Scampering throughout the building is just as frightening as day time, even though almost every hallway we go through is completely vacant. The darkness eats away at me, causing me to second guess my hearing. Without sunlight to depend on for lighting, the halls only have a dim bulb once and a while so people can find their way at night.
The girls continue to peak around corners even after I admitted I have a strange sense of hearing that would sound out anything from a mile away. So far our experience has been almost too easy, only once do we become extra cautious passing a room because there were people talking on the other side of the closed door. Now, we are practically to our destination according to Lynn after we found the staircase that leads to the basement floor at the back of the building.
Down here is much colder and creepier, especially because the lights are almost non existent. I assume they were not cared for because only certain people go down here. From what Lynn has said, this area is off limits for half of the building staff. It makes me wonder what types of secrets are kept down in these shadows.
"Go left," Lynn instructs. "The kitchen is the room at the end of that hall."
Without a doubt I stop them from going any further, "Don't move."
I hear a step on tile floor, then something metal being placed down, a handle being turned and water running down and hitting the metal. Someone is in the kitchen washing dishes. I ignore them for some time, making sure they're the only person in this wing of the basement. With nothing more than that one person I add, "There is somebody in the kitchen, but that's the only one in this hallway."
"What are we going to do now?" Estelle appears to be completely terrified by the way she stands, almost hiding behind Lynn.
I'm fearful as well, even more when Lynn announces, "Why don't we just go in there anyway..."
Suddenly without anything more the man's footsteps get louder and I hear him step out of the doorway. A voice booms from only feet away, "What are you doing here?"
Time seems to go by faster than a blink of an eye and before I know it the man is gripping my arm hard and attempting to drag me down the hallway back to where the three of us came from. He laughs at us, "Looks like I found our little run away red head, it's time for you to be brought back to your room."
He ignores Estelle and Lynn while I try to pull free from his grip. My energy is at an all time low and so he can practically drag me with him. Lynn catches up to us and I catch a glimpse of her reaching for the man's pocket. She gives me a dull smile as Estelle from behind her whispers, "No..."
It's the perfect plan but I never thought it would come to this. I watch Lynn run off, waving the keys at the Hunter, "I have your keys..." He begins realizing what that means and slowly lets me pull from his grasp. "Give me those!"
Lynn is gone within a millisecond, running as fast as a race horse, already gone around the corner and is booming up the staircase we came from. The hunter doesn't waste a single moment before forgetting about me and going after her. His voice echoes throughout the hallway, "Tenants have escaped! The redhead is found! The kitchen! The kitchen!"
Forgetting about him is now what I have to do, and focus on getting Estelle and I out of here even if that means Lynn will be left behind. So with adrenaline coursing throughout my body I'm already in the doorway of the kitchen, checking Estelle behind me who is breathing heavily and looking over her shoulder.
I take the keys from her hands as she fumbles through the room. Leaving Lynn behind is the last thing I wanted to do but I still end up finding the door we planned to escape through and start fiddling with the keys. They're labelled by floor and room number, so I turn back around finding the room number on he door and searching for it on a key. I find the one and before I make my great escape I decide to shut the kitchen door and lock it from the inside, giving us more time before any Hunters figure out what is happening.
I fiddle with the door, getting giddy knowing this is it, my last chance. My ears pick up on a few booming steps from somewhere above, "We've got to go now!"
I turn the cold handle of the door and when it is cracked open a rush of beautifully fresh air flows into my nostrils. The smell of the wet forest fills my nose when I pull the door open so my head can peek out, making me calm and less shaky from my fear. My ears no longer have a pressure on them from the cramped spaces of the building. The open atmosphere is such alleviating and calming to my ears. The rest of me unintentionally freezes feeling a newly developed relief that I need to keep with me, but the sensation of reassurance is gone too soon. Echoing footfalls of somebody rushing down a staircase is caught in my ears, snapping me out of my daydream of freedom.
I don't bother saying a single word and lightly push Estelle out of the doorway as I lock the door back up and yank the key from the hole. I keep ahold of the ring, knowing that the keys will come in handy when I get into my next predicament with these evil men, and I know that is inevitable. So after the door has shut behind us and we leap off the steps onto the crumbling path, I say, "Now just trust me okay?"
We exchange a glance at each other while she says angrily, "Okay."
With that we are running towards the forest and all I can think about is how Estelle is bothered by something. I am as well. I can only assume she is regretful like me about following through and leaving without Lynn, but that was the plan and it is possible she'll be able to escape with the keys she stole. I will make sure her sacrifice was meaningful.
