The Blue Moon's Prophecy

Chapter 9 - Hairy Dog Father

Chapter 9 – Lavender’s POV

As I’m sleeping, I can feel a soft tap on my arm. My eyes flutter open and I see Lance looking at me. He smiles at me. “Good morning sleepy head.” He says, while taking a seat next to me on the mattress. “Did you sleep well?”

I rub my eyes and nod in response to his question. “We have breakfast set up for you in the front part of the tent. So you can get your breakfast there when you’re dressed.”

A croaky ‘yes’ leaves my throat and he smiles again. “You weren’t exactly a morning person before you lost your memories either.” After having said that, Lance leaves my sleeping quarters, so I can change.

I used to have a good sense of fashion!

It took me a long time to look through all my old clothes. It was really fun to see all my stuff from before I lost my memories. It was almost like looking at someone else’s things, like they were not my own. But after some time I finally got changed.

Now, I’m on my way to the main part of the tent to eat breakfast. I haven’t had dinner last time, so I am extremely hungry. As I come closer, I hear a familiar voice talking to someone. I open the curtain that closes the sleeping quarters off of the main part of the tent a little bit. What I see, shocks me: sitting right next to Lance, is Darius. I’m immediately not hungry anymore. I start to panic.

How did he get here?

Is he here to bring me back?

Is he mad at me?

My whole body stiffens up. Except for my heart. That starts to beat a million times faster. Mostly out of fear and panic, but there is another reason there as well. I can feel it, even though I can’t quite grasp what it is yet. Maybe over time, I will be able to.

Both Lance and Darius are sitting with their backs facing me, but Lance notices my presence anyway and walks up to me.

“He’s not mad at you.” He whispers to me. It’s like he knows what I needed to hear, because I feel a lot better after his spoken words. We must really have been good friend before I lost my memories!

Lance puts a hand on my back and walks with me to the table while slightly pushing me forward. As soon as Darius notices me, he turns around. A huge smile appears on his face as soon as his eyes meet mine. I swear, for a swift second I can even see his eyes gloss over. But as soon as it’s there, it’s gone again. Like it was never there. I awkwardly smile back at him. Lance gestures for me to sit on the opposite side of the table, where a plate and some cutlery has been laid out for me. When I have my first mouthful of food, my hunger returns. The food is really good! While I am eating, I can feel Darius’ eyes on me the entire time. But every time I look at him, he quickly looks away, making it obvious that he doesn’t want me to know he’s looking at me. For some weird reason though, I don’t find it weird or scary. I actually quite enjoy his eyes on me for some reason. After eating breakfast, Darius, Lance and I walk outside, to the place where Lance and I sat yesterday.

Darius starts to tell me about how he got here and how he met Lance. The whole conversation was very pleasant. Especially since I know now that Darius isn’t angry at me for what I’ve done. “Alright, sorry you two. But I’ve still got some work to do. I’ll let you two catch up.” Lance says while standing up. Darius nods.

It stays quiet between Darius and I for a few minutes. Both of us are enjoying the morning sun, the whistling birds and the fresh air. The wind is softly blowing through my hair. It makes me feel relaxed and free for some reason.

Eventually, the silence is broken by Darius. “So, what happens now?” He asks.

And to be honest, I don’t know the answer to that question yet. I want to let faith decide what happens next. There are so many ways I could go at this point, that it seems impossible to make that decision on my own. So I just shrug my shoulders. He nods in understanding. He must know about the huge consequences this choice could have on the rest of my life. He turns his head away from me again and continues his intense stare to the horizon. The silence between us continues. It is a comfortable silence though. Both of us, again, captivated by our own thoughts and each other’s presence.

~ Time Skip ~

I don’t know how much time has passed with us just sitting next to each other on the hill, looking over the campsite below, the green forest around the beautiful horizon behind all of that. Even without my memories, I can tell that this is the most comfortable and peaceful I have ever felt. I scoot closer to Darius till I’m sitting against him with my side, and put my head on his broad right shoulder. He stiffens up for a few seconds, but after those first few seconds, he loosens up and allows me to sit there. I decide to break the silence once again: “Why did you follow me here?”

