Chapter Ten

As I walked by beside Leah, I felt something was wrong. It was more of a gut feeling than a guess. I looked around me, the thick forest, the fog that surrounded beyond the road we walked upon, the graying sky, the gloomy song of the birds, and the footsteps that echoed muffly on the ground as we walked. It wasn't the things here that were wrong.

Suddenly, I felt my bag on my back weigh heavily slowly as I walked another step. There was something in it that made me drag my feet. Leah noticed it and stopped the two brothers that were ahead. I shortly heaved a sigh. 

"What's wrong?", she placed her hand on my shoulder lightly and grabbed the strap of the pack off my shoulders. Her eyes widened at the heaviness of it. She glances up at Tyson. "How many things did you put in her bag?!"

Tyson looks confusedly at Leah and I, raising his hands in surrender. "I didn't put in that much. Most of the things that are heavy are in my pack." He pointed with his thumb towards the pack on his back.

Leah placed the backpack down the ground with a loud thud to which Tyson heard and quickly came to our side and opened the bag. The look on their faces was unreadable when they looked at what was inside. They both looked at each other before they glanced at me with a serious face. I furrowed my brow at them. “What?”, my eyes darting from both of them. I took a quick glance at Mike and back to the both who were standing beside the backpack I carried – walking towards them, my gaze slowly shifting from what was inside the bag. There lay the book that transported me to this world. My heart beat in fear.

But that was the oddest, why would I be afraid of the book before me? Why would I be afraid of the thing that led me to escape my reality? I glanced up to Tyson and Leah, who also looked back to me, waiting for me to do something.

I didn't know what to do. Should I pick it up? Should I just let them pick it up? Or do I wait for something to happen? There was a gut feeling in me that if I picked up the book, I knew what would happen. I didn’t know how I knew it, but I just had this feeling in me. Maybe this was what was bothering me since earlier when we packed up our stuff from our first camp. The thing that I kept thinking about something being wrong or out of place – this was it.

My hands hovered above the shining book in the bag. There is definitely going to happen once I touch this. I wouldn’t be surprised if I get teleported somewhere once again. I sighed loudly and defeatedly and lowered my hand down on the side. “What do I do?”, I asked, whilst looking at the two who were anticipating what I would do. I mean, it was basically useless to ask them since they were waiting for me to do something obviously.

They looked at each other and back at me. I could hear the storm from a mile away now judging from the wind that gushed through us, and a few hundred leaves flying, the clouds slowly graying as we came closer towards it. Unfortunately, according to Tyson, we can’t go around it since there was a place that we shouldn't come across no matter what. Couldn't we just have dealt with the ogres if that was the case? We have powers, and I doubt the ogres could be that bad, right? It’s like fighting Shrek – or at least that’s what I imagined it to be.

Like a silent lullaby that only I could hear, the glow of the book made me feel drowsy the more I look at it intently. I wasn’t sure if it was just me feeling this drowsiness or if it was just the effect of the book finally taking its toll on me after that teleportation back when I arrived the second time. I didn’t really feel any side effects back then, so maybe this was it?

I stood up albeit almost stumbling down, Leah who has a good reflex, caught my elbow and stood me up straight. No pun intended. “Thanks.”, I shook my head off from the drowsiness, but it seems to worsen it. I could no longer feel the essence of the storm raging beyond the path we were going to take, or the strong winds that howled so loudly the more we walked deeper into the storm – nor was I even able to feel Leah’s warm skin on mine.

I was completely and utterly losing consciousness. The only thing my eye could focus on was the light that shone on the book.

Come, Selena.

“What…?”, I mumbled.

Come back.

There it was again. A familiar voice yet so distant but clear as someone speaking in front of me. I looked over to Leah who was still beside me with a look of concern etched in her face. I knew it wasn’t her voice that I heard –  I knew her voice well enough to know. It was more like a motherly voice that I heard – a warm, comfortable voice that makes you want to yearn and cry vulnerably. Never would I have thought that I would hear her voice again.

There was this familiarity like I wanted to reminisce about the time when I was a little girl. The time when I bruised my knee and I knew who I could run to, the time I knew I was safe in her arms.

 Selina, my child. Come home.

