Unreflected [chapter1]

1

I couldn’t help but to stare at Lucy’s crayon scribbles. Spending time with her woke up a tender and, somehow, even maternal feeling inside of me. She raised her sight and stared at me solemnly, her white porcelain skin reflecting the childhood innocence inside her. She reminded me of myself, vaguely, but she did. 2

“Mrs. Hardy!” she giggled with her bright blue eyes glaring at me and pointing at the unintelligible scrawl in front of her, contemplating it as if it was the Mona Lisa or some other Louvre-worthy piece. I smiled and patted her small fragile head, her thin golden threads waving back and forth soothingly.3

“It’s beautiful.” I lied convincingly enough. “You should give it to her later, Lucy.”4

I looked down at my watch. 7:30 pm I read, and still ticking. I stood up from my chair, grabbed my thick oil green coat and said goodbye to little Lucy, waving at her repeatedly.5

“You leaving already?” she inquired repressively. 6

“I’ll come back tomorrow. Don’t worry.” I lowered myself to her level and crinkled on my knees. Her disappointed expression didn’t change. “Aw Lucy. I’ll miss you too.” I caressed her almost fluffy peach cheeks. She gave me a half smile and joined me with a hug. Someone knocked the door.7

“Oh that must be Sandrine.” I said walking towards the entrance. I noticed it was raining. Shoot, I thought. It was the perfect day for not bringing my umbrella. I opened the door, Sandie looked extremely tired.8

“Sorry I was late.” She said shaking her umbrella. “You know how mom is. She forgot to take out a pie from the oven and almost caught the entire house on fire…again” She sighed shaking her head.9

“Looks like Sandie saved the day…again!” I laughed trying to light her up a bit. It seemed to work.10

“Oh! Get out of here. You’ve already waited quite a while already.” She smiled. “Hope Lucy hasn’t been such a pain in the arse, have you Lucy?”11

“I’m no pain in the arse.” She frowned and then chuckled playfully, overemphasizing “arse” in an extremely funny way.12

“Well it’s getting late guys. I’m off.” I said. I closed the door behind me as the sound of the rain drops mixing with the fresh soil blinded my senses completely.13

Though the day appeared grimfaced, there was something peculiar about it, I could sense it. Indeed, it was raining, but the drops weren’t like the everyday drops people were already used to, at least not to me. It wasn’t just another fall. Something was coming but I wasn’t sure if today was the day. There was something odd, some sort of difference that had suddenly up risen in my life. A question mark had appeared in my existence and I couldn’t decipher what it really was.14

But it wasn’t just the weather or the rain, or even the extreme changes in temperatures. It was also the way my life was morphing into. I felt that I could refer my life to a rollercoaster ride, just starting slowly and steadily but waiting for a big tremendous turn. It was just a matter of time, a matter of waiting for my big turn. An enormous change was about to happen...but I didn’t know when. I wasn’t even sure why would I get a favorable change and not somebody else. Plus, Greenville was that kind of places who could be considered in the exact middle of nowhere. It was almost impossible and I knew it. But I still could hope for a little ray of delight in all the melancholy of my mere existence.15

After a couple of blank minutes I finally came back to my normal self. I sighed deeply and hoped I wouldn’t catch pneumonia or something similar to it. I decided to walk up Main Street in direction to Molly’s drugstore before going home, I needed to buy some pills for mom and of course, an umbrella if there were any left. I felt my skin, it was extremely cold.16

The road was practically empty except for the unusual cars going through the mushy woods into the Deerfield County area. I looked down at my feet, my new white converses ruined by the muddy pavement. All ruined, but I kept on jumping in the puddles and I didn’t care, and I didn’t really know why. The rain kept on dropping and my body kept on walking. The air started blowing a little bit harder. I shivered a bit, my lips turning and churning. 17

Shpish-Shpish the mud ponds splashed my torn jeans while I walked promptly through them. It was getting colder and darker. A flashing ray. Bam, more rain. “Thank you!” I yelled as if the climate was alive and guilty for my bad luck. I tried to cover myself with my backpack but it was useless. The water poured through it down my thin brown hair, wetting all of my clothes. I was cold, wet and alone in the middle of my nowhere. Bam, another ray.18

