Tales From My LA Lessons

Secret {Part 3}

Dedicated to Suko for offering to shift this story're cover a little because some letters can't be seen. 

ALLONSY ALL VIEWERS :D *struggles to do Spock handsign* *epicly fails* Oh well. Anyway, here is part 3 of Secret, yey! I hope you guys are eagerly anticipating this though. If you even exist. Never mind. Anyway it's not much of a cliffhanger because I'm practically posting all the chapters ON THE SAME DAY. I have no idea why. Because I love fictional people? Probably. Somehow. Anyway here it is yeeeeeey~ Crackers (ooh crack a lakin) and crumpets from my imagination, Skye. 

On the other side though, it was a much happier place than the castle that she was locked up in. Here, the sun shone bright and the dew sparkled on the glossy leaf blades. There weren’t large creatures here, but there were crickets and birds (she constantly heard their chirping) and there was the occasional rabbit, though she couldn’t understand where they came from. However, today wasn’t like any other. Today, she decided that she would explore a tad bit further- she wanted to see where the forest ended, where the gates were within the forest, how far she could go. She knew that she had many questions, all yearning to be answered, and she agreed with herself mentally that today she would try to answer some of them. To explore limits, to discover secrets previously unknown.

She strolled along, she had all the time in the world, no one would be missing her, she was sure. Well, perhaps Maria. But Maria would simply assume that she had gone off somewhere to play and not bother. Maria was right, though, in a way. She stopped to admire the flowers and sniff them. Roses, lilies of the valley, jasmines… She picked them as she went along, making futile attempts to make a bracelet out of the lilies of the valley though their stems were too short. She smelled the fresh air and felt the wind hug her, playfully tangling her hair. She smiled. This was so much better than the castle, where everything seemed so cold, so foreign, despite her having lived there for so long. Whereas here, in the… meadow? But there were trees, though quite few. Garden, she decided, garden. Here in the garden, everything felt so full of life, so new, so welcoming. Like she was coming home after a long day. She wandered along the path, not particularly wanting to go in any specific direction, so she went straight. After all, all roads led to Rome, right? She had read that saying from the vast library that the castle had. Despite the sometimes gloominess of the castle, she loved the collection of books, of stories, in the library. Even though she couldn’t escape in real life… At least she could escape into the stories.

She was so deep in thought that she didn’t realise that she could see the end of the garden. When she finally did, she gasped. There stood a portion of the gate, weather-beaten, dirty, but the pointed ends were recognisable nonetheless. And in front of the gate stood a singular oak tree. What was it doing there? She ran there, and while she ran she realised that the tree wasn’t as normal as she thought. It was wider, and taller, like how most things appear smaller from a distance. But that was not all. The tree had a large, cracked, mirror hanging from it. She had a sudden thought that that was it. The thing that would answer all her questions for her. Yes, that was it! And so she ran. She ran faster than she ever had, so fast she thought she was running at the speed of light because of the way the wind warped around her. When she got there, she was breathless, panting. She felt hot in her dress and wondered why they were made to wear such heavy garments. She studied the mirror, and with a shock she recognised the mirror. It was the exact same one from her flashback, the one that the maid broke and got scolded for breaking. Breathing heavily, she touched all around the mirror, trying to study it. It was rimmed with bronze, though that was scratched and dusty from age. There were intricate patterns on the borders and she tried to discern them. There were quite many eagles, she noted, and their eyes were jewels, moulded to fit in that particular spot. All the eagles had different coloured jewels for eyes. There were rubies, emeralds… For a moment she considered plucking a jewel out, for herself, for beauty’s sake. But there was a kind of aura about the mirror. The kind that warned her not to think of it. So she removed her hand and stepped back, perhaps fearfully, or perhaps because she had already felt every groove in the mirror frame. For a startling moment, the eyes of the eagles seemed to be staring at her intently, like they were studying her every move. Their eyes, in that instant, seemed to sparkle in a certain kind of light. She turned her head, and the eyes were lifeless again. She paused. She didn’t exactly want to see herself then, all red and sweaty. And so that was not what she saw.