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

CHAPTER 4

Lily's POV

I was sitting on a beautiful wooden and rope swing. Decorated with ivy and various coloured lilies, I wasn't swinging though, only looking sadly at my feet. I felt a presence behind me, and it made me angry, angrier than I had ever felt myself in my entire short life.

“What do you want, Morna?” I asked bitterly. I realized that this time I was inside the young girl, Sere’s' body again, this time and not separate.

“I’m sorry Sere!”

A boy of around 10 years old, with shoulder-length black hair and black eyes which turned red in the light was standing behind me. I didn't know how I knew that, but I did. I also knew he would have a tattoo on his chest which he always wore bare.

“For what?” I spat; I was clearly very angry, but I didn’t know why. “For the fact that you thought it would be funny to display your powers by burning my favourite patch of flowers, the flowers I created for Dae’s parents?!” Tears had begun to well up in my eyes. I was getting more and more upset, and a rumbling could be heard from the forest behind us. It sounded like hooves crashing into the ground when they galloped.

“I didn’t think Sere! I was showing off to Voronwe and it backfired, now you’re all mad at me!” He stopped and I could hear how upset he was, but the child's part of my brain couldn’t fathom how he could be so cruel. I knew he was sorry deep down, but I also didn't want to forgive him, as if he had done it purposefully. I turned around, full on crying now, glaring at the little boy I now knew was called Morna. “Sere, are you OK?” He asked, worriedly.

“NO!” I screamed and suddenly vines sprung up from around Morna and wrapped their way around him. Golden light was glowing in my eyes. Again, I wasn't sure how I knew it, being inside the girl, but I felt like I knew I could see it.

“Sere, calm down, it was an accident, I’m sorry!” He was really worried now, looking at me with panic in his eyes. Then out of nowhere a clump of ice encased the vines, they shattered loudly from being frozen. I turned around angrily but also a little sad.

“CELEB! Do NOT interfere!” I screamed as more vines began to encircle Morna. I knew I wasn’t trying to kill him, just scare him, but the violent shaking of my hands and arms also gave away how scared I was. Another 9 or 10 year old boy with silver hair shot out of the woods and grabbed me into a large embrace. As he cuddled me, his hair shifted from silver to black. I sobbed uncontrollably into his arms. As I did, I felt power slip away from me and knew the vines had slipped away from Morna as the sound of pounding hooves had disappeared.

“Get out of here Morna!” Celeb shouted, looking up from the top of my head long enough to lock eyes with Morna. And Morna did. He ran for his life whilst I sobbed in Celeb's arms. "It’ll be OK Sere; he didn’t mean to. He cares for you. It’ll be OK…. it’ll be OK….” the words faded away.

“It’ll be OK” The words continued to sound as my eyes fluttered open. I saw silver eyes and the words “You’re OK” formed on the mouth I also saw. My vision was too blurry, but I vividly saw the bright silverness. My head exploded in pain again and I fell back into unconsciousness, not knowing who was speaking to me.

I woke up in my own bed, which confused me more than if I had woken up anywhere else right now. I turned over groaning and noticed my phone and book were both on my bedside table. I looked down and saw I was dressed in pyjamas. What the heck? I remember collapsing on the beach and the person with silver eyes who was clearly helping me. How had I gotten home? I stopped as I heard footsteps in my kitchen and froze. There was no way that person knew where I lived. A stalker? I slowly got up and reached for a coat hanger to defend myself. Yeah, sure, it might not do a lot, but I could throw it away, as a distraction, if nothing else. I headed to the door of my room and stopped when I saw who was in my house. I blinked a few times, not sure what I was seeing. How? David was preparing drinks in my kitchen. My head ached and I groaned again, louder than I would have liked, causing him to look up at me, standing in the doorway. He chuckled as he saw me in an attack stance with a coat hanger but holding my head.

"Shush!" I groaned.

“Ready to kill me with a coat hanger?" He chuckled, but when I doubled over in pain he turned more serious. "Are you ok sweetness?” He asked, walking towards me with a serious expression. “I received a phone call from the doctors saying you had been found, collapsed, on the road not far from the beach.” This made me look at him confused. I remember collapsing on the beach, not far from the cave. How did I get to the main road? There was absolutely no way I had done so unconsciously. The person with silver eyes? “Lily?” he questioned, more worried this time.

“I… I’m OK!” I said, still holding my head. “This migraine is just getting worse!” I walked to the sofa and collapsed onto it. He brought a drink over to me and sat down in the chair across from me, leaning forward, watching me with a concerned look on his face. “What happened?” I asked, confused.

“I was about to ask you the same thing.” He said, concern once again showing in the frown lines on his forehead. “I received the call, collected you from the hospital with your belongings and brought you here. I found your keys and let myself in. I did change you!” He said, blushing. “But I promise I didn’t see anything and then I popped you in bed and proceeded to make us drinks for when you woke up.” He shrugged again. “What do you remember?”

I told him what had happened. Me, blacking out on the beach, but I didn’t remember a thing about getting to the main road. I did, however, tell him about the silver eyes and them, telling me I would be OK. A flash of something I didn’t understand crossed his face before he mumbled to himself “A good Samaritan, maybe?” I shrugged and drank my coffee. “Is there anything else?” He asked concerned. I bit my lip, unsure as to whether I should tell him about the dreams. “Lily?” He grabbed my free hand and looked into my eyes. I could feel a tingling through my entire body as he did so. “I’m here to help you. Anything you need, I’m here!” he stated, seriously.

