RainaA Story by yukiderpRaina has to decide with her best friend Shen, whether or not they want to runaway together to live in a beautifully enchanted place hidden deep within a forest.“Where are we going?” I ask. I stop suddenly, trying to catch my
breath.
“You’ll see when we get there,” Shen says, smiling down at me. “Come on, Raina,
you can’t be tired already.” “We’ve been running for almost two miles now!
Who wouldn’t be tired?” I say.
Shen holds out his hand, “You won’t regret coming here, just trust me.” And I do. He’s never let me down
before, so why would he suddenly do so now? Together we continue to make our
way through the quiet forest. Our shoes make close to no sound on the soft
green moss covering the ground. Everything here feels crisp and fresh. There
are trees all around us, but up ahead there’s a large rocky mountain blocking
our path. It’s quiet, but I can still hear the sound of birds chirping in the
distance. As we get closer to the mountain, Shen gently pushes the green ivy
growing on the rock face aside, revealing a small cave opening, and pulls me
in. As soon as we step in, the atmosphere suddenly becomes mute. We
silently walk down the tunnel, passing small patches of strange-colored flowers
here and there. I look above and notice cracks in the ceiling where bits of
sunshine are falling through, allowing us to see where we’re walking. I pause
for a second at a glowing purple flower and stare closely at it. Abruptly the
flower snaps close and I jerk back in surprise. “Let’s go, Raina, we’re almost there,” Shen whispers. When
we finally reach the end of the tunnel, I peek over Shen’s shoulders and gasp
in amazement. Another tunnel, leading upward this time, was extending endlessly
above us. Shen carefully grabs hold of a crack in the tunnel’s wall and slowly
begins to climb up. I follow closely behind him. Feeling like hours have passed
since we left the ground, we arrive at a small opening at the top and climb
out. “Look
around you, Raina.” The first thing I hear is a
magnificent waterfall roaring loudly a few yards away. A few animals have
gathered around to drink in its clear mountain water. My attention is moves to
a large butterfly fluttering down from a tree branch above me and rests on my
shoulders. The colors on its wings reflect in the light and start to change
hues, from a bright glowing cyan to a crystal clear blue. I gasp as the
butterfly takes off without warning and disappears into the sky.
“It’s beautiful here… How did you find it?” I ask.
“I really don’t know,” he responds. “One day I was exploring, and I just ended
up here. Don’t you wish you could stay here forever though?”
I murmur in agreement and close my eyes, listening to the peaceful sounds of
Mother Nature working her magic. I think I can almost hear the trees growing.
My eyes flutter open as Shen’s hand rests on
my cheek, “Raina,” he says. I jump as I realize the closeness of
his face. “W-what is it?”
“What if we really did just stay here…and never went home?” he asks, staring
earnestly at me. “I don’t know, but we can’t just leave our
families like that…right?” I respond. Shen
is already shaking his head. “It’s okay
though. We’ll be safe here and nothing can harm us. Come on, Raina, please?
Let’s stay here together, forever.”
“You’re kind of missing my point.” Something isn’t right. The Shen I knew
wouldn’t say things like this.
“Raina, look around you! You can’t deny that this is the most beautiful place
you’ve ever seen, right?” he says. He almost sounds like he’s…whining. Like a
child. I study his earnest face; something
looks different about him. I reach up to touch his cheek, but my finger moves
right through him. I gasp.
“What?” he asks questioningly, tilting his head and unaware about what just
happened.
“Shen! Your face! My'” I stop when I realize that his body has been blown out
of proportion. His mouth continues to move, as if he’s trying to tell me
something, but I can’t hear him. “Shen?” I whisper. “What’s happening?” But his
body only continues to shrink away, along with everything else. Suddenly I feel
someone shaking me. I open my eyes.
“You were dreaming, Raina, are you all right?” It’s Shen, the real him. I clamp
his cheeks together to make sure of it, and he looks at me funny. “What’s the
matter?”
“Nothing, just a bad dream,” I tell him, hiding a smile. He shrugs and pulls me
up. It’s still dark outside, but I can see the sun rising on the horizon.
“Where are we going today?”
“You’ll see,” he says with a grin. I get a strange sense of déjà vu.
But that was just a dream…right? Shen pulls me up and we quietly
sneak out of my house, trying not to wake up my sisters. The two of us hop the
fence outside and sprint toward the forest nearby. It looks dark and eerie,
definitely not like the one in my dream. As we charge through the forest,
branches scratch our arms and legs, tearing bits of our clothes as well, but we
ignore it and keep on. Finally we reach a cave, and to my horror, it looks frighteningly close to the one in my dream.
I take a step back. “What’s
wrong?” Shen asks. A large sense of foreboding is overwhelming me. “I can’t go in
there,” I say, shaking my head.
He laughs, “What do you mean you can’t? Come on, let’s go.” I shake my head more frantically. His eyes grow cold. “Raina, you
promised you’d come with me.”
“No I didn’t,” I whisper. What’s happening to me?
“Raina.” Shen’s voice sounds dark and he looks at me sternly. “Raina, do as I
say.”
All this time I’ve been stepping further and further away from the cave, and
maybe even Shen himself, but finally I’m forced to stop as my back run a tree.
Shen’s hands reach out to grab me, and I scream in fear as his fingers morph
into claws.
“NOOOOOO!” I close my eyes and scream as loudly as I can. Finally, I collapse
onto the ground and begin
to sob. It’s hopeless; nothing is supposed to be the way it is. I feel like I’m
in a dream again, so I clench my hands into fists and start hitting myself as
hard as I can.
