Chapter 1

A Chapter by estellenorean

I never expected myself to be different. I have what a normal person can have. I have a completely average life. Yet in my dreams I have another life. At night I’d go to bed then see another world.

Chapter 1

I never expected myself to be so different. I have a house, a family and I go to school. I have a completely average life. Yet in my dreams I have another life. At night I’d go to bed then sleep. It my dream it would be morning again as if I couldn’t get even just a minute of sleep.

The first time this happened was when I was 8. I fell asleep after swimming an entire day with my family. I was s the end of the field near a forest. A fully grown man was giving orders to a boy who was holding a knife. It seemed like they were training. They had a break and the older man went to the nearby houses. The boy was running around in the field pointing the dagger in every direction. He started throwing it around. On his last throw the dagger hit my sleeve and I was pinned to a tree. It cut through my arm and it started bleeding. The boy saw me and ran towards this direction.

He looked at my arm then pulled the dagger out as hard as he could. “Are you ok?” he asked. I answered him no. He ripped his own sleeve and tied it around my arm. He left and said he’d run and call for help but I woke up right then.

I knew it was just a dream, but the wound was real. I touched it and it hurt. My mother got mad at me. I told her it happened in my dream. She laughed. She told me it was fine. That was when I realized that I can’t ever tell anyone about this.

The next night I came back. I was so shy I couldn’t leave that place at all. I sat on one of the big roots. Minutes later, the same boy as the one the night before showed up.

“I’m sorry about yesterday,” he sat beside me. “Where did you go? I called some people but you were gone.”

“Did those people laugh at you?” I asked him.

“Yeah. They sure did. Even my father,”

“So did my mother,” I told him.

“You didn’t answer me earlier. Where did you go?” he asked me again.

I decided to give him a shot. “I woke up.” He stared at me. I turned red. I regretted that.

“Sorry, do you want to play?”

I nodded. Every day after that I kept on going back, that was until that certain meeting. I wanted to tell him that it was my birthday. I stayed there for a few hours but he didn’t show. He could’ve told me he wouldn’t show. I grew so angry. I wanted to stay and wait longer. I woke up and told myself that won’t ever happen again. I won’t come back to that place anymore. A lot happened since that time outside of that dream world. And for years I never saw that place again.

… Until now.

“Estelle, can you get the orders of Ms. Poppy and Ms. Devin?” my mom Charleotte ordered me.

I sighed. As much as I like arranging flowers, I hated working in a flower arranging shop. I’m Estelle. And I was at my mother’s flower arranging shop. I looked for the flowers in our mini-greenhouse. I’m not boasting and all but all the flowers left were my mom’s, mine were all sold out. I found the flowers she asked me to get. I got them and gave it to her.

I continued back to my unfinished flowers. The bell at the door rung again. Another customer. I saw she was a frequent at our shop. She looked at my work.

“How much for this bouquet?” she asked me.

“Just go to Ms. Charleotte and tell her you’ll take it,” I told her. Geez why can’t I work in peace?

“Another work of art,” you can tell she adored it just by looking at it. I put it aside. I took another base and started on another set. I studied flower arranging at an early age. Because of my great interest in it, my mom started his shop. At my age now, this is more of a hobby and comes to me naturally. The woman earlier looked at me again. She told my mother she’ll take my previous project and the one I’m working on now. My mother took my other arrangement and my current project without it being finished and handed it to the woman. The woman smiled and left the store.

“Is that what this shop sells? Unfinished flowers?” I said to her irritated.

“Mai, you know its not like that,” she assured me.

“Sure, mom. Remind me not to make flowers in this shop,” I cleared up and decided not to make any more. My mother smiled.

“MAI! MAI!” A girl entered the store, “Good afternoon, Ms. Charleotte.” That girl was my friend Rachel. We’ve been friends since I transferred to Crimson Public School.

“Don’t call me Mai, I have a real name you know,” I warned her. She completely ignored me.

“Anyways, Mai, I have already listed the things we ARE going to need for our next year,”

“That’s great. I hope you enjoy yourself,” I ignored her.

“Don’t be so heartless. Don’t you get the big picture? I’m talking about being juniors next year here, hello?” she patted my arm.

“Yeah, I know. Can we not talk about this now?” I don’t like this kind of talk. Especially about that certain topic.

“Fine. Ignore me if you can. But come on! The dance this year is a Sadie Hawkins Dance,” she insisted.

“Not my problem,” I glared at her.

“I can’t believe you’re not worrying about this at all,”

“I can’t believe you’re worrying about it this early,” I rolled my eyes.