I was getting annoyed by the weather by now. I decided to slip out of road and rest between the dense trees for a while. I knew mom would be worried, but I wasn’t willing to walk through that shower of coldness. I sat facing the woods. I could notice the smell was different. I could feel it coming from somewhere deep inside the forest, though. Somewhere hidden in between leaves and tall trees. It made me remember of the smell of those red poppies in Carly’s garden, so pretty and bright colored. I felt the need to smell them closely. It was strange for me to feel such an urge to find its source when I was pretty much used to its scent. It was…suddenly I found myself on my feet, walking unconsciously towards the sweet perfume and with my eyes looking at any random spot. 19

My two feet dragged me through the outside area into the mere heart of the scent. It was as if they had taken life of their own and somewhy I couldn’t control them anymore. I could feel my whole body sliding into the unknown, not fearing anything at all as if I was already familiar with the zone. I seemed to know my own way although I couldn’t understand it at the time. 20

But then it all came back running into me. I stopped, gaining full control of myself again. My senses blistered as the view in front of me moved back and forth, soothing my new acquired tranquil vision. 21

I stood still in front of the scenery for quite a long while, just staring at it blankly before daring to move into it. I wasn’t sure what had brought me there or why, but I knew this had something to do with that big turn. I looked at it completely still but not being able to walk away. Somehow, I had generated a bond with the woods in a short period that already seemed ancient to me, but I knew that my conscience and the trees were keeping away a secret from me. So there I was, standing expressionless in front of what seemed to be the trigger for something inevitable to happen. I blinked nervously. A mystery and I was involved in it?22

I felt unused to this kind of mysterious scenery. My life was what you could call “already planned out”. I already knew what step to take next. There wasn’t any spark of adventure, nor did I seek for it in all my 17 years of life. But why was I falling into these conclusions? It had been yet another normal day. I had gone to work, talked to friends, ate lunch. It was perfectly alright and there was nothing to think of a hint of difference from any other day…except I felt an increasing urge to keep walking forward, as if I was being dragged by somebody else and not my own self.23

I noticed it wasn’t raining anymore and decided to let it be. I walked warily through the path of dead leaves. I crushed them as my slow pace made its way through the trees. I knew this would lead me somewhere different because I could feel the fresh smell becoming stronger as I moved ahead. The air pulled my hair gently backwards. I looked back, but I didn’t stop. Ahead of me the landscape was similar24

I must have been walking for about fifteen minutes when I arrived in front of a small cottage, abandoned, it seemed. It was petite and almost Victorian looking. It had only one floor and its material looked dark brown-wood-like colored. Some parts of it seemed to have burned down, but the traces looked so old that you could barely differentiate them from the actual colour of the cottage. The door was open. Walk away or step in?25

But I had no option. I took long paces at first, but as I approached, everything became slower. Maybe I was scared. Just a bit fearful I guess. But it slowed down even more, my sight all blurry. Slower, slowly walking and my eyes all bright and shiny. Slowly walking and my feet all clumsy. It felt slower than ever. The motion, the sight…everything. I was inside and wandering around in the darkness. The unknown chasing my back. Clumsy feet, I kept on walking, just wandering around in the dusty empty rooms.26

I surely was in another state of mind until, ZAZZ, I was electrified by something. My body fell back. A ray of light beam struck me inside and passed through me. I felt as if a million of daggers were being incrusted in all of my body. My hands, my feet, my stomach…my heart. I could feel the sharp pressure. My eyes closed in pain, it was surely the end of my life, I thought. I could feel my head moving in circles, rotating 360 degrees every second. I was feeling dizzy and my respiratory system was starting to have some problems. Then I was choking, it was the end. I successfully forced my hand out of the pressure and touched my stomach. But there was no dagger, no blood, nothing. And then the pressure was gone.27

I slowly blinked, and then twice and thrice. Then I opened my eyes completely, the cottage’s roof? Of course, I was still laying on the floor, hay mixing with my dark hair. Hay? Where did it come from? I got up rapidly on my feet and tried to take all of the dust from my jeans. A sneeze. I was already getting freaked out and decided to follow my instincts another day. But just when I was about to leave I heard someone coming, who the hell could it be? 28

A creaking door, footsteps. A whistling male voice. A strangely unfamiliar face.29

“Oh wow!” He dropped the working tools in shock. “What are you doing here?” 30

I didn’t know what to answer31