"NO!" Evelyn yelled and dropped to her knees. Another burning tree fell in front of her and she lost sight of her family. But it didn't matter anyway; she SAW the tree falling on top of them.
She buried her face in her palms and tears escaped from her eyes. She was a desperate mess, probably due to the monstrous economy she was in now. She looked up and glanced around. Trees were burning and yells, mourns, mouns, groans and shouts were heard. The fires slowly crept towards her, engulfing her in their hotness.
And yet she still stood up, wiping away her tears with the back of her hand and trying to stay brave. She eyed the forest for a possible exit but found nothing.
Tears streaked down her cheeks. "It's hopeless..." she mumbled. Images of her family flashed in her mind and her tears tripled. The hotness got to her head, and right before she collapsed, a pair of hands grabbed her from behind, dragging her backwards right before a flash of light surrounding her.
"Wha....where....?" Evelyn mumbled, stumbling back and tripping on her on feet and landing on the ground with a thump. She opened her eyes and saw a short man, a little shorter than her, in front of her- which didn't really look like a man. He had a cheeky smirk on his face and he wore clothes with bells- A bell tipped hat that hung over like Santa Claus's did, pointed shoes which curled up and a striped green shirt with bells for buttons and pants. He kind of looked like a Santa helper.
Evelyn wanted to ask what had happened, but her eyes were still blurry from the tears, and as soon as the events before flashed in her mind, she curled up into a ball, trying to figure out and make everything that had happened before out.
"Hmm.....I can tell this isn't going to a good start." the short man predicted after examining Evelyn.
"Leave me alone." the words slipped through her lips and she curled up even tighter.
"You know what? I'm sorry. Or am I?" the man smirked.
Evelyn turned to face the annoying man. "I said leave me alone!" she yelled, tears making their way down her cheek.
"You've been through something tough, haven't you?" the man asked, staring at Evelyn singed hair, burnt clothes and tear-stained face. He stopped smirking and looked at her, waiting for an answer like he genuinely cared.
Evelyn didn't know how to reply. 'Something though' was an understatement. She'd lost her family and probably her sanity, too, in a crazy fire. She was sure she would probably be traumatized for the rest of her life. "I...don't know."
The man frowned. He plopped down beside her, putting a hand on her shoulders and soothing her as more tears streaked down her cheeks. "I don't actually care what happened but I'm going to pretend I do." he told her.
Evelyn grumbled- The man obviously didn't know a single thing about comforting others. She sniffed; he wasn't making her feel better.
"Where am I? Who are you?" she mumbled, glancing around and realizing she was in a blank, white and cold room. The coldness greeted her and she welcomed it- it was a nice change from the hotness of the fire.
The man sprang back to his position in front of her, grinning. "Name's Zak. I'm a grimmy; half dwarf, half-" he disappeared in a flash of light. "Tricksterrrrr." he pronounced the rs harder and his voice echoed through the room.
He appeared in front of her again, holding out a hand, expecting Evelyn to shake it. "Nice to meet ya. Oh, and also, for your first question, I honestly don't know," he answered, looking around. "I just teleported us to the nearest room with no one."
Evelyn frowned. "It's either I'm in a dream-a nightmare, really- or I've gone crazy. Lost my sanity." She repeated the words grimmy, dwarf, tricketer and teleported in her mind, as well as replayed the man-or so called Grimmy- disappearing in a flash of light, his voice echoing through the room.
A headache had successfully made its way into Evelyn mind-a strong one at that- and she clutched her head and shook her head so hard she thought her head was going to snap off her neck to shake the headache away. Or maybe to shake her current worries and problems away- she couldn't tell. Her mind was a mess.
The grimmy, Zak, frowned. "Weird," he mumbled under his breath and removed a spray bottle out of his pants' pocket. "Listen, rookie, I'm going to sedate you- it won't hurt, I promise. I just have to spray this liquid over you and you'll hopefully fall asleep and wake up feeling calm."
Evelyn shook her head. "I don't think I can ever feel calm again."
