The Lost Heir

On the Ball

Hours had passed since I eloped from our mansion. The woods were becoming darker and with each step I took, I could feel my lungs struggling to get hold of the air pushed through them. My feet were hurting, and I could notice how cold the air was becoming. Like a robot executing a program, I too was programed to find a place I had never been to before. I just saw flashes and bits of memories shared by people I knew nothing about. The man and the woman. My instincts were telling me that whatever I was asking would be answered once I reached my destination and I was determined.

It was dark and cold. The forest comprised of tall trees with huge trunks that formed a canopy at the top. Light barely passed to the ground and even with the gibbous moon shining its magnificent light, only few rays made it to the ground. Each breath I took burnt my nose as my chest crumbled with the cold and my endless panting. I didn’t stop however, my legs propelled me as fast as I could to a destination I didn’t know, only felt, more of an instinct that acted as my GPS.

The search party was slowly becoming inaudible. I could tell that they were starting to give up because I passed through a river which hid my tracks for a moment before they found them several miles along the river. That was a trick my grandfather told me when we used to go hunting in the forest. “If people are after you, always make sure to cover your tracks. Just like the way we hunt game meat, you track can be tracked by a hunter. Be your own guard.” Going into the river was the best option despite being soaked afterwards.

I think I lost them. The forest was alive with all sorts of creepy sounds, fireflies floating around, crickets chirping. What have I done? I should be at home recuperating! My body felt fine, all the tiredness and soreness from before had washed away. It must be the adrenaline. With only a shirt and the trouser I had before I passed out, my skin dilapidated, forming goosebumps all over. My teeth rattled and gnawed involuntarily, as if I had bruxism as the cold found a way with me. looking around, I saw an area where the sky was clearly visible. There were no trees but a huge rock that looked like a cave and immediately, I thought of spending the night inside there. At least animals won’t find me there. But what if a bear or something lives in there? But I had no other option. Everything will be okay Meridian, everything will be okay. You are a Benedetti, and Benedettis are strong. No harm shall befall me. With assertiveness and calculated steps, I slowly walked towards the cave in the middle of the forest. In school, the maps showed a large forest that started a few hundred meters from the perimeter of our residence, stretching out to the hills and finally into the ocean that lay a few hundred miles on the other side. If anything would happen to me, it would take forever to find my body, that is if they find it.

My eyes couldn’t see anything past the entrance. It was pitch dark and while standing at the entrance, my heart was determined to break my ribcage and for a second, I had second thoughts. I shouldn’t go inside, if I just stay here, looking at a partition, just above the entrance, I will be fine. I have the moon. I didn’t want to go inside. My grandfather always told me to fight enemies that I see and stay away from anything I don’t. I didn’t know my enemy, I didn’t know their intentions and yet they managed to take me away from my home, running around in the middle of nowhere like a teenage raccoons. I’m I losing it?

Sitting on the cold piece of rock, shivers wet down my spine and as I stared into the night sky, I pressed my thighs hard against my chest, I wrapping my hands around my knees and exhaled deeply, it’s going to be a long night!

All my life, I had never spent a night alone outside our house. I was used to the warm sheets and soft mattress back in my room. Even the days we would go hunting for several days, my grandfather would carry sleeping bags that were warm and comfortable. This day though, I only had my hands to rub against each other so that I could generate enough warmth. Then, my mind drifted back to the dream I had earlier. The man and the woman. Contemplating about their significance gave me migraine, and with each passing second, I begun feeling stupid for believing in my hallucinations. I’m so stupid!

A ball of light from inside the cave caught my attention. White as snow, and far reaching as the sun itself. Oh my God! What is that? My breathing had stopped and my ears would stretch if they had to as I listened attentively to what I just saw. My eyeballs were busy looking for anything out of the ordinary when I heard a low thud and a voice calling my name, a female voice.

“Meridian!” she said with a higher pitch, echoing her voice in the cave. “Come!”

No way! My thoughts were for running as fast as I could in any direction but inside. I quickly climbed down from my comfortable rock bed, my legs ready to propel me in the opposite direction, when I slid and fell on my face. Before I realize what was happening, I was being dragged inside the cave by an invisible force.

“Aaagghh!” I let out a loud outcry while scratching the earth as if I would suddenly grow roots and stop myself from being pulled. I then flipped my body and looked in the direction of my aggressor. “No no no noooo!”

The light emanating from inside wasn’t as bright because I could see the long bronze rod my assailant was holding on her right arm. With crafted lines and shapes of different kind, the rod was beautifully decorated, and a blue gem rested atop, like the crown on her head. A magnificent and point gem graced her left arm, which she placed on her waist. The white light from the blue gem was too bright for me to see her face clearly, especially with the hood above her head.

“Shut up Meridian, it’s not like not like I’m going to kill you or anything,” she said with a friendly tone, as if we had known each other for a long time.

“What! Who are you? Are you the woman from my dreams?” I asked while wearing a puzzled face. My steadily beating heart was now filled with curiosity and a glimmer of hope. I’m not crazy!

“Dreams! Tell me about those dreams. What do you see? What woman?” asked the woman with the hood, her voice now pitched and stirred with concern, and the same curiosity I exerted while asking her the same. At that point, I knew that I was mistaken, it wasn’t the person I thought she was and upon making this realization, blood in my veins started to slide swifter and faster, pushing my feeble heart to the limit. Whooaa!

“Speak Meridian!” she shouted, her face grimmer, and eyes sharper. With each passing second I hesitated to answer her, the gem atop her rod grew brighter and that freaked me out.

“How do you know my name,” I asked as I struggled to understand the meaning of all that was happening. She knew my name, and it’s like we have a history I didn’t know about. Besides, she seemed spooked when I mentioned a woman in my dreams. I didn’t know what was going on and I didn’t want to find out later, “it’s a woman and a man, laughing together in the woods, I don’t know where.”

“What! Can you describe this woman, how did she look like?”

“Yes, yes, she had black hair I think,”

“Think!” she screamed with venom, drawing closer to where I was. Her voice was frightening and the fact that she lit the whole cave with the gem on her rod made me want to run for my life. My bod was still strong though. Despite being shaken and afraid, I didn’t quake at her presence. I remained still on the ground, while figuring out how I would jolt out of the cave.

“She had black hair okay! I’m not so sure about the eye color but she had dark hair,” I stammered while pulling away from her.

“A courageous one you are! Now stand on your feet!” said the woman, while the gem dimmed, just to project enough light. She then took the hoodie off and exposed her face to me. she had dark hair, and navy blue eyes. Long lashes covered her snowflake eyeballs and while she stood there, her head and chest raised all together, like she was a queen of a powerful kingdom, just like how the crown on her head.

She’s not the one from my dreams. My visions were blurry but I could tell she wasn’t the one. The woman from my dreams was slimmer, her’s was wider and she had thicker and angular eyebrows. I took my body from the grown, dusted myself while still maintaining a safe distance from her. I couldn’t tell if she was friendly or hostile.

“Courageous?” I doubtfully asked. Outside, the night was quiet, except for the buzzing wind. “Who are you?”

The woman took her time before she answered me. All that while, she stared at me deeply, as if I meant so much to her. With a smile, she opened her mouth and uttered, “I knew your mother, we were friends!”

The force of lightning struck my mind, scattering all distractions. She had my attention, and like a blood hungry lion, I was perched. How do you know my mother? What’s happening here? Who are you? Staring in to her eyes, I saw the honesty and genuineness of what she had just said. They seemed close with my mother and looking at how wrinkled her face was at the edge of her eyes, how her forehead was decorated with deeper and darker lines from end to end, my mother would be just as old. What’s happening?