Chapter 11

It's been 7 days since Elle found the file and things haven't been the same, she goes to sleep every night with the fear of her now persistent nightmares and wakes up every morning feeling disgusted by what she found in the file.

This morning, she woke up with sweat all over her face and her pillow was drenched. She couldn't figure out if it was her tears or her sweat, she ran her hands through her brown curly hair as tears rolled down her face and she curled up in her bed. It keeps getting horrible as the days pass, she had sneaked out and bought her self sleeping pills but that didn't change anything.

"Elle I hope you're awake" Anna called out to her daughter as she continued making breakfast, she decided to turn a blind eye to the drastic changes she saw in her daughter's body because she's too busy making sure her project goes as planned

Elle sat up when she heard her mum's voice and breathed out heavily, she wasn't ready to go down there and put on a fake smile on her face pretending everything is alright when nothing is okay, but she had to. 

She stood up and walked to her bathroom and stared at her reflection in the mirror, her shiny brown eyes were now dull and sunken in and she has bags under her eyes now. She looked Skinner, her lips looked chapped, so chapped that a little touch might bring out blood and her dark skin that shined at a point now has a dull shade to it, it feels as if there's no blood in her anymore. She looked like a living corpse.

She stared at her reflection in the mirror and gripped the sink beneath the mirror and started chuckling, right now it's safe to say that she has hit rock bottom. She has honestly become a shadow of herself. Her laugh slowly turned into tears, she cried for a little while before she wiped her tears and washed up.

When she was done, she walked into her room. She stood by the door of the bathroom and stared at her room, her little bookshelf that was always organized had the books laying around carelessly on it, her bed was unkept and tons of clothes laid on it. Her study table had tons of open books in it and the file was staring right at her from the table. A bottle of finished sleeping pills laid on the floor and the other bottle was right beside it. Her room currently is a visual representation of her mental health.

"Elle if you don't come down in 5 minutes forget about breakfast" Anthony called out to her, Elle sighed and shouted a weak "I'm coming" to her Dad. She walked past the pile of clothes and other stuffs and walked to her wardrobe, it was also a mess in there. She picked up some random clothes and put in on, tied her hair up in a messy bun and left her room.

"Good morning Dad, Good morning mum"  She greeted her parents as she walked downstairs expecting to meet them waiting for her so that they can eat together but she met them shoving the food into their mouth and that honestly cracked something in her.

"Good morning sweetie, come sit down"  her mum said to her as she gestured for her to come with her hands, Elle walked over to the dinning table and sat down

"I didn't think you guys would start eating without me" she said and stared at both of her parents for a while before she started eating.

"We are so sorry sweetie, but we didn't have enough time to waste. We have an important project to discuss and prepare" Anna grabbed her daughter's wrist and soothed it as she apologized to her.

"Oh I didn't know waiting for your daughter so we can eat breakfast as a family is a waste" she said and put a piece of pancake in her mouth "and I didn't realize you and Dad work together, I thought you had different areas of specialization. Dad runs a business and you are a scientist" Elle said in a flat tone and she felt her mum's hold on her wrist tighten a little bit.

"You wouldn't understand baby" Anthony said trying to not get annoyed by his daughter's attitude, he needs her to be happy at least for today. It's important she stays in a good mood, it'll make everything easier. He glanced at his watch and tapped on it while looking at his wife, she quickly understood the gesture and stood up with him

"We have to go now" Anna dragged her skirt down nervously, Elle's question threw her off "and do come to the lab around 12pm okay?" She said and placed a quick kiss on her cheek, Anthony did the same and they both left.

Elle stared at their retreating figure till they left the house and she dropped her cutleries, something seems fishy. She was not allowed to go to the lab and suddenly they want her there? Her mind went to the file and she rushed up to her room. "I guess this is what the option has come to" she muttered to herself and quickly packed few of her clothes, took the file and the novel she got from the library and left the house.

