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

CHAPTER 7

Lily's POV

Another dream… The young girl Sere, still around 7 years old, was laughing and running through a forest in what looked like a bathing suit made out of leaves. She was being followed closely by two other girls whose faces I couldn't make. They had long brown and blonde hair. They were all smiling and as they broke the tree line Sere jumped into a giant lake where four boys were already swimming and splashing each other.

“CELEB!” Sere shouted to the usual boy. I couldn’t make out the boy's face, but he waved her over. The other three smiled at her. “Hi guys!” She smiled. She swam over to Celeb and dove on him, causing them to slip under the water. While they were out of sight, she placed a quick kiss on his lips before they broke back through the surface. She noticed Celeb was blushing, pushing his black hair out of his eyes.

I once again became separated from Sere’s form as the kiss happened, as if she had forced me from the body. I looked around and noticed that the other boy who sometimes appeared in my dreams, with long silver hair, was glaring at the pair as if he knew what had happened under the water.

I felt eyes watching me and saw the older silver-haired man from my dream before looking at the scene sadly whilst shaking his head. I swam over to him with ease, being in the dream made me an excellent swimmer, which I definitely wasn’t in the real world.

“This memory is corrupt!” he said sternly. His face was passive, but the anger was clearly heard through his tone.

“Memory?” I asked. This was only a dream, wasn’t it?

“Yes, this is your memory Sere.” I laughed; this dude was crazy. I looked at him and noticed his similarities to Silver but immediately shook it away. His eyes were completely silver, his ears pointed, and he still had the sword made of ice by his side. He wasn’t wearing the tiara anymore, but his hair was held back by what looked like ice crystals. I knew this was all in my imagination, but I thought I would see if he could answer my questions.

“This isn’t my memory, but if it was, what do you mean its corrupt?”

“I… I don’t know, but this isn’t how I remember it!”

“You were here?” I looked around the scene to see if I could see him and noticed the jealous boy. “You’re him, aren’t you?” He shook his head no.

“That isn’t me, I would love to tell you, but I fear if I interfere, things will take a turn for the worse. You need to remember the truth yourself Sere!” He tried to grab my hand but, as if he was a ghost, his hand slipped straight through my body, causing him to frown. “I shouldn’t even be here!” He spoke. He smiled sadly at me. “I love you Sere!” he said before disappearing.

I was so confused I barely noticed the child, Sere, starting to leave the lake complaining she was cold and needed a drink. I stayed behind to watch the others before noticing the silver-haired boy following Sere out of the lake. The others were too busy splashing and dunking each other to notice him leaving. I followed the pair into the woods.

“Sere, will you slow down, I want to talk to you! PLEASE!” He shouted. She turned on him clearly angry.

“No Dae, I told you before I love Celeb. We are meant to be together, connected by the platinum cord and you know that!”

“I can't help how I feel Sere. You know that dark elves work differently to wood elves. Maybe I’m your soulmate too? We find our mates at the festival, the vision of tranquillity.” He sounded hopeful and desperate.

“Dae…” She stopped and turned to face him. “I love you dearly, but you’re like a brother to me. When my parents took you in, I always thought we would be close and we were… I don’t like you like that; you are my big brother. Please, stop this! If Celeb finds out, you know how he will be.” I listened to the pair talk. They were only 7 and slightly older? I found it very hard to believe that they were young when they spoke this sincerely about love etc. The boy, Dae’s face turned dark.

“I don’t care about that stupid boy!” He sneered. “I know you’re supposed to be mine and you will be Sere! I love you!” With that, he turned around and left the clearing. Sere broke down crying and I could feel myself starting to wake up. I could feel the pain she felt in her heart, she loved both of them but for entirely different reasons. Dae was her family, her confidant, whereas, Celeb was her soulmate, the other half to make her whole, her true love. How could such young children know so much about relationships and love? I slowly started to see a bright silver light instead of the usual darkness and noticed the tall silver-haired man staring at me sadly as my vision blurred and I began to wake up.

Lily’s POV

I woke up from the dream with tears falling down my face. Why did I feel like my heart was breaking? The dream had felt incredibly real. I broke down crying into my hands, pouring out the same emotions that Sere had done in the dream, emotions of loving both of the boys equally but knowing that one of them would never love her back in the same way, as a brother. As I was crying, the potted shrub I had on my bedside table started to glow and began growing. I heard the cracking of twigs and lifted my head to see what the noise was. I couldn’t believe my eyes. As I reached over, in complete awe, the shrub stopped growing and glowing.