I could feel tears build up in the corner of my eyes as I remember the time she called to me for dinner when I was playing in the treehouse that they built at the back of the mansion. The time I waved to her from up there to the ground. Her white dress flowed freely with the gentle wind, her warm motherly smile that lit up the whole night. My father walked up beside her and placed his hands on her hips, smiling at me as he did so. They looked so happy, yet there was an unmistakable sadness that I could feel around them. In the treehouse, I went back in and looked over the small window that overlooked the town. The sky was like a painting – a darker shade of orange mixed with the blue and violet colored sky that was smeared like a painting on a canvas, the white fading clouds were barely visible – slowly, the lamp post in the town lit up one by one like Christmas tree lights, stores light up their own signages, different colors of neon and dull lights that lit up the town like stars in the ground. The fair that was opened a week ago, lit up like fire, a distant booming music that could be heard from where I am was like another music of the night that added up to the peaceful ambiance. A normal happy night that contents the souls of those who wish things were the way it was. I gazed up at the sky, now filled with darkness and the twinkling lights of the stars.

The sound of the piano came suddenly playing behind me. A soothing, slow tempo of Clair de Lune’s chorus. The sound of the piano overlapped the distant booming music at the fair. I stepped out of the treehouse and down onto the ladder – my parents were nowhere to be found to where they were a while ago. My small feet hit the trimmed grass, feeling it tickle my toes as I ran up to the mansion. Heaving as I pushed the heavy door open, the smell of roasted chicken hit my nose as soon as I did, my mouth salivating at the thought of eating my mother's home recipe of roasted chicken. She knew that her special homemade recipe of roasted chicken was my favourite. There was nothing that could beat the taste of her roasted chicken.

The music of Clair de Lune in slow tempo kept on playing in the background. The music echoed around the house. My small steps, silent as I ran towards the kitchen. The scent of roasted chicken got stronger – the hallway was empty of servants that I usually see roaming around every day, but it was almost perfect.

“Darling, Selena,”, I heard a manly voice call out across the hallway towards the library. I turned around and saw my father, standing near the double doors of the library, one open and the other closed. He was wearing his formal suit and tie like a businessman and his usual curvy hair comb properly on the side giving off a matured gentlemanliness in him, accentuating his perfect jaw that was shaved off cleanly from his short beard.

“Daddy!”, I giggled and smiled brightly as I ran up towards him, he crouched, opening his arms wide for me to hop on his arms. He chuckled as he caught me, carrying me in his arms as he started walking towards the kitchen. 

“How’s my little princess?”, he caressed my hair, smiling gently, his voice deep and fatherly. I felt secure whenever he was around. The kind of vibe he gives off like a brave knight ready to defend the throne. I could see golden orbs around my father whenever I saw him. It was a warm light that made the room brighter and made you feel hopeful.

Upon nearing the kitchen, I could hear a hum, a melody that I long to hear, a melody that I missed so much. I turned my head to the side and saw my mother on her back, preparing the meal for us three. Her white dress glowing, her hair up in a perfect bun – turning her head slightly towards us, smiling warmly before she picked up the plate of a huge roasted chicken. My father placed me down, patting my head as he sauntered towards mother and grabbed the roasted chicken from her hands like a gentleman he was and placed it on the table. I giggled as I saw how happy they were with each other. But I could feel that this was a temporary happiness. A short happiness that was enjoyed by a family of three before chaos broke.

A moment to reminisce leisurely.

I blinked, ending the short memory that was engraved at the back of my head like a small light filled with happiness. Tears welled up in my eyes as I looked down at the book. Leah looked at me with wonder. I crouched down to the level of the bag, glancing at the glowing book before me. I bit my lip. Thinking would this be the right choice to go back? What would happen if I left this place? I knew I didn’t like the idea of going back to that town. The town that only gave me temporary happiness and short lived memories to enjoy.

I felt a gentle tap on my shoulder. I glanced up and saw Leah, Tyson, and Mike behind me. They smiled reassuringly at me as if to say that it was okay, as if they knew.

“Whatever you decide and wherever you go we will always have your back.”, Mike said

Tyson shrugged and smiled. “Even if it's a stupid choice that gets us killed.”

Leah elbowed his ribs to which he winced at but smiled sheepishly. She tutted at him and looked at me. Her eyes were full of reassurance. “We got your back, Selena.” 

My doubts and the sadness that I felt dissipated as it was replaced with their assurances and the trust that they gave to me to whatever choices I make in the future – whether it was a stupid choice, they all got my back.

Let’s go back home.