"Alright. Whatever you say." Zak said, spraying the bottle over her. "Good night."
Evelyn was in heaven- she had never felt so comfortable in her life. She could feel a mixture of both cold and hot- the perfect type of warmth- on top of her. Underneath her head and neck she could feel an ever-soft object, but she wasn't able to identify it- was it a pillow?
Then she realized.
The fire.
The flames.
The hotness.
The horror...
Her family.
Her eyes fluttered open and she gasped for air. She was greeted by four blurry faces-blurry probably because she had cried too much-three she didn't recognize and one she didn't love seeing- Zak's.
The first face was a woman's- a pretty one at that. She had brown hair which was tucked up in an elegant bun, rosy cheeks and a kind smile. The two other faces belonged to two men- two had brown hair, and one wore spectacles.
A hand flew to her heart's place on her chest. "Calm down," the man wearing the spectacles said.
"Is she alright?" Evelyn could make out the woman asking.
The man earlier nodded. "Nothing's wrong with her health- she's just too...overwhelmed. The poor girl's been through something rough for sure. Probably a fire, judging by her looks."
Evelyn's vision cleared and she fumbled to sit up. "Who-what-where- Zak?!" she mumbled incoherently and looked to Zak for an explanation.
"Listen, rookie. You looked like you were going insane and I didn't know what to do. Luckily, Lecter over there gave me the spray bottle in case you were.....well, a hopeless case." Zak answered.
The woman nudged Zak. Up until now, she hadn't realized the woman had tears on her cheeks and the man had tears in his eyes.
"Are....you feeling better?" the woman asked. Evelyn nodded, though she was anything but feeling better. "Where am I?" she asked.
"I sedated you and brought you to Celestara, the capital city of Celestia." Zak answered.
"Celestara?"
"Evelyn, I'm not sure you remember us or this place. But...." the woman said, carefully choosing her words.
"How do you know my name? I didn't tell Zak my name- Did I?" Evelyn looked to Zak. He shook his head.
"Evelyn," the woman whispered with glossy eyes. "I created your name."
Evelyn stopped breathing at her whole world stopped. Her heart stopped beating and her eyes widened. Her stomach tied into knots and her brain was twisting and turning, trying to make sense of what the woman had said. "You're my.....?"
Evelyn wasn't sure if she wanted to say it or ask it. Everything was wrong. Plus, she wasn't expecting to meet her biological parents in at least a couple more years, or possibly not meet them in her entire life.
The woman reached out her fingers and gingerly perched them on Evelyn's forehead. Suddenly, an unexpected tsunami of memories came tumbling by, engulfing her mind with pictures. She could make out what seemed like a younger version of the woman and man, make out them crying and make out them hiding her in the forest Delaney and Bentley had found her in, as well as pictures of beautiful sceneries that looked like a fantasy. For a reason, she even saw Zak-he was shaking a rattle in front of her. Celestara and Celetria.....the words hung in her mind and she could make out more pictures of places that were in the cities.
Evelyn groaned, massaging her temples as the memories washed away just as quickly as the woman extracted her hand back. She didn't know whether to feel happy or sad- she didn't know whether to cheer and laugh or whimper. She didn't even know what to say.
She decided on sitting on the she was on motionlessly. She hung her head low, making her hair cover her face.
"I understand," The woman said softly, forcing herself to smile. "You have your family and we probably shouldn't have interrupted your life." The woman said it understandingly, but Evelyn could hear a hint of disappointment and sadness in her tone. "Speaking of family," she continued. "Zak, you should head back to the human world to check if the fire's out. If it is, look around if Evelyn's family is there."
Zak saluted as he pulled out a mechanical ball from his pants' pocket and threw it up in the air. "Human world." he grunted as a bright light flashed and pulled him away.
Evelyn could feel tears forming in her eyes once again. She wiped away with the back of her hand. Maybe the hotness got to her head, and maybe the whole 'seeing the fire kill her family' thing was just an illusion-maybe. For now, Evelyn would wish for the best and hope Zak would return, informing her that she could go back to her living, thriving family.
