now, so she begins to walk forward without any idea of where she's going. The girl's heart aches the longer she is left to her own devices, her mind races, thinking of how she can repair herself. She can't help but feel that the forgotten parts of her are worth knowing, and she will do anything to meet herself.

As she continues her walk into the endless dark, the girl tries as hard as she can to recall anything about herself, or maybe the people she once knew, but she comes up blank every time. The only hint of her past life, is the soothing voice she heard what feels like hours ago. Even with that, she doesn't remember what the voice said, just that it was perfect, and it made her stomach twist in a thousand beautiful ways.

Before long, the girl's head starts to pound. Every step she takes causes another wave of pain to ripple through her skull, every several steps, the pain gets worse. The pain starts to become so horrible, that she almost pukes. When she gets too dizzy to continue, the girl stops, hands clutching her head.

The pain stops.

Relief is so sudden, that the girl feels lightheaded. She stumbles backwards, and almost falls, but manages to keep her footing. Puzzled, the girl takes another step forward, and is met with a shock of pain in her head. When she stops walking, the pain is gone as fast as it comes.