While Estelle and I make our great voyage through the damp night, slightly running still but being weary of anything we could trip over, our escape still replays in my head. I think of Lynn for most of it until I'm reminded of the moment before we got separated from her. Overhearing the Hunters talking about Elyria was not surprising until Estelle revealed the truth that she knows of the place as well.
Right now isn't the time to bring up something so complicated anyway, especially since we haven't even gotten completely out of sight of the building just yet. So I decide once we get to a good point to where we can talk I will ask her about it. Thankfully we meet the tree line completely unscathed and we end up having to slow ourselves down just a bit. Misplacing a foot and falling could set our time back too much so we have to be extra careful.
Estelle and I get through a part of shrubbery and reach our cover easily but then she stops right in front of me, "How dare you just let Lynn go like that?!" She's not shouting but I can tell she's struggling to keep herself from lashing out more. "You said you wanted to help both of us get out!" She smacks her leg with her right fist.
Unsure how to handle this I say, "Please, we can't do this right now-"
She cuts me off, "How can you just walk away, knowing it was your fault."
"She told us to do this. We had to if something went wrong, and it did!"
Estelle grabs my arm in frustration, "But I didn't agree to this." I freeze up at her touch and flinch as she adds, "I didn't." Her figure in the darkness leans over me and I can't make out any expressions she makes.
"Lynn did. And here we are, out. You still came with us and our plan still worked even though it was flawed-" A shiver goes down my spine, feeling her grip tighten around my arm when she clears her throat, "If it wasn't for you we wouldn't have gotten split up."
I groan, "If it wasn't for me, you wouldn't be out here right now, free from the men." I start pulling away but her grip on my arm prevents me from going.
She looks down on me, "You're gonna go back in there and get her! Right now!" I start zoning out, hearing movement behind us. "I can't believe that you-"
"Shhh!" I say, "I hear something."
She drops my arm and so I turn around and peek around a tree at the building that haunts down on me, even though it's many, many yards away now. Thankfully the door we left from is still shut but pounding feet on tile floor makes me know that someone is running down the corridor to the kitchen.
I whisper, "I'm not expecting you to come with me but we've got to go now!"
The Hunter from the kitchen shouts to his accomplices who I can hear following from behind him, "It's empty! There's no one here."
I hear a jiggle of the door handle and I stop in my tracks, almost believing this is the end of it. When no sound of keys or the door being unlocked I sigh of relief and begin running again. The man also yells, "Door is locked. Go back! Go back!" The utter panic in his voice makes me smile at his internal torture of not getting there in time. They must think that we went into another area of the basement or something.
I turn and start leaving Estelle behind almost knowing she would never let me leave her out here alone but time passes and she doesn't follow so I turn over my shoulder saying, "Haven't the men told you stories of these woods?"
I continue walking quickly as my adrenaline rush fades and I can feel my physical health begin to dwindle away. My empty stomach is entirely draining and I can feel a dizziness come across my head, and a slowness to my reflexes. I've gotten far considering I'm running on no energy and haven't eaten in more than a day. I'm sure I'll end up crashing hard before we can make it to safety, but at least it is night and there's no chance the Hunters will come searching in the woods for us right now.
From a few yards away I hear Estelle sprinting carefully towards me, "Did you see that?" Her voice is sharp with a waiver in it.
"What was it?" I stop and open my ears up to the forest.
Movement of bushes and new leaves on the trees blowing in the wind and sleeping animals up in the branches. Our pounding heartbeats going fast, almost in sync but slightly differentiated. A heavy breath of Estelle's as she finally catches up to me, stepping on a patch of sticks.
"I thought I saw something out of the corner of my eye," Estelle finally says as she looks off to her left side, "It was sparkly."
At that my heart leaps of excitement and I look up to the night sky making sure the stars and moon aren't out. I know exactly what she saw, it's just that I'm assuming she doesn't. This forest reeks of freedom and it's almost sickening to me, just because of all the experiences and memories that await for my future. I point in the direction she said she saw it, "Lets go this way."
I completely change our direction and I just know that with seeing the spirit we will end up at the portal before morning. It is truly funny how something works out just like that, even though still nothing will ever go as planned. The universe has strange ways of bringing people together and for once I have this deep feeling there will be somebody out there waiting for me. If the Hunters are right there's a man who's meant just for me and now I long to meet him.
"Maybe it was my imagination." Estelle startles me out of my little daydream. "But everyone has said there is something evil out here..." She takes a long breath, "Is this forest really haunted?" Her voice becomes hoarse and she looks around as if something was watching her from the shadows.
"I don't believe that what the men have told us about these woods are exactly true. I thought so at first until I was told the real reason why I experienced the strangest creatures out here when I escaped. Don't be afraid. What you saw was in fact something I saw nights ago," I assure her.