“What the…?” I was in absolute shock. Maybe I wasn’t fully awake yet? I shook my head and got out of bed, looking cautiously back at the plants. I entered the living area and turned on the television, not quite believing what I had seen in the bedroom, wondering if maybe I was a little hungover. Thinking I needed to eat to set this right, I grabbed a box of cornflakes and a bowl. I started pouring milk onto the cereal whilst listening to the news.

“Reports of snow in the middle of summer have completely baffled meteorologists all over the city...” I turned to the television with a look of wonder on my face. Snow? Really?

“AH!” I screamed as ice-cold milk spilled onto my feet. I was so in shock that I hadn’t noticed I was still pouring the milk. I sighed and proceeded to clean up. I glanced out of the kitchen window and gasped. There was indeed 2 feet of snow on my balcony and on the surrounding buildings. “What on earth is happening? I’m still asleep, aren’t I?” I proceeded to pinch my arm, but nope… I was definitely awake. Suddenly last night made complete sense. The cold, the pipes being frozen so there was no hot water and, lastly, the falling fireflies had actually been snowflakes. I couldn't believe it and stood in awe, staring out of the window at how beautiful it looked.

KNOCK, KNOCK, KNOCK.

I was even more shocked and stumbled out of my thoughts when the knocking at my front door happened. I sighed again and popped down my tea towel for cleaning to answer the door.

“Good morning, Miss Lily!” A happy voice said. Hope was standing there beaming, as beautiful as always. She was dressed in a bright pink ski suit, her golden blonde hair tied up in the highest ponytail I had ever seen, with a bright pink bow in her hair. Despite her being in a public hallway though, she wasn't wearing shoes, and this struck me as odd. I was also confused as to why she was at my front door.

“Erm… Good Morning, Hope!” I was confused. “How did you know where I lived?”

“OH!” She looked rather embarrassed. “I’m really sorry but Alda, being the receptionist, found out we lived in the same building so I thought I would come say hi, seeing as its Saturday, I wondered if you had plans?” She talked without taking her breath and i had to suppress a giggle at how excited she sounded. I didn't answer straight away. I didn't have plans, but everything has felt weird and off recently. I shook my head, answering that I didn't have plans, cringing internally.

"That’s amazing! Want to go play in the snow?" I must admit, I was a little taken aback by the question. All of us were somewhere in our early to mid-20's and the thought of us "playing" in the snow seemed childish, yet part of me was screaming that I needed to do it, I wanted to do it and it would be amazing.

“Well…” I glanced at the TV and the bedroom door thinking about the plant. “Sure, that would be nice.” I replied. “Just give me time to clean up and get dressed?”

“SURE!” She shouted excitedly. “We live three floors below you at 4A!” She excitedly clapped her hands together. “Just get us when you’re ready, we can go play in the snow” she mumbled something I couldn’t quite hear after the last part but continued smiling at me.

“Erm… OK” I answered, and she waved bye before running off towards the stairs. Well, at least today would be interesting. I cleaned up my milk, ate, then changed into a warm dark green sweater, black leggings, and my ankle boots. Before I left, I realized my plants were out in the cold and I opened the balcony to check on them, fully expecting they would be dead. However, when I went out, I noticed that all of the plants were covered in a very thick layer of frost, which protected them from the harsh snow. I smiled and decided I would place a bowl full of dry cereal on my balcony, despite the snow, I wanted to make sure my new friend had food.

Before leaving my apartment, I checked my phone, hoping David would have sent me a message about something, wondering if there was a way, I could get out of this awkward situation with my new work colleague and her sister. However, there was nothing and no such luck. I typed a message out to him, thanking him for the wonderful evening and hoping he slept well. I also asked if he had seen the snow and how mad it was to be snowing in summer.

When I didn't get a reply, I stood up and realized I needed to go. I grabbed my coat and bag and locked the apartment, intending to head down to Hope’s apartment. I stood nervously outside my door for a long while. I was nervous, but not because these were strangers. I was nervous they wouldn't like me. I was nervous that the sisters would find out about my weird dreams, and most of all I was worried that I would be too boring for them, too plain. I shook my head, and something told me I was being silly. I straightened up my jumper before finally getting the courage to take those first steps.