Raina

Raina 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.”

 

Author's Note

I hope you enjoyed this as much as I enjoyed writing it.

Reviews

[Richard Brannigan]

Wonderful! I wish it was mine! You obviously have a wealth of talent to share with the world. Short stories like this are my favorite literary form to read (only PARTLY because of my busy work, school, band, Navy, etc., schedule...lol), and I hope you will post more of them. One day I'd love to find time to read the book you've posted straight through (reading piecemeal loses something).

[kathrina]

Wow! That was...amazing. :) The dialogue is really good. Everything flows nicely. I was hooked on this as soon I started reading. The details are fine.
All in all, I was really interested in this story and even had emotions stirring in my head. Which made everything seem real to me.
Great job! I like your writings! :)
I'm putting this in my library. :)

[Susanna F]

This is an amazing story with a heartbreaking sci-fi twist. Very well written and great pacing that drew me in. I'll have to read some more of yours!

[nenestarrs]

The dialogue is great. I love the fact that I couldn't easily read the characters or what was real. The setting was visual and I loved the detail you put into it. Good job!

[Bare trees]

A very well written story with good dialogue and plot. You created an interesting world with an even more interesting twist to it which added its own dimention of tension to the direction of the story. I liked reading it.


Your memories…they’re not real because we pla(n)ted them in your mind.

[RainQueen]

Very, very nