The Arrow's Betrayal

"Close thine eyes darling, let thine self be kip.   Tomorrow thy will be back, hope thy won’t bide..."   I woke with a start as the familiar voice echoed and crept into my head which slowly became a soft whisper through my ears the moment I came to my senses. I felt a sudden surge of energy rushing within me, as I try to calm myself. Minutes later, my breathing became steady. With annoyance, I reached for my silver scrunchies placed on my bedside table and tied my hair into a ponytail.   Disgusting, I am all sweaty. All because of a nightmare I have been dreaming of for the past week now. How could I dream of the same dream over and over again? Was it a dream? Nah, a nightmare, perhaps. Her voice has never been unpleasant to my ears, but it always woke me up in the middle of the night. A hot summer night, mind you. The sweat from the nightmare didn't really help that much. I wonder why my brain keeps on showing me the silhouette of a couple, why could they be walking down the streets in the middle of the night?   I glanced to the window on my right side, as I stare into nothingness. The ticking of the clock suddenly became loud. Loud that it is almost deafening. I heaved a sigh, rolled my eyes, and got up to my feet. I can't stand the sound of that old wall clock.   I sneaked from the girls' bedroom right past the hallway that leads to the front door. The cool breeze of the midnight wind touched my skin and I felt like a weight within me was released. I slowly closed the door behind me, afraid that its creaking sound will wake them up. Thank the gods, they were sleeping peacefully. I can even hear them snoring.   An old willow tree welcomed me the moment I stepped my foot outside the front door. I ran towards the swing made from a plank and was tied to an old rope. Why is everything in this orphanage old?   I comfortably sat on the swing and slightly pushed my feet from the ground to build up a swinging motion. The signage greeted me, with red creepy writing saying, "Laughing Souls Orphanage". I stared into the night sky, as black as my hair, and made a face. My nightmares did something good, I thought. It freed me from that suffocating place that never made me feel that I belong, that I am one of them.   As peculiar as may seem, I was already here since the moment I was born. The orphans found me in front of the orphanage's gate and Lily, the head of the orphanage gave me my name. I grew up watching people not wanting me to be their child. I was always rejected by couples who ought to raise a kid and I never knew the reason why.   I watched the kids my age got adopted by a wealthy family. As for me, I never even had the chance to impress them. Even before   coming here, they already knew who to avoid: me.   For the past 12 years, I lose hope that the right time for me will come. I just know that it will never happen. So instead of keeping my hopes high, I focused on planning to get away from here.   My life is a cycle of nothingness like I was a hollow structure but consists of flesh and blood. That did not make sense, right? I kept longing for something I do not know. I kept missing someone I perhaps, haven't encountered in my 12 years of existence yet. I kept looking for something I was not aware of. I just ran and ran and ran... until my feet brought me to the woods.   Why was I there? I don't know. What am I looking for? I don't know. I wasn't even aware of who am I anymore... everything that happened in my life, even my name, just everything, felt so fabricated. Like it wasn't   me. Like if I am really me, I wouldn't live my life like this.   "Celestine." A voice made me come back to my senses. I haven't realized that I was too drowned with my own thoughts that the sun was now up, hitting my face with its blinding brightness.   "Yeah?" I answered without looking. Instead, I aggressively stood from my sit and the swing has stopped. "Breakfast's ready." Lily walked away with a glance. I followed her inside the orphanage's dining room and sat in the far corner of the table; my favorite place.   "Hey, Cel." Oliver greeted with his famous crooked smile as the sun hit his white teeth, glistening as if a diamond. I glowered at him and raised my fist.   "Cut it, Oliver." I never liked my name, especially the shorter version. Celestine, huh.   Aside from it sounded so girly, it means from the heavens. I chuckled with that thought. If only the myths are real, I am probably from the underworld. Maybe petting Cerberus, the three-headed dog.   "Good morning, Celestine! How was your sleep?" Her bubbly and upbeat voice never failed to annoy me. Freya sat in front of me beside Oliver. I ignored her and took a bite from a piece of bread on my plate. I frowned. Every day is like a deja vu. I looked up to keep myself from tearing up. I just wanted a normal life, but not as normal as the life I'm having right now. "Please, get me out of this endless cycle." I whispered and shut my eyes tight.   "What?" Oliver whispered. The morning prayer has started, the reason why Oliver was whispering instead of growling in his normal, loud, and as annoying as Freya's voice. god, I hate it here. But I can't deny the fact that they made me stay. Oliver and Freya, I mean.   As the prayer ended, the sound of the utensils clashing surrounded every corner of the room. Please remind me why I always forgot that prayer first before eating. I dropped the piece of bread and played with my spoon and fork as Freya went on babbling about what happened to his crush at school.   The day passed by as easily as every freaking day. I stretched my arms and rubbed the sleep from my eyes. The sound of the horn woke the sleeping Celestine inside me. I excitedly jumped from the thick branches of the old willow tree, my favorite hangout place, by the way. And heard Selene yelled pretentiously. Perhaps to grab Oliver's attention. But the lad paid her no attention.   I rolled my eyes on her and walked towards the field as I shook off the dirt from my favorite cream-colored sweatpants. I picked a single dried leaf on my hair and started   skipping steps, humming, as I made my way towards my station: Archery.   Besides Oliver and Freya, archery was also one of the reasons why I got to endure my not-so-pleasant stay here. I grabbed my quiver, yes, my own quiver, and a rusty-looking bow that worked perfectly fine for my past games.   Please, don't even get me started with archery. This is the only field where I can be proud of myself. Imagine being expelled from every school in this town. No one wanted a kid that stubborn.   I raised my arms that held the bow. I instantly released my grip from the arrow and without that much effort, bullseye. I happened to have good eyesight, you know. I was never aware of my eyesight being clearer than my future, not until I got involved in a dodgeball game last 3 years ago.   They were targeting me, the kids. Maybe   because I was too old to be still in an orphanage full of bratty kids who happened to be annoying the hell out of me. The ball kept coming, as they threw it nonstop. There were three of us still alive in the game, but they only picked out on me.   I definitely saw a red streak on a few strands of my hair, but I was more focused on getting retaliation on this brat. Suddenly, as if in the movies, everything slowed down except me. I saw the ball made its way towards me and the moment I sidestepped, stretched my left hand to the ball, I caught it and stood still. Everything happened fast I almost forgot why I was standing so still. As if I was frozen.   "Take of your clothes, please." Once again, Freya snapped me out of my deep reminiscing moment. I raised a brow at her.   "I mean, you're all sweaty." She replied and looked away. I swear she was blushing. I grabbed the towel from her right hand and   wiped the sweat all over my body, especially in the stomach area. I pulled up my white t-shirt, still below my chest, and faced the east where the wind was blowing.   "Wow. Your tattoo looks so cool. I want the same design too. A crown." Oliver muttered. "How come I never saw that?" He added. I stared at him intently and scrunched my nose.   "How come, you asked?" I said. "You pervert." I slapped his back so loud it was enough for everyone in the field to hear.   "Aw!" He complained. I threw the towel I was using to swipe my sweat with and swiftly walked inside the orphanage. I went to the bathroom and fixed myself. By that, I meant I took a bath to freshen up.   I slightly pulled up my t-shirt and traced the mark on my belly button. Its shape resembles   a crown, indeed. I just noticed a scar. A thin, horizontal, line scar. It looked like an arrow without its tip was pierced right through the crown. I traced it with my fingertips and suddenly felt a growing burning sensation surrounding the mark and the scar.   I ignored the feeling and threw myself into my bed. I was slowly drifting to the dreamland not until...   "Celestine! Ya-hoo!" I pressed my face onto the pillow and covered my ears. I know that annoying voice. I felt her jump to my left side and started shaking the bed.   "For once, Freya! Stop being so annoying!" I shouted at her but she did not seem to take it seriously. "Come on, they allowed us to cook for tonight's dinner!" She answered, still shaking the bed.   I got up. I had no choice, obviously. She will just keep on pestering me. I knew her better than she knows herself.   I leaned on the door while I crossed my arms. I stared at them as they kept on shrieking and making weird noises. Their voices overlapped in my mind and I started to feel the dizziness threatening to further make my mood worse than it can get.   A noise overlapped everyone's voices in my head. It was a tiny, squeaking sound that was very much unpleasant to my ears. I stood still and became aware of the sound. Minutes later as I tried to focus on the girls' who were happily cooking, a tiny shadow walked past through my eyes along with its squeaking sound. Alert, I roamed my eyes to every corner of the room as I intently made an effort to not lose the sound.   A caught a glimpse of a tail as short as my pinky finger. A rat. Great, this kitchen must be mucky and smeared with different kinds of bacteria. Once again, it squeaked its way towards the pile of vegetables placed beside Selene, who was trying so hard to perfectly cut thin strips of potato.   "Stop," I said. No one seemed to hear me.   "STOP!" I screamed from the top of my lungs and glanced at the pile of vegetables. I had eye-to-eye contact to the rat and I suddenly felt like it was teasing me. Probably laughing because no one would want to catch it.   Everyone looked at me, confusion thrown into their faces. "There's a—" everything happened so fast. The girls were suddenly passionately screaming while others jumped to the table where the vegetables were peacefully sitting. A caught Freya trying to catch the now hysterical rat running for his life.   I joined Freya to the rat hunting. We parted ways when we reached the table while   everyone was trying to climb onto it. I shove their faces and feet away. Honestly, I can't tell that much difference.   Freya stood to the other end of the table, while I waited for the rat to come to me and trap it inside a paper bag I grabbed as I was running. The screams calmed down a little and when I was about to end the life of the poor little rat, the screams intensified. Louder than earlier.   I once again felt the burning sensation in the mark on my belly button. But this time, the heat was more than that. I looked behind me and saw the stove roaring to life. The vegetables, plates, and other flammable things were now stacked on the open stove. The flame burst and almost incapacitated me. As if a tsunami, the sudden surge of energy came.   My eyes sharpened as I stared into the ever-growing flame. I did not know where I got this courage but anyway, I walked to the flame. I knew it, I am somehow related to Hades... or Pluto.   "Celestine, no!" I heard Oliver screamed along with the other screams. In a snap, their deafening howling became muffled, as if someone's drowning me. Not in a bad way. Drowning me with power. Drowning me with everything I was longing for, with everything I wish to be freed inside me.   "Celestine!" This time, it was Freya. I became more alert than ever and heard a small familiar voice. I saw Devon, a 12-year-old boy who just came last week, behind the stove. No one seemed to notice him because of the building smoke surrounding everyone. Some passed out, while some helped Lily to get everyone out of the kitchen.   Unwittingly, I jumped over the flames. Where did I get my strength? I don't know. Probably   from the adrenaline rush. I easily carried Devon and once again, jumped over the flames since every way out was concealed by the falling debris of the walls.   Everyone safely went back to the great hall, just in front of the burning kitchen and the firefighters came just in time. Several pairs of eyes looked at me in awe, some were with confusion written all over their faces.   "H-how...?" Selene stopped and caught her breath. Her friend named something like Julie fanned her hand to the overreacting Selene.   Okay, maybe that was too much. I remembered, Selene suffered from asthma since she was a kid.   I shrugged and turned my back to every pair of eyes staring right into my soul. I was about to walk away when Lily spoke. I stopped halfway and hanged on to her words.   "Your hair," she said. I secretly took a peep on my hair. Oh no.   "They're red."   "That's probably the reflection of the fire."   —