I can hear Darius sigh, debating to tell me the truth or not.

“Because,” he says, “I was worried. You fainted the day before and suddenly, you completely disappeared. I thought it was because you didn’t like me.”

I shake my head. “It wasn’t like that at all. Now that you know a little more about what my life was like before I lost my memories, I might as well tell you about what happened to me while I was at your house.”

And so, I start to tell him the story about the book I found in the library, the mysterious old lady, the keys, the mirror and of course the man and the young girl from my dream. All throughout my storytelling, Darius just sits there, with his head turned towards me. And from time to time, he would nod in understanding, gesture for me to continue talking or ask a question. After I am done talking, I look Darius in his eyes, which are reflecting a lot of guilt and also a bit of indignation. “You know, you could have just told me.” He says while looking straight at me. “I would have helped you. Also, I’m sorry for not noticing you were going through those things. Now that you have told me, I realise how obvious the signs were.”

“I guess I didn’t trust you enough.” I say. That makes him pull away from me with a sad look in his eyes. “I know, I shouldn’t have taken you from the hospital like that. But as soon as I saw you, I knew you… ehm… would be playing a huge role in my life.” He carefully states.

I pull one eyebrow up. He is hiding something from me, now I’m absolutely sure about it. Darius looks away from me. I unconsciously try to read his body language. But it’s hard. It’s like he is really trying hard not to show me any sort of real emotion and I don’t like it.

I wish he would just be honest with me and tell me what’s going on. There might be some vital information in there. I try to seek for his eyes with my own, but it doesn’t work.

At this point, I’m getting a bit annoyed. I stand up and my body immediately starts to ache. Probably because I have been sitting for quite a long time now. It must be around lunch time at this point, so I decide to look for Lance and ask him for something to eat. Darius looks at me. “You didn’t answer my question yet.” He says. “What do you want to do now? What are your plans for the future?”

I look down at him with my annoyance clearly visible on my face. “Well, you didn’t answer my question honestly either. And I won’t give you my answer till you are willing to be honest with me too.”

Darius is clearly taken aback by my tone and stands up as well. “If you don’t mind, I’m going to ask Lance about lunch now.” I say while turning my back to him to walk back to the camp. “Wait.” Darius says. But I am not ready to listen to him yet. He has to learn to be honest with me. I don’t want to be around people that are not willing to talk to me from their heart. I can feel his eyes burning in my back as I walk back to the camp. But I don’t look back. And I won’t look back until he is being honest with me and I am actually ready to face him again.

It might sound dramatic, and it probably is, but ever since I have known Darius I can tell that he is not telling me the full truth. I have also noticed how sensitive I actually am when it comes to people telling me the truth. I really can’t tolerate lies, especially when I AM willing to be honest.

I reach the camp pretty fast. The ambiance just as good as the day I arrived there. I recognise one of the men who were standing around the table in the main tent when I arrived. He notices the questioning look I’m giving him and motions for me to come over. I do, and he asks me if I need anything. I ask him about Lance and he points me towards the forest. “He went there with some of his men. But if you are going to look for him in the forest, please don’t get lost. It might actually be better for you if you stay here and wait till he gets back.”

I nod. “Yes, but I really need to speak to him. I’ll be careful though.” He makes a small bow for me and steps aside, so I can go in the direction he pointed to. As I reach the edge of the forest, I look back at the campsite. From my perspective, standing on the hill on the edge of the forest, it looked much smaller and even more peaceful. The sight makes me smile. My thoughts drift back to Darius.

I should make things right with him as soon as I get back.

Looking back at the situation, I might not have been completely right with him. He probably still doesn’t trust me and that’s why he’s not telling me anything. I mean, why would you trust somebody who you have only known for a couple of days?

