The Lost Girl... (Faith, Hope and Tranquillity #1)

I ran through the woods, giggling at being chased by someone, but I couldn’t see who it was. I darted between tall silver trees hoping to lose them. I giggled more and more, almost losing it, whilst looking behind me. The beautiful, long silver dress I wore loosely around me was lashing out behind me in beautiful wisps, sparkling wildly in the setting sunlight. My long black hair, the same, blowing wildly in the wind, covered in different coloured and shaped flowers of every colour you could imagine. It was twilight, my favourite time of the day, soft hues of gold and purple shone through the trees, causing everything to appear more beautiful than it looked during the day. I stopped near a large tree, probably an oak tree, with a sizeable recess in it. I gasped for breath and stifled another snigger as I attempted to squeeze myself into the hole. I squeezed my small, childlike body inside and held my breath, my hands covering my mouth to stop the excited and almost manic giggles from leaving my throat. He would never find me here. I heard him calling my name, trying to stop himself from laughing as well. “Sere! I know you’re here!” He chuckled, as I heard him getting closer and closer to the tree. I snuggled in tighter and stifled another laugh. Celeb would never find me here. I tried to slow my excited beating heart and listened, but I heard the footsteps stop. I tipped my head to the side to listen better. Nothing, not even the sound of birds, the wind or even insects. I slowly pulled my body from the tree trunk, making sure my hair and dress didn't snag on anything, and looked around for Celeb. He was nowhere to be seen. Panic began to put weight on my chest, but I shook my head, knowing we were safe here. Nothing bad ever happened here. A faint noise of heavy breathing could be heard, and I turned to it. I saw bright, glistening but opaque eyes watching me. I didn't recognize those eyes. “Celeb?!” I shouted, becoming increasingly afraid that I couldn’t hear or see him. The eyes disappeared as soon as I shouted. Could it have been an animal? “CELEB?! VORONWE!? ESTEL!?” I screamed as my small legs started to run back towards my house. I heard footsteps again behind me and stopped, hoping it was Celeb. A tall man with pitch black hair and the same opaque black eyes that were watching me was standing behind me. He said some words I couldn’t understand before pointing his hand towards me. His hand radiated black light and black smoke engulfed my body. I screamed before I blacked out. Lilly's POV I shot up in bed, cold sweat dripping down my body, a terrified feeling crept up my spine making me shiver. “AH!” I cried as my hand shot up above my left eye, another migraine. And yet another dream. I had been having these dreams for about a fortnight now. Different snippets but always the same girl and boy were in the dream, young and carefree. The girl named Sere, and a boy named Celeb. Both, incredibly young, but extremely knowledgeable and close. A young carefree and almost hippy-like girl, with long flowing black hair that almost reached her ankles. Usually wearing some form of silver or golden dress and she was always covered in flowers. The boy, serious looking and always dressed in some sort of tunic top and pants, almost always a light blue. Long silver hair that was tied at the base of his skull. I sighed, reaching for my pendant and put it on before I got out of bed. I slowly padded into my small kitchen in the one-bedroom apartment I owned. I looked through my drawers for some pain killers and took two with water before heading back to bed. 5am? I thought, looking at the clock. I might as well stay up and get ready for work, I thought, rolling my eyes. My name is Lily Smith, a name I was given but don’t remember, and I’m 24 years old. I was found on the streets as a 7-year-old child with nothing except the clothes I was wearing and a damaged pendant around my neck. I had no memory of who I was or how I had gotten there. Police took me to the station and immediately put out a found child report and searched the missing child database for me. When no one claimed me and no parents were found, I was taken into the local orphanage where I stayed until I was 18. I couldn’t remember my name or a thing about my past despite regular visits to a therapist. My pendant had letters written on it but only the last few could be made out amongst the scratches. They were L I T Y but the police thought the T could have been an L that was scratched, hence Lily being made my name. The Smith was given to me when they couldn’t find out what my name was or my history. I needed a surname apparently to get all sorts of ID when I grew up. On my 18th birthday, I searched for work and found a job in an office building in the city. I started working for my boss, David, and slowly worked my way up to office manager. I've been there a good few years now and I am pretty well established. I now earnt a decent wage and was able to buy myself an apartment only 15 minutes away from the office. The job wasn't exciting, but I had a few reasons why I stayed. I looked around my apartment, smiling, that I had managed to achieve so much without any help from anyone. It consisted of a kitchen which had an open plan into my front room, double doors led out onto a balcony that I had decorated with numerous plants and climbing wall flowers. A small bedroom came off of the front room with an adjoining bathroom with a shower, bath, sink and toilet. I loved my apartment and my life, despite my hard beginnings. The orphanage hadn’t been horrible, but it also couldn’t have been described as pleasant. I loved nature and always wanted to be outdoors, sitting under a tree reading or dangling my feet into the river at the bottom of the garden. I believed fairies lived at the bottom of the garden because there was a fairy ring. A circle of red and white mushrooms. I don’t know why, but I remembered stories of fairies, elves, nymphs and fairy rings, amongst other random information. My therapist thought I was fantasizing, mostly to make up for my lost childhood, but I always felt like I remembered being told them. However, due to this, I was often bullied as the other children thought I was weird. As I got older, I learnt to control my opinions, but the older children always remembered how strange I was, and I never really made friends. They would warn the new kids about the strange girl who believed in fairies and who made up stuff. I hopped into the shower and slowly began to wash my extremely pale skin and shoulder-length black hair. Although my hair was