“Someone stop her!” says a woman. I freeze. Her voice sounds unfamiliar. I
quickly scan my surroundings and notice that I’m in an extremely bright room
with white walls. There’s people dressed in plain white coats standing all
around me. Suddenly, I feel huge hands grab my wrists. I try to wriggle free,
but they’re strength is overpowering. I lash out in fury.
“Let go!” I shout, kicking my legs at the man who is trying to keep me
together. But another pair of hands grabs onto my legs and I’m finally held
down. My chest is rising quickly and I’m breathing heavily. Who are these
people? And why was I being restrained?
The same woman ignores me and says, “Subject
12 is reacting violently; bring in a sedative. We need to keep her heart rate
down.” She motions to one of the men holding me. “Restrain her. Use the straps
if you need to and don’t let her escape.” “Escape? Why am I here? And what did you do with Shen?!” I
demand. She glances at me when I mention Shen, and begins to jot down some more
notes. Then she disappears into another room.
“Wait! Tell me what’s going on!” I yell after her, but two men strap me down to
the hard bed. I am forced to stay still, but I continue to writhe and squirm in
place, purposely giving them a hard time. Where am I? And where were Shen and
the waterfall and the cave?”
The door opens again and a group of people rush in with strange objects. One of
them, holding a sharp-looking needle, was walking straight toward me. Before I
can even prepare myself, the needle is shoved up my arm and I black out. When I finally gain consciousness
again, I hear someone say, “Subject 12 seems to be experiencing
hallucinations.” Subject 12? Is that what they’re calling me? My eyelids feel
heavy, and I slowly try to open them. I’m still in the white room, but this
time with more people. Their gloved hands are probing me with sharp utensils.
I try to speak, but my speech sounds slurred. They probably drugged me. I
think, so now I’m completely in their hands. I feel so vulnerable and exposed.
“Subject 12, can you hear me?” The same woman from before is on my left, still
jotting down notes. “I repeat, can you'”
“Yes…” I mutter. “My name'”
“Subject 12 is your name,” the woman responds automatically.
“No I... My name is'” I clear my throat, “My name is Raina,” I finally say.
The woman lifts an eyebrow. “Raina you say? Hm…” she glances uncertainly at her
partner beside her.
“Shen…” I continue. “What did you do to him?” The woman gives me a long look. I
take this moment to study her too. She looks tired, with dark circles under her
eyes.
“Raina,” she begins, “There is no Shen here. He’s not real.”
Not…real? I stare at her, trying to understand. “My family?” I ask. She just
shakes her head. What’s going on? Is she saying that Shen and my family don’t
even exist? That I imagined the whole thing? “What… Where am I?”
The woman looks unsure about whether or not she should respond. “Where am I?” I repeat sternly.
“Tell me.”
Finally, she seems to make up her mind and says, “You’re being held in a place
called Area Nineteen, also known as Sarem. Your memories…they’re not real
because we planted them in your mind. You’re here because of an experiment.”
“What are you talking about? Stop lying! Shen is real and my name is Raina!” I
yell as loudly as I can as I try to rip myself free of the restraints. Why
can’t they just believe me? Tears flow from my eyes. I just want to go back to
the real Shen, the one I knew, not the strange one from my dreams. I hear a
loud beeping off to the side, and everyone around me starts to move in a
panicked haze. All I hear are things like “Keep her heart rate down!” and “Her
body temperature is rising too fast.” But I don’t care. Maybe this is just
another dream. I feel a second needle dig into my arm again, and I black out
once more.
I seem to be floating in a sea of black liquid and I can’t breathe. The
blackness is too thick. I feel suffocated. Suddenly I hear someone whisper,
“Raina…” It sounds like Shen… Oh my god Shen, he’s here, I knew it. I knew that
he wasn’t fake. I look around for him, but I don’t see anything except a tiny
light. It looks so far, but something is telling me to go toward it. “Subject 12…” I hear that woman’s voice again. “Subject 12, come
back to us…” No. I will not go back to you. You’re nothing but an illusion. I
don’t want to go back to that scary white place full of people I don’t know. I
face the tiny light again, and it feels a little closer to me this time. I
begin to reach for it and as I’m stretching my arm out, I can hear Shen’s voice
getting louder and louder. “Raina,” he’s saying,
“Come on, I want to show you something.” I smile, he always wants to show me something. The light is
close enough for me to grab it now, and I reach for it one last time.
Everything seems to fade out, and I’m back on the soft grass, back in the
magical wonderland, and back in my world with Shen next to me.
“I really don’t know,” I hear him saying, “One day I was exploring, and I just
ended up here. Don’t you wish you could stay here forever?”
“No,” I hear myself say. Was this really happening again?
“Yeah, you’re right. I guess we can’t leave your sisters alone. Who’s gonna
take care of them?” Shen ruffles my hair and gazes off into the distance,
looking longingly at the stunning waterfall.
“Actually, I change my mind,” I say, “I want to stay here forever.” © 2013 yukiderpAuthor's Note
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Added on January 3, 2012Last Updated on January 12, 2013 Tags: yukiderp raina short story AuthoryukiderpCAAboutHey my name is Yukina, and my favorite book is The Hunger Games. My favorite snack is ramen...and I love to cosplay. I love to write. But only stories, I'm not much of a poem person. You may .. more..Writing
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