When we get further into the trees and the sounds of the forest fill my ears I almost instantly feel as if I have just travelled back in time. Rustling of bushes, leaves, and branches are what I pay attention to first. The darkness is exactly the same as I remember from the last times, creepy but not exactly as unsettling. I can admit that I don't want to encounter any more strange things than I already have and so I'll still be weary of creatures or the supernatural if that's what I can even call it.
"It reminded me of something..." Estelle whispers.
"The spirit is here to guide us, and to protect us. That is how I met my sister, it brought us together only days ago." I gesture in front of us, "That is the way it wants us to go."
The cold air whips my hot face with a gush of chilly wind that smells of wet leaves and slightly of mud. Lingering scents of rain still exist, reminding me of just this morning when I was out here with Koda who I will never forgive for leaving me behind. I think of Jane, wondering where she could be now. What would she think if she knew what Koda did to me? I guess the only thing I should be worrying about is how Jane worked out this morning with the men literally taking her from her own bedroom in her sleep. I also fear that Lynn will be unable to make it out tonight, and that even if she did she'd never find us because of how far we've made it already and how it is too dark to see.
I glance at Estelle, concerned for her because this moment is a huge leap in her life that will change things forever. I worry that since Lynn was left behind that Estelle will not be comfortable, that she will be angry at herself or me. Regret is something I have surpassed easily in other times of my life but now it sticks in my mind even as I tell myself that Lynn told us to leave her. At this moment her life is not in danger and it wont be unless the Hunters get all of the pieces to their ceremony.
After a long while Estelle admits, "I am shocked that you know of Elyria." She looks over her shoulder before stating, "It is a subject I do not take lightly, everyone else in my life told me I was crazy so I began keeping it quiet." Her shyness still lingers but I can tell that now she is more eager for more information.
I agree, hearing that statement about Elyria back inside the building and watching all of Estelle's facial movement fall and her cheeks going pale. Her asking me if I knew about it really did surprise me as well. I expected her and Lynn to know since I talked to the lead Hunter of the building, but it really was insane to me hearing it from her, especially because she spoke of her previous life as if she was human. Now Estelle is a lot more talkative that she has calmed down and her mood of anger and confusion have obliterated. She acts as if she is a whole new person. She must feel it, being free and knowing that she is not dilutional.
The gears start turning in my head and I ask for clarification, "You lived here on Earth with your family?"
"Yes, but Elyria is the place I dream of. Everyone told me it wasn't real, and now you are here telling me it is real. This is the first time in my life that somebody has ever related to me in such a way before. My mind is blown, still. And a huge weight has been lifted from me knowing that I am not crazy and its not all in my head."
I smile, looking over to her. I don't know what to say at all, she has made me feel like I have a purpose in the world. This means so much to me that I have helped her even more than I thought so earlier.
"Were you born on Elyria?" She asks so bluntly.
"Yes, I think so. My sister told me I was not human, so I can guess. Since I lost my memories I have no recollection of ever being there. I have only known it's existence for a few days when my sister told me."
She replies, "I remember you telling us the men took your memories, but why would they do it to only you?"
"That is another story to tell." I decide, "But initially it's because I am the most important out of all of the people they have captive, including you and Lynn. Though this doesn't mean it is a privilege to be the most important.." I admit. "Being the most important to them is only a burden for me. There is much more to this that even I do not know but after some time I will tell you more."
Estelle questions, "Where are you taking us?"
"The spirit that you saw is what's taking us actually. It is drawing us to the portal of Elyria-" She stops me with her hand and looks into my eyes with a dead stare, "Elenor, the p-portal? It- It's here? Like here? Are we going to Elyria?"
My pace slows and an exhaustion washes over my body, "The portal is far on foot but it isn't extremely far if you drive."
Estelle almost laughs and releases me, "I always assumed the portal was someplace in Europe..."
This time it's my turn to chuckle, "I don't even know where we are right now."
Estelle agrees as we begin to trek through the woods again, "I don't either."
"Hopefully when we get to Elyria we can find my family. They must not live far because my grandparents live here. I just don't know what to expect when we get there."
"It is hard for me to remember a lot about Elyria but when I dream it is like it all comes flooding back into my head like I never lost the memories. Having a connection between both of my lives may help me remember more. I know that Elyria is nothing like I have ever seen before on Earth, though I remember brief images of buildings and cities that look like Europe. That's why I thought the portal could be there."
We stay silent for a long time, trying to decipher each other's stories as we slowly make our way in the direction of the portal to Elyria. For me I am defiantly in need of some time in order to process everything, not just what Estelle has told me. I'm still shocked just as before at learning all of these new things in my life. It will be more mind blowing going to Elyria for the first time, I just hope it is the right choice for us. I'm almost debating with myself whether or not we should even go.