“OK!” I sighed. “I’ve been having strange dreams alongside the headaches.”

“About what?” I threw my hands into the air as dramatically as I could.

“You wouldn’t believe me if I told you!” I exclaimed, putting my head into my hands. “About young children who can control the elements. There are two boys who can control ice and fire and a girl, who I always seem to be, who can control plants! I think I’m going crazy!” I began to cry, softly. I felt David’s arms go around me in a comforting hug and I cried on his shoulder. Not the uncontrollable sobs from my dream, but just a cry of release. It felt good to finally tell someone, even if I was crazy.

“I don’t think you’re crazy, sweetness!” He said in a matter-of-fact tone. “I think maybe these headaches are caused by something else. Have you spoken to your therapist about this?” He asked. I nodded, still crying silently into his shirt. “Maybe these dreams are manifestations of your past? Maybe they don’t necessarily mean what you think they do?” He questioned. I sat up shocked.

“That’s pretty much what she said!” I shockingly exclaimed, sitting up. I couldn’t believe he had come to the same conclusion, someone who’d definitely not taken a psychology degree. He smiled warmly at me.

“Remember, I had to see a therapist too…” He flowed away from the words he began, a small sad smile spread on his lips. I looked sadly at him.

“Oh yeah… sorry!” I said, wiping my face.

“It's OK, you’re more important right now.” He said, smoothing my hair out of my face. I looked into his eyes and saw a hint of sadness there. “Lily, no matter what, we will figure this out, OK?” I nodded again and smiled timidly at him.

“Thank you” I whispered and leant in for a hug. David clearly misinterpreted the signs, as he went in for a kiss, our lips barely touched, and I sat back surprised. He went bright red.

“I… I…” He stuttered. I had immediately brought my hands up to my lips, not because I didn't like it, but because I had enjoyed it. Our lips only touched for a second but the heat it brought to my face was more than enough. After I had recovered from my shock, and I was blushing manically, I mumbled that it was OK. He smiled shyly. “Well, I'd better get going, if you don’t feel up to it, don’t come in tomorrow, I mean it!” He said and stood up to leave. I stood up with him awkwardly tugging at my pyjama shorts. We walked to the door and as he turned to say bye he pecked me lightly on the cheek. “I’m serious Lily, we will figure this out and get you right again.” He turned and left, leaving me staring after him with confusion but contentment in my heart.

UNKNOWN POV

“ARGH” A deep voice screamed. “She’s starting to remember; I need to stop it!”

“It will be fine!” A soft, but raspy woman's voice answered. Bangs and smashes could be heard as someone was clearly destroying things around the house. Throwing things against a wall and tipping things over in anger

“Stop, you’ll hurt yourself!” The female voice murmured again, this time with a little less patience.

“She cannot remember, and if she does, she needs to remember differently. I will not be cheated again… I… love her!” The man's voice cracked.

“I know!” the woman murmured, but there was a venom behind the voice. “Your spell isn’t broken yet! It's taking effect and she will remember the correct way… the way it… should have been.”

“ARGH!” Sounds of continuous smashing could still be heard. The woman let herself out of the room and glared angrily into the darkness, her eyes glowing a slight purple before she stormed down a hallway.

Lily's POV

The next day, I woke up at 6am. The pain shooting through my head and left eye was still there, but it was more of a dull ache this morning and no dreams or nightmares had plagued me over night. I breathed a sigh of relief as I got out of bed and headed to the shower. As I turned on the shower, I made sure to prop the door open. I wasn't taking any chances after last time. I finished getting showered and decided I felt good enough to head into work. I wanted to see David anyway. My heart and stomach hadn’t stopped doing somersaults all night and I wanted to talk to him. My mind kept running over what would have happened had I let the kiss go ahead.

I shook the thoughts out of my head and grabbed some cereal. I saw the beautiful sun starting to rise and decided to sit on the balcony and eat, until it was time to set off for work. I noticed my lilies had started to fully bloom now and smiled at them. I tucked into my cereal, admiring the view, when I heard the tweet of a familiar bird. I turned and noticed another swallow. The problem is that it looked exactly like the one from two nights ago.

“Good morning again, Mr. Swallow, well I’m assuming you’re a boy with your colouring! and assuming you are the same swallow?” I said cheerfully, not quite knowing where this knowledge came from and sincerely hoping he was the same one. “Come back for more company, I see, I don’t mind. I might have to invest in some food for you if you keep showing up” He chirped happily at that, causing me to chuckle. I went back to eating my cereal when the bird hopped onto the table and looked at me. He seemed to be looking me over, making sure I was alright. His eyes showed concern, which was weird that I could tell that in a bird. I looked back at his almost human-like eyes.

“Well... hello... you’re extremely friendly today.” I wanted to stop eye contact, it made me feel remarkably uncomfortable. But not because it was an animal who understood me, but more because I felt like I was being spied on. I offered him a cornflake and he took it from my hand and proceeded to devour it on the table, then looked at me again, tweeting for more. His eyes had turned back to a normal solid brown, and I chuckled. “Sorry friend, I’m all out and I need to head to work. I might have something for you if you come back later though.” I smiled and he flew off as if understanding what I said. I shook my head at that thought and proceeded to head to work.