An awkward silence filled the air.
"Evelyn.... don't you remember this place?" The woman said quietly, breaking the tension between them.
Evelyn looked around the room- assumingly a nursery. A pillow-padded crib was tucked in a corner and an object that looked like a rocking chair stood nobley by its side. The room was covered by unicorns-and-clouds wallpaper and clouds hung from the ceiling. Objects-assumingly toys-were everywhere, and a miniature closet stayed at the back.
"I.....do." Evelyn felt the words slip out of her mouth. The woman gave a sad smile and silence sprang back to its position between them. Evelyn bit her lip. "Why did you abandon me in the forest?" she didn't even know their names and she knew it was stupid asking, but she was curious.
The woman turned pale and sighed. "There was a war between the N.E.E.F citizens and the ogres a few months after you were born-N.E.E.F being Nyxes, elfs, elfens and fales. There was this one night that changed everything- when the ogres came to Celestara and started attacking, we took refuge in the forest. But then the ogres found us and they tried to take you away. We didn't know why, but we were frightened and scared and we ran. But...we knew we couldnt run away forever. It was all so miserable that we made a drastic plan. We took you to the human world because we knew that it was the last place the ogres would go, since the humans are so powerful with their weapons. We hid you in the forest in hopes of someone finding you and adopting you because we couldn't go out in the open, and planned to return to find you and bring you back when the war calmed down. And once the war did calm down, we went back to find you but found you in a human house, playing with a little human boy and two humans-assumingly your new parents. We couldn't bare demanding you back-they looked so happy with you and you looked so happy with them....."
The same bright light that flashed through the room when Zak teleported appeared once more when Ellete finished talking and Zak appeared as the light swept away.
The look on his face told Evelyn he wasn't going to share good news. But then again, he was a trickster, and her loved to trick and prank-according to the name 'trickster', at least-so maybe he was just acting and putting on that sorry look on his face. Maybe her family was there.
"I.....I don't exactly know what you're family looks like, but when I teleported there there were a whole lot of ash and half-burned trees but no sight of any humans..."
The woman's eyes widened. "I'm....so sorry." she whispered. The man took a few steps back and hung his head low. The other man wearing spectacles shook his head and gave a sad sigh.
No one was more heart-broken than Evelyn. She turned even paler than the woman had and the floodgates opened. Her tears streaked down her face in rivulets so fast that when she had no more tears to cry out, the shirt she was wearing was soaked.
It was painful knowing her family was dead- if anything, she'd rather not know and still ponder upon whether her family was dead or not and still be sad, but knowing her family was dead, it was an entirely new level.
It was like she wasn't living anymore- her body didn't seem to be working and it was like this whole thing was a dream- a dream Evelyn desperately wanted to crawl her way out of. She couldn't blink, couldn't talk, couldn't breathe, couldn't think.
Her family was dead.
Her parents, the people who were always there for her, Delaney and Bently, her siblings, Rick, Talia and Brian were all gone. No, worse than that-dead.
The man with the spectacles stepped forward to soothe her, but decided not to. What even was there to soothe her with? There was no upside of having her family dead. He couldn't tell her it was 'okay', because it was obviously not.
"I'm sorry." he mumbled, stepping back.
Evelyn could hear everyone apologise a thousand times, but nothing was going to change the fact that her family was dead.
She sniffed and tried to be brave. "Are they really...?"
Zak nodded and she looked away, fanning at her eyes to avoid crying once more. "I'd like some time alone, if you don't mind."
Zak and the other three people filed out of the room and Evelyn kicked the blanket away. She curled into a ball and cried her already-dry eyes out. She had never felt so tired and scared facing the fire, but facing her family's death was harder. Much harder.
"My backpack." she realized and spotted her bag on a glass table. She went to retrieve it and dumped the objects in it out, looking for the most valuable one.
The picture book stumbled its way out of the backpack and Evelyn gingerly picked it up. This would be her only memories of her family and only way of remembering them.