"I think we should sit," I admit.
"Me too."
Estelle and I stop and our eyes search for something we can sit on but even the moon that's beginning to shine through the clouds doesn't give us any help. So after a brief second I decide to just sit on the ground, even though it is wet and covered in who knows what. Estelle joins me carefully while whispering, "Are you sure nothing will find us out here."
I can't guarantee her safety but it seems to me that this forest is much safer than the inside of the building we were trapped in. There aren't men here wanting to do some strange sacrificial ceremony to ensure there is no change in Elyria. I sigh, "I don't know much about this forest but I wouldn't be too worried. I was out here at night twice and didn't get attacked by animals."
"You must have seen other things besides the spirit."
I nod, "I did, but can't talk about it just yet. He was a very intelligent creature that I'd like to learn more about before I go telling people."
Estelle suggests, "Maybe you could find more about him in a library? I remember seeing the inside of one in my sleep. It was massive, something you could only imagine seeing in a lifetime. If I remember where it is maybe I can take you there?"
I smile feeling some normalcy in our conversation instead of something that would be just nonsense to a normal person, a human. "That would be nice."
I look up to the sky, watching the moon shine down on us and the clouds that begin to fade away to reveal the stars. If Elyria is a different dimension I wouldn't expect it to be up there in the universe right? There's so much to learn about my home planet and my family that I have endless questions.
"I think Elyria will be good for you."
I look over after no response, finding Estelle curled up against a tree trunk out like a light. Maybe the only benefit we got from being trapped in the most awful place ever is that we've learned how to sleep anywhere, whether its a hard tile floor or in a bed that's springs jab you in the back.
My current thoughts come to a halt when my ears find leaves and sticks moving somewhere ahead of me. Even though I know it is small by it's sound, that doesn't mean my heart isn't pounding so bad it echoes throughout my brain. I freeze, waiting for the creature to run past me knowing it will come out of the trees in only seconds. But as I think it is only a squirrel I find it to be much bigger. I don't have to even see it's silhouette to know that it's not just a creature, it's a talking one.
"Why do you keep showing up?" I ask him.
He hops closer to me than he has in previous encounters and in the darkness his eyes are almost glowing white,"Well because you interest me and you need someone to lead you in the right direction." He sits in front of me as a little pet would, "Like a little fluffy guardian angel."
"So you are telling me what to do?" I blink over at Estelle, making sure that she is still sound asleep.
"No, no. You're the one who tells me what to do. You're the bossy one."
"Bossy, I'm not bossy!"
"Yes you are, I should know if I watch you all the time."
I'm incredibly uncomfortable, "So you just secretly spy on me?"
"Well it's not really spying if its not a secret."
I try my best to not sound enraged, "And yet, you only show up when no one else can see you. That sounds like you don't want anyone else to know you're talking to me."
"That's because no one else is supposed to see me, not yet anyway."
"And why is that?"
"Because I am not supposed to find you right now, but they don't have to know. I couldn't wait."
I don't even know what that is supposed to mean, "Who is they?"
"My family. I can't tell you because the other you knows, but that is much later on."
"Oh right, because you knew another me."
"Well no, I was told about the other you. The much future you..."
Suddenly something clicks inside my head and I don't know how to handle it. Since he is speaking of a future me, it reminds me of the Hunters telling me of another me as well. Does this imply that time has been messed up? How could the Hunters know about me before I was even born? For what it seems the Hunters have been planning this for generations. This rabbit knows about a future me? Only the men have said they are preventing me from doing something in the future. Does that mean it has already happened?
"And why are you here right now?" I finally ask.
"I wanted to make sure you are okay after what happened."
I'm utterly lost, "There is no way that you know what just happened to us..."
The moon shines down on his white fur, making it look silver. He scratches the top of his long ear, "You see, I know what happened because I know your past and some of your future. I didn't see it for myself but I still know."
"Are you part of the Hunters? Are you messing with me?"
The rabbit only laughs, "Remember I told you that you created me? I'm on your side, and I have been my whole life." I only look at him with a straight face, I can't just believe him like this. He continues, "I was supposed to be sentenced to death, the Hunters most likely would want me dead as well if they knew I was still alive."
I'm more curious of him than I ever have been before, "What did you do to make you get sentenced to death?"
"Existing..." His ears move back as he hears Estelle stirring a few feet away.
She picks her head up from her knees, her hands shaky and body groggy. I blink back to the rabbit, only to find him gone in the blink of an eye. He's done it so many times in front of me that I'm no longer surprised that he left, but now I know there is no getting rid of him any time soon.
"Were you just talking?" Estelle murmurs.
I lie, "No."