Dreamland

Chapter 18: Pathetic Ordinary

Chapter 18: Pathetic Ordinary

[KATE'S POV]

It's been three days. Three days since... Since... Since Alice passed away. I haven't heard of Seth and Eric only called me up once. And I also haven't heard of Alice's dad.

Snow started falling yesterday. This will be the saddest Winter I have ever experienced. We haven't touched our bags after coming back home three days ago. I had bloody nightmares about bloody lakes and weary voices calling for help. Alice's death haunted me. But I promised something to her and I'm not going to break it.

I took the small box from my bag and examined it. It doesn't have a key hole. There's a hollow area in the middle of the front face surface, like a missing puzzle piece. I sighed. This won't be the same without Alice.

I put the box away and called Seth. No answer. I called him again. Still no answer. He's the one that was hit the hardest. He's falling apart.

I picked my bag up and went downstairs. We still need answers. We may be falling apart, but we're close. I went out and jogged. I'm going to Eric's place. He's the only one I could talk to now.

I passed by Alice's house. It's so still. So quiet. I stare at it. Something really did change. Not just us, but also the atmosphere. I can't really explain it, but for me, it's like a feeling that your surroundings changed without it being evident. Like something opened. And that feeling would always go peeping up strong whenever I'm at Alice's house. It's not a paranormal feeling. It's somehow magical. In a way.

I shook my head. Does Alice's dad even know? Know that his daughter is dead? Maybe that's why he's gone. Maybe the wolves brought Alice's body back home safely. I feel sad and alone. To me, Alice was a sister. She was my bestfriend.

I arrive at Eric's house, getting a bit cold now. I knocked twice and the door opened. A girl answered.

"Hello. Do you need anything?" she said, smiling down at me. She looked like Eric, must be her older sister.

"Yeah, is Eric home?" I asked. I'm shivering but I don't let her notice it.

"Wait a sec." she hold up a finger and called for Eric. I heard Eric yell something back at her, but his voice was muffled. Then I hear him thundering downstairs. He opened the door wide and pushed his sister away.

"Hey!" she said. Eric closed the door behind him.

"Before you could speak, I would want to warn you that she's extremely annoying and irritating and she likes snooping around my things." Eric said to me.

"I didn't even know you had a sister." I told him.

"I do. It's just that she acts as if she's my babysitter." he said, quite embarrassed.

"Her name's Mallory, by the way." he finally said, "So what's up?"

I sighed, "Seth won't answer my calls, so I went to you. I thought that we could maybe figure this out. The things that were given to us. Let's give Seth space. And I want to tell you about my recent dreams. I feel like sharing them." I told him.

"Oh, yeah. I tried calling Seth too. Went to his house yesterday. His mom said that he's sick and won't go out of the room unless they have to eat. But yeah, I haven't checked out the box yet. And we should. I haven't done anything interesting the past three days. But it won't be the same without Alice. And Seth." he said.

I sighed once more, "I know. Let's just make Alice proud. She'd like that." and with that, he opened the door and let me in.

~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~

I sat down on his floor and watch him take the box out.

"Oh, hey. It doesn't need a key. " Eric said, examining the box.

"Really?" I wondered, I checked the box with him. Sure enough there was a clasp instead of a key hole.

"Should we?" he asked, nervousness covered his face.

I nodded, "We should."

We struggled opening the clasp. It was rusty and old. We tried picking it with a screw driver. It budge, a little. We tilted the box, and I noticed that the weight of the box was heavy. Eric shook his head brought out a hammer. He slammed it down the clasp. The clasp broke apart like a mirror. And we were surprised to see what's inside of it.

"Orbs." Eric spat the word with surprise. There, was the blue and purple orb placed carefully. And a clear orb.

"A clear orb. Have you dreamt about a clear orb?" I asked him. More orbs. More orbs.

Eric shook his head, "No, only the blue and purple one.", he frowned at the orbs. There was a paper attached on an empty space, where the green orb should have been. I took it and unfolded it. I thought it was another letter, but it's like a poem about the orbs.

"Touch the blue one,
You will pass through.
Touch the purple one,
And the shadows take you.
Touch the crystal,
Be unnoticed.
Touch the green one,
And the Night will flee.

A help for the good,
And the good shall use.
A warning for the Night,
The Night cannot use.
Dreams be good,
Dreams be bad.
I use these orbs,
To visit the Land."

"That's suppose to mean something, right?" asked Eric, taking the paper from me and re-reading it.

"It should. If it shouldn't, then why is it in the box?" I said to him, looking at the orbs. I feel like touching one, but I remembered Alice. She fainted when she did.

"Why is the 'N' in 'night' and 'L' in 'land' capitalized?" he asked.

"I noticed. Maybe 'Land' is Dreamland, since it's in the same verse. But 'Night'? We haven't heard of that one yet."

"Do you think it's a place?" asked Eric, re-reading the poem again.

"It said, 'The Night cannot use', so it must be a person."

"So the good people are good and the Nights are bad?"

I shrugged, "Probably."

We fell in silence for a while.

"Well, how about that box of yours?" Eric asked, breaking the silence.

I looked at him, "It doesn't have a key." I said.

"So let's go find it."

"No.", I took the box out of my bag and showed him the hollow area, "It needs a piece."

"Oh.", he said, "So what do we do?"

I just shrugged. Eric picked his phone up. Looked at me and mouthed 'Seth', and I just nodded.

Seth didn't answer though. We understood. At least we're gonna figure out something new.

"I think we should go to him." Eric said, examining the box I got.

"He wouldn't answer anyways."

I was too distracted about Dreamland. I want to hear more from mom, but I felt like she left us here on our own. But that means we can figure it out. She left us on our own because we can do these by ourselves. So I looked at the orbs. I looked at them carefully. Why don't you want to be touched?, I thought. It's tempting, so tempting. I put my hands out to reach out. I touched the purple one. Alice's favorite color.

"No, Kate!" Eric screamed, he screamed so loud. The orb suddenly glowed as I touched it. It glowed and pulsed. But I was still touching it. It was cold and smooth. It pulsed again and I felt it. It's like a living creature's heartbeat. Still, nothing happened to me. I didn't faint or even blacked-out. Eric looked at me in shocked. I was in shock too. But then it hit me. Why did Alice fainted when she touched one?

"A warning for the Night,
The Night cannot use."