“It’s no use arguing with you. I barely win. But, hey. I only came here for one thing,” she got something from her bag. “Happy Birthday, Mai!”

I rolled my eyes. “Wow. I surely thought you’d forget.” I smiled at her.

“I’m your best friend! How can I possibly forget?” she smiled brightly but frowned right after. “I’m sorry I can’t spend time with you though. I have to attend ballet practice and fetch my little sister. And I’m really sorry,”

“It’s ok. It’s the thought that counts,”

“I have to go now. Bye!” she got out of the store. I noticed her mom was with her in the car. No wonder she was in such a hurry.

“Ok. Time for some family bonding. Let’s go. We’re heading out,” Mom took my jacket and handed it to me.

“Seriously? We’re going out? But we usually stay at home during birthdays,”

“It’s nice to have a change every once in a while,” she got her cell phone and called my sister and my dad.

We ate outside for the first time. I felt so happy. My sister enjoyed it as if it was her own birthday. I laughed at the thought. I got Rachel’s gift. I opened it. It was a dream catcher. I smiled. I couldn’t really determine what was the use of this thing since some people couldn’t even dream, especially me for a very long time. But who cares? I placed mine above my bed.

I slept. And felt a light above me glow.

It was the same place as I’ve seen before.

“Huh?” was all I can say. The field was still there. But from where I stood the field was a bit longer and there was a path in between. I looked at what I was wearing. No way! I was wearing a blue green and white dress just like the costume I wore at a play where I got cast as a commoner. “This isn’t happening again.”

I heard hoofs and hid behind the nearest bush. I was near a sturdy tree and decided to climb up where I can’t be seen.

“Nice throw! I have to admit, that was the best one so far,” a guy’s voice said. It was probably sarcasm.

“Ha! If only dad saw you miss that shot, I’m sure he’d be furious.” Another one said. I peeked. The two boys were actually handsome. Both looked related but had different features. They looked like princes in fairytales. That’s right! This is just a dream. I moved my hand. The tree’s branch shifted and a nut fell on one of them. He looked up and nearly saw me.

“I have an idea,” the other one snapped his finger. “See that squirrel there?” he pointed at the squirrel nearest to my head. “We tie our handkerchiefs to our arrows and try to shoot the nut its holding.”

“And the winner gets?”

“When the next ball will be held, of course,”

“I’m not really after the prize but it’s a deal,” The squirrel moved closer to my head. They’re going to hit it. They could hit me!

The first arrow was shot and hit the tree about an inch higher than my head. I gulped. The squirrel squeaked and moved beside my shoulder which made me panic more. The 2^nd arrow was shot then hit the nut of the squirrel and what’s more it made a gash in my left arm. Not only is this déjà vu but the handkerchief that was tied to my arrow was actually … mine. Another proof was that my name was written at the side with my 8 year old penmanship.

I used my right hand to pull the arrow out. I saw my name clearly.

“I’ll get those,” the last one who shot his arrow said. They’re going to see me. And worse the branch I was standing on creaked. It didn’t take him too long to get here. He was like a monkey swinging from branch to branch ye he was so graceful. He reached the branch in front of me and stared as if he wouldn’t believe what he was seeing. He has wavy brown hair and deep green eyes. I gave him the arrow. “This must be yours,” I gave it to him and he took it. I heard a crack then I fell. Oh why am I bad luck? I started screaming. I landed in front of the other boy with a thud.

He stared at me then burst out laughing. He was still laughing when he helped me up. The other one got down from the tree smiled. I blushed. This was so embarrassing. Hey boy with wavy brown hair notice the wound on my arm. He tore his sleeve and tied it around my arm. Déjà vu again.

“Well don’t you know how to say thanks,” he raised an eyebrow.

“Um, sorry. Thanks,” I looked at him. He seemed familiar.

“Are you from around here? You look like a familiar face,” he was deep in thought.

“No this is my first time here,” I lied.

“Well Zen, we have to get going,” the other one rode his horse. “I’m sorry miss. What’s your name?”

“Estelle,” I told him. The Zen guy fell of his horse. He finally rode his horse and they were off. What kind of people are they?

I looked around again. It’s still the exact place as before. But how come I came back? A hard pain hit my head. It was like a headache that really hurt so badly. I woke up. The lamp beside be was on fire. I must’ve forgotten to turn it off. How stupid of me. I got the fire extinguisher downstairs and turned it off. I realized I was bleeding from scars in my head. And the scar on my hand was really there.

next chapter