Following the River

Chapter 14

Chapter 14

The forest shook around her violently as an unknown breeze whipped around. Feet pounded on the springy forest floor. Gasping for breath, the figure dashed through the screeching wind which intermittently stopped and started.

She fell to her knees suddenly winded as she fearfully darted her eyes around the forest, which was being shaken by its roots.

"Face..." a voice whispered through the trees. As Zora shakily stood to her feet, she realized that the forest was changing from luscious and green, to gray and dead.

"Face...?" Zora forced the words to slip from her mouth. A dark figure rustled leaves from the branches of a tree above, his eyes bright against his dark outline. Zora stumbled back from the familiar face that she thought she had just imagined.

"Face the truth." The voice muttered. Zora wished that she hadn't heard. Turning her back to the stranger, she began to trace her lingering past, yet she didn't travel too far.

Face the truth. Face the truth. Please, face the truth, my sister.

Zora quickened her pace as the words echoed around her. Face...it. Zora's heart beat harder as she broke into a run, tears dotting the corner of her eyes. Face...

No... Zora thought, though her mind was a fuzzy mess. Please don't.

Why can't you face...?

Why won't you...?

Zora squeezed her eyes shut and fell to the ground. Overwhelmed by the words, she hid her face from the words. She managed to speak a few words. "Leave me alone." she begged.

A hand was suddenly lightly set on her shoulder. Zora swatted it away and screamed, "No! I won't! I can't!"

Falling into the past's evil grip, Zora was flung into a web of memories. Her mother's pale face frowned upon her and her brother's icy gaze was sinister.

Zora whisked away to another haunted memory of a bloodstained battle field.

"You've betrayed us!" Zora yelled as she pushed her brother backwards onto the ground. Her eyes were lit with the fire of anger as she glared upon him as he once did to her.

"Zora, you don't understand! He promised to kill you unless I would follow him. I will protect you!" Dakota shouted, his gaze clouded.

Zora spat on the ground. "You'll never be my brother. You'd have killed me if Jay hadn't come."

The memory went blank suddenly. An eerie silence set upon her as a face appeared in her mind. Jay. His bright blue eyes blinked respectfully at her as he blocked Dakota from swiping his unsheathed paw at her. His smile lit up the sky.

Jay turned to Zora suddenly. "Zora's no longer in danger." His voice echoed in her mind as her eyes slowly opened to reality.

"Is Hailey back?" Aira inquired softly as she shook Zora out of her memories. Zora's vision crossed back from her dreams. The dim light filtered through the tinted window still stung at her eyes as they adjusted.

"I'll go get her." Zora replied as she stood to her feet, exhausted from her tiring dreams. Nostalgic thoughts traced through her mind as she thoughtlessly checked each room for Hailey.

She expected to see Hailey standing in the kitchen, either making food or braiding her hair, but the kitchen was eerily vacant.

"Hailey?" Zora inquired while snapping out of her thoughts. A thick silence hung in the air. She has to be home today. She was gone all day yesterday.