naturally black, people assumed I dyed it due to my pale skin and green eyes. “Not normal hair colour for your skin tone” people would say to me as I grew up. I was only 5’4 and extremely small with freckles on my face and arms, which didn’t help my case with my hair being natural. I looked like an adult, I had the worry-lines to prove it, but my stature made me look a lot younger than my years. I got out of the shower and headed for my closet to change into work attire. A black pencil skirt and brown and cream pinstripe shirt, paired with brown heeled pumps. I was practically ready for work. It was only 6am so I decided to pop on the news and have some cereal. “Reports of random trees and flowers sprouting up in the city….” I stopped and looked at the TV where pictures of trees were found to be growing from sewer grates and flowers growing on buildings where there was no greenery anywhere near them. Weird. I thought to myself. Not that I minded. I loved nature and, luckily, I lived only a 20-minute walk from the beach where I would spend most of my time if the weather was nice. Maybe someone was going round dropping seeds everywhere and life was sprouting up, aided by the sweet but salty air we had. I decided I would head to work early and set off at a slow walk through the busy streets. I stopped for a coffee at the coffee shop which was between my workplace and home. “Good morning” I smiled politely to the lady who owned it, Mrs Sanderson. “Good morning, dear! The usual?” She smiled. “Yes please”, I smiled and headed to my usual seat near the window. I enjoyed people watching. Again, my head gave a hard twinge from the dull ache above my left eye, and I struggled to get my vision right for a few seconds. The pain usually only lasted a few seconds but this time it went on for at least a minute. I stared out onto the street, focusing on something bright, for my vision to clear. “Oh, that man has beautiful hair” Mrs Sanderson commented to a man I couldn’t see. I looked until my vision cleared as a ponytail of silver turned around the corner. It was extremely long so I didn’t think that was the man she spoke about, and silver was an “in” hair colour right now on women, so I just shrugged. “I didn’t see Mrs Sanderson, sorry.” “Oh dear, your head giving you hassle again?” She looked sympathetically at me whilst patting me on the shoulder. “Yeah, but my pain killers will kick in soon.” I gave her the usual amount for my coffee and headed to work. I inhaled the aroma. Mrs Sanderson made the best coffee, strong but milky, with 3 sugars. I had a bit of a sweet tooth and sometimes even great amounts of sugar just couldn’t curb it. Honey was my favourite, and I would have it with most things if I could. I walked into the tall building and pulled my key card out of my bag, smiling at the receptionist who I had not seen before. “Good morning miss”, he smiled. I looked at him, he was incredibly handsome, his long brown hair tied neatly at the top of his back with what looked like string. His piercing hazel eyes didn’t seem to have a pupil. I realised I was staring and stopped myself. “Good morning….” I stopped looking for a name badge. “Oh, I’m new, so I don’t have a name badge yet, miss, my name is Alda.” He smiled, offering his hand. I was taken aback, such a strange but beautiful name. I couldn't help but look him up and down. He smelled like a tree, that woody smell, when it’s just about to rain, and if I was remembering correctly, I was sure Alda was a type of tree. Strange. “I’m Lily!” I took his hand to shake it, suddenly my head began to ache again. “Interesting!” He said, but still smiling, which made me frown in confusion. “I will see you around ‘Lily’. Have a wonderful day.” The way he said my name, as if he hated it. What on earth was his problem? I started towards my office, looking back at him confusedly. I didn’t realise I had walked straight into my boss, coffee spilling everywhere. “Oh, my goodness! I am so sorry!” I cried, bending down to pick up my coffee cup. I straightened and came face to face with my hot, amazing boss. “David, oh no! I’m sorry! Your shirt!” I started to go bright red as I looked into his ebony eyes, not black, but not brown either. He looked at me sternly, and I knew my face was heating up more and more as I struggled to find words to apologise more, before he eventually started to chuckle. “Well, things are never dull with you around Lily” he laughed, taking a tissue from his pocket. “I have a spare shirt upstairs, don’t worry. Did you get yourself?” I blushed harder and looked down, realising I did, but luckily my skirt had taken the brunt of it and it was black so it wouldn't stain. “I’m OK!” I smiled at David and joined in his laughing, nervously. “I am so sorry David!” “Its fine, come on, I have some new blood to show you.” He grabbed my hand and led me to his office which had two doors, one on the main hall and the other which led onto the floor where his employees sat. He cracked open his vertical blinds just enough for us to see through, but not so the employees could see us. “I’ve hired two new guys and two new girls as well as a receptionist in lieu of that big deal you’re going to cinch this afternoon!” He beamed excitedly looking out of his office window before turning and wiggling his eyebrows playfully. I couldn’t help but smile despite the pain in my head yet again, out of nowhere! His dark hair was swept back from his face and although his shirt was covered in coffee, which he didn’t seem to mind, he was wearing a beautiful dark blue pinstripe suit and matching tie. He saw me staring and frowned when I wasn't joining in with the fun. “Well, we don’t know if I will actually close the deal today, Sir.” I smiled shyly. I hadn’t even looked at the new employees. “Sir?!” He asked surprised. “I like that!” He chuckled. “I know you will, Lily! You’re the best employee I have! Otherwise, you wouldn’t have reached the office manager so quickly!” He smiled, and I realized he was still holding my hand. I snatched it away, blushing again. He leaned closer to me. “Carry on the way you are doing, and we will be sharing an office soon!” He whispered seductively into my ear, another twinge in my head caused me to step back. “OK… erm... well I had better head to my office and get prepared.” I smiled, flustered, opening the door. Heat was flushing through my body as I ran to my office as calmly as I could. I turned around to see David staring intently at me through his window. Arms crossed and a handsome, playful smile spread across his face. Damn him for being so hot! I thought as I shut myself in my office and started the workday.