Then again, he was the one who took me home from the hospital without knowing me. He must have had some kind of trust in me. And if trust is not the issue than… What is?

I turn around, facing the forest again and start to walk into the direction that the man pointed me earlier. I can feel my stomach growl.

Why did I think it was a good idea to ask Lance about lunch?

Couldn’t I just have asked somebody else?

They are all my followers. They probably wouldn’t mind helping me get some food.

I keep on walking, without really realizing how far I’m going. And before I know it, don’t know where I am anymore. I look up to the treetops. The thick roof of leaves sometimes lets tiny bits of sunlight through, which makes for fun, small, dancing figures of sunlight on the ground. It looks almost magical. But suddenly, the small lights on the floor disappear. I look back up at the sky again and through the leaves, I can faintly see clouds starting to form and block the sky from showing of its bright blue color. The breeze, which has been blowing all day, suddenly gets a bit colder and it makes a cold shiver run down my spine. The wind getting colder like that usually means rain is coming.

I panic. I don’t know which way the camp is anymore. I’m lost. And if there’s one thing I know for sure it’s not to wander too far away from the place you got lost. I don’t remember when and how I was taught this piece of important information. I just remembered it now. Part of me is telling me to stay where I am, like I have been taught. But another part, a bigger part, tells me to go and look for the camp anyway; I don’t know how long it’ll take for Lance and his men to find me. Maybe they won’t even notice I’m gone. Maybe they’ll just assume I’ve gone back to earth. And besides, I am starving. If I don’t go looking for the camp, I might die of hunger. So, I decide to go and look for the camp anyways, even though my instincts are telling me not to.

After walking for a few minutes, I feel a small drop of rain fall from the sky and landing on my forehead. Then another one lands on my shoulder. And another one lands on my nose. Oh no, not rain. I sigh. I really don’t want to have to look for the Green Dew Field while it’s raining. But then, I hear a voice behind me: “Lavender, what are you doing on your own in the forest. Come with me to my house before it starts to rain any harder.”

My whole body stiffens up. This voice is definitely not Lance’s. It’s a woman’s voice and it sounds pretty old. I slowly turn my head around, looking over my right shoulder. Inside though, I don’t even want to know who is standing behind me, but my body doesn’t listen to me anymore.

I don’t expect to see the nice face I’m seeing when I turn my head around. The woman’s voice, which is soft and friendly, fits her looks very well. She smiles at me. Her smile makes me feel safe, it awakes a sense of nostalgia in me. She reminds me of an old grandma. You know, the type who would bake a lot of delicious cookies, the type who let you stay up just that little longer to tell you the most beautiful stories. And of course, the type who could not just be your grandma, but also your best friend.

Realizing that I might have been staring at the lovely old lady for longer than necessary, I awkwardly return her smile and ask: “How did you know my name? Who are you?”

The woman’s smile widens. “You don’t recognise me dear?”

I shake my head slowly, indicating that I don’t know her.

”Well, I’m your hairy dog father, Serene.” She says, making a small pirouette to show herself off. When she looks back at me and sees my confused face, she realises her mistake. “Ehm, fairy god mother, I mean. Sorry, but this is the first time I’ve seen you in about 19 years. I’m a little nervous.” She says. I nod, still with a slightly vague look on my face. “Are you lost?” Serene asks me. I nod again. “Are you ever going to respond in different ways to me than nod?” She says in played frustration. I smile again. But just to tease her, I nod again. She just rolls her eyes in a child like way and pulls a wand out from under her coat. The wand gives off a white glow. It was made of a clear crystal like material with a silver handle and it is decorated with silver leaves around the crystal part of the wand. It looked simply magical. “Come on dear,” Serene says, “I’ll take you to my home. It’s not far from here. There, we can safely talk about what is going to happen next. I’ll bring you back to the camp after that. Also make things right with Darius dear, please.” Having said that, she twirls her wand in the air. Magical, silver particles surround the both of us before the world around us starts to fade away, teleporting us to Serene’s home.