She walked over to their garden and knelt down on the ground, she stared a particular spot till tears welled up in her eyes. She closed her eyes and let the tears fall to the ground and at the fifth tear drop, she felt herself being absorbed by a ray of light.

In a few minutes she dropped to the ground and she slowly opened her eyes, she was scared that it might not have worked but when she finally opened her eyes she was in a different place. She sat up from the ground and started looking around.

From the spot she stood, the beauty of the world could be seen. Flowers that seem to reflect back to the sun framed the landscape properly. Trees stood tall and proud with their leaves that are succulent and greeny, the way the trees were positioned created a door like entrance and the moment she spotted that entrance, she took her belongings and walked over to it.

She took the entrance and arrived in what looked like the middle of the realm and it's safe to say that the realm is nature's abode. She once again took in her environment and recognized the area as the place she was in with Mamock the last time she came, there were a lot of trees there and she began to wonder if they could talk and walk like Mamock. 

The trees there grew in such a way that their leaves stretched out and looked like ceilings protecting that particular spot, the crystal clear pond she drank from the last time flowed beautifully beside the trees with the sun occasionally reflecting on it. She looked up and saw the  bridge of flowers that takes you to the deeper part of the realm, and under it was a big stream of water which she believes is connected to the small one besides her.

Everything looked normal and beautiful like last time but Something was off, nobody was in sight. 'Hello?! Daisy?" She called out hoping someone would hear her.

"Turn around" a deep voice said behind her and she jumped up a little bit, startled by the unexpected intrusion. She quietly turned around and when she saw the person that called her she grabbed her chest with her left hand and breathed out heavily.

"Oh gosh, that startled me" she said when she turned around and saw the person that talked. It was Rus and he stood with Mamock, Ruri and a strange man she doesn't recognize stood beside them, he is about 6ft 4 tall, he has a dark skin just like her. He has a chiseled jaw and freckles were all over his face, Elle couldn't deny the fact that he's handsome but the most outstanding feature were his eye colours, one is brown and the other Green.

Elle managed to drag her eyes away from the man and back to the other three and, they were all looking at her with a stoic face and she will be a liar if she says she doesn't know why.

"Why did you guys come from behind instead of coming from there?" She asked as she looked at them while pulling herself together for what she's about to do.

"What are you doing here?" Ruri asked her with an apathetic look on her face and folded arms. Elle breathed deeply, she knew she was going to get a hostile welcome.

"I'm here because I'm ready to accept my role and be who I'm meant to be" she answered them directly as she stared right into their eyes, the four of them looked shock and passed a quick glance at each other before they cleared their throats and faced her again.

"Why?" This time it was Mamock that asked and Elle glanced at the file in her hand before she looked at them and smiled

"Just because" she said as she shrugged her shoulders. An awkward silence followed her answer and surrounded them for a few second before they all broke in to a smile.

"Welcome back Elle" Mamock said with a big smile on her tree face, she knew the little girl would come around.

Elle immediately rushed to Mamock and hugged her, silently apologizing for throwing a tantrum last time. She was still in Mamock's hug when she felt other people hugging her from behind.

She freed herself from the hug and turned to see the people hugging her and it was the faires, she squealed out of excitement and hugged all of them. They hugged for a little while before they left themselves, the tiny faires still perching on Elle shoulders.

Elle then turned back to face the other four with a big smile on her face, "You probably don't know who this is right?" Mamock asked pointing at the strange face standing beside her and Elle just nodded with a pleasant smile on her face.

"I'm Demi, a halfling" the strange man introduced himself while stretching out his hand for a handshake.

Elle grabbed his hand with a smile on her face "I'm Elle, the life force" the man smile with a nod.

"Okay now that it's clear let's get you settled down" Ruri said as she went to pick up Elle's bag but Elle stopped her.

"Not yet, I have a condition" she said as the smile disappeared from her face and she was looking at them straight in the eyes.

"What condition?" They asked at the same time, confused at the little girl's antics. 

Elle turned her gaze to Rus and smirked.