Opening my eyes in response to the morning light, I realised that I had been asleep since yesterday afternoon. Great. As I groaned in frustration in having to get up, I quickly noticed the lack of sound to drown out my groans for the clamour of the town waking up had always unorthodoxly been my 'rooster'. But before I could figure out why the sudden change, a loud banging at the front door yanked me out of my thoughts.
Oh shoot! I forgot to lock the doors last night! If something was stolen.....
With every shred of sleep gone, I jumped out of bed and quickly wore my morning gown and practically flew downstairs to where the banging had turned to hammering. Taking a quick survey of the rooms downstairs, nothing seemed to be missing. I quickly rushed to open the front door, narrowly missing being punched in the face by a muscular guard. And not just any guard, a Royal Guard.
"I apologise for waking you up so abruptly, but I have to ask you a few questions about yesterday afternoon's vanishings" he simply stated with the lilting accent of the Capital. At first I was confused as to what he was referring to but suddenly all the memories of yesterday's execution turned nightmare came rushing back. I felt like I was about to faint as the vivid scenes began assaulting me at full force, when a strong hand quickly gripped my arm to stop me from falling.
Concern filtered into his oak brown eyes as his voice gently asked "Are you alright Mistress...?"
"Everly," I breathed "Rebecca Everly"
"I'm sorry to distress you Mistress Everly but I'm afraid I still have to question you," I merely nodded. I still couldn't believe what happened yesterday. All those people, people who were loved, some hated but still made up our humble town, all just ..... vanished.
I would have continued to immerse myself in my thoughts if the guard had not asked if he could come in. I hastily mumbled my apologies and lead him into the drawing room. I hoped he would not see me blush in embarrassment but he probably wouldn't have either way because my skin was quite dark, courtesy of my father.
"Do you want anything to drink or eat..?" I ventured.
"No, thank you," he quipped "I will only take a bit of your time,"
Propping myself on the cushioned chair, I gave him the physical indication that he could continue. He then assumed a business-like demeanor which reminded me of my father. Wasn't he and my mother coming back today?
"Where were you exactly during the execution of the Terror of Rosin's Pass?" he began.
"On my parents' balcony, Sir"I replied adding the Sir since it seemed rude just to leave it like that.
"What exactly did you see during this execution?"
I then recounted all I had seen that day. The mist, the screams and the sudden disappearance of about five hundred people. I choked a bit at the last part. I didn't know them, but I was sure that they meant something to those who did. These sudden disappearances really hit close to home in more ways than one.
"Umm, " the Royal guard said, clearly feeling uncomfortable with my display of emotion, "Do you remember anything particularly strange before or after the tragic event? Did you see anything or anyone who was acting out of the ordinary that day?''
After wracking my brain for a few seconds I was about to answer no, when I suddenly remembered the little girl who fled the scene just after the vanishings. She couldn't have had anything to do with it? Could she?
Unsure of my answer, I just replied "I don't know"
"You don't know?" he replied incredulously "What kind of an answer is that?"
I remained silent, unsure where to go from there.
"You either know or you don't!" he said sharply.
I was startled at this unexpected change in behaviour. He was clearly tense and uneasy with these recent events. I was not frightened by him though, but I didn't know what to say to put him at ease either.
Although I must have been staring at him like he sprouted two heads because he quickly relaxed and apologised.
"I am so sorry Mistress Everly for my... er... unacceptable behaviour but I have to be able to establish that you had no part in orchestrating the vanishings which I cannot do if you do not give me definite answers. I hope you understand that yesterday was a breach of our country's security and laws against magic, maybe even the whole world! So right now we are very eager to find any leads that could show us which way to go. So I will ask you again, did you see anything out of the ordinary yesterday?"
I hesitated. Should I talk about the little girl or was it some lucid dream? But I was of right mind during the execution so I am so sure I saw her. I had no loyalties to her so what is stopping me from talking about her? I should just say yes....
"No" I declared "The whole situation was bizarre so I'm sorry but nothing particularly stood out to me outside the execution."
His face fell at the realisation that he found no new leads and mumbled a "thank you for your help" on his way out.
But he stopped just outside the door and faced me.
"Mistress Everly, I will again implore you that if you remember anything, anything at all, just look for me. My name is Knight Praedin and the King's guards and I will be monitoring this town for while, " I gave him a simple nod in acknowledgement.
He scrutinized me one more time, like he was sure that I was hiding something. When he finally reached the conclusion that I was not planning on speaking any time soon, he stormed out.
What was it with him?
I felt bad that I had wasted his time but something about that little girl intrigued me and I wanted to investigate this for myself. If only that meant that I could assure myself that I wasn't making it up. 'But the King's guards could do a much better job of that' common sense stated. I knew that, but, my heart told me that something was going on that was bigger than all of us.
Dragging my fingers through my unruly hair reminded me that I hadn't bathed yet. So I made my way to the kitchen and took a bucket and went to the well at the back of my house.
As I dipped the bucket into the dark hole, I began planning my next move. How on earth was I going to find one little girl in a town with five thousand people? Shaking my head, I chuckled softly at my foolishness in thinking I could do this alone. Pulling the bucket back up, I was about to put it on the ground when I heard a soft rustle in the bushes behind me.
Turning around quickly (and conveniently spilling my water all over the place), I scanned the area to see where the sound was coming from. Then my eyes rested on a pair of sky blue orbs eerily staring back at me. A slight chill coiled around my spine as they seemed to pierce me with their gaze.
"What are you?" I choked out, completely unnerved by their alarming presence. The sapphire orbs seemed to be drawing closer when I suddenly heard the front door swing open and close distinctly shut. I looked back quickly but when I faced the bushes again, the blue orbs which had a striking similarity to human eyes, seemed to dissolve into the vegetation. They had disappeared. Bringing my mind back to the matter at hand, I abandoned my bucket and rushed back into the house to see who had entered. Blue eyes now forgotten. Was the guard back again?
As I entered the foyer, I was attacked by a soft body which was crushing me in a... hug? Then I inhaled the floral perfume and realised with relief that it was only my mother.
"Welcome back mo-"
"Oh Becky," my mother cut off "We thought we lost you to the Vanishing!" and she dissolved into tears. The Vanishing? Is that what people are calling it now? But I could barely get a word in since her bone crushing hug made sure that I hardly breathe.
"Mira let the poor girl go, you're suffocating her." my father said as he made his way down the stairs. After some brief hesitance, she finally let me go. As I took a big gulp of air, I took a moment to appreciate the gift of breathing.
"We were so worried for you Becca," he continued, "We were on our way back when we heard that some black mist came and eradicated the whole population of Tristia. You can only imagine how we felt at that moment, knowing we had left you behind. At least, now we know it was pure exaggeration but, still, how are you doing? Can you tell us what happened?"
I proceeded to tell them everything I had seen but excluded the involvement of the little girl ( I didn't know why but I couldn't mention her out loud). When I finished speaking, my mother burst into tears over those 'poor souls' and a somber expression came over my father's face. I felt like crying myself thinking about it all.
My father draped his arm over my mother's shoulders in an attempt to comfort her, then looked back at me intently. Before I could ask him why he was looking at me like that, he uttered four words which I had always thought were enough to make hell run cold.
"Rebecca, we need to talk."