She hugged it and set it on the bed she was on, flipping through the pages. Tears filled her eyes. Her strict but kind mom, her silly and funny dad, her annoying but understandable brother and her two very playful little siblings. She would never see their faces again. They were gone.
All gone.
Evelyn clutched the book against her chest and leaned against the bed in a sitting position. Her head leaned back and tears ran down her cheeks to her neck.
But she knew better. Her family wouldn't want her to live her whole life like she didn't even have one-desperate, lifeless and sad everyday. They would want her to continue living her life-a better one, at that.
She pulled her tears back in wherever they came from and took one last look at the photobook-her life would never be the same and she knew it.
She stood up wearily and gingerly placed the photobook in her bag. "You can come in now. Thanks."
The woman, men and Zak all shuffled in. "I'm sorry. If it makes you feel any better, we'd be delighted to let you stay here for as long as you like." the woman offered.
"Thank you...that means a lot to me."
The woman smiled sadly. "I'm Ellete. This is Lecter," she gestured to the man wearing spectacles. "He's a M.M.D- Magical medical doctor- and this is Atler." she pointed to the other man.
Evelyn tried to smile. "Thank you so much for hospitalizing me and offering for me to stay. Without my parents here, I...." she paused. "Don't know what to do...."
The woman nodded and turned to Lecter. "Lecter, do you mind giving Evelyn a check-up?" she paused and turned to Evelyn. "If you don't mind, that is."
"I don't mind at all."
Lecter stepped forward. "Have a seat on the bed. The check-up's a painless process, I promise."
Evelyn did as he said and sat on the fluffy, cloud-like bed. Lecter placed the slingbag he was wearing next to her and removed a flashlight from it.
He flashed the flashlight at her face, covering her eyes, then flashed it at her arms, legs, feet, hands, chest and back. He grabbed her arm gingerly and placed a sticky, jello-like tepid sponging on the burn on her wrist and on the top of her hand, as well as the burns on her ankle, knee and on her shoulder.
Evelyn stared at the tepid sponging. It was cool and chilled her burns, making her burns feel better. "It's called a jelper. It's harmless and helps with burns or anything similar." Lecter said, noticing her staring at the jelper.
He spread a jello-like, sticky substance which was a little liquidy at the scratch he had on her faces that sharp tree branches had caused while she was running away. "This is a jelky. It's similar to a jelper but it's a cream and it's uses are different. It can help treat cuts and wounds, as well as anything as similar." Lecter explained.
Once he was done, he flashed the flashlight at her again, checking for more injuries. "You're all clear!" he announced, giving a thumbs-up. "But maybe you need some new clothes."
He glanced at Atler and he nodded, flicking a ball like Zak's into the air, muttering a place. Then he disappeared in a flash of light. After a few quick minutes, the light filled the room again and Atler returned, hands full of blouses, dresses, skirts and shirts. "Can you wear these? If not, I can get another size."
He handed Evelyn a blouse. She held it up to her neck, checking if it was her size. "This will do nicely. Thank you."
Atler nodded and dumped the other clothing on the rocking chair. "Why don't you go change? Your burnt clothes look uncomfortable," Ellete said, rushing to the right side of the room and opening a door, holding it out for her.
Evelyn took up the chance to change and got into the room the door led to, which looked like a bathroom. Except the shower was made of a fluffy cloud hanging in the air and the sink's tap was also made of the same cloud, except smaller.
Evelyn got out of the jeans and shirt she was wearing and held it up. The clothing didn't look special-it was just simple designs with no patterns or decorations whatsoever, although it did smell uncannily like the fire's smoke.
Tears stung her eyes and Evelyn clutched the clothes. They were the clothing she wore from what she assumed was the worst thing that ever happened to her, but it was also the clothing she wore from the last time with her family. She would keep the clothing and treasure it.
She slipped on the new, green blouse and wiped her tears away with the back of her hand. She decided she would be brave and hoped this would be one of her last cries for a long time.
As she opened the door and glanced at the smiling faces awaiting her outside, she felt like she'd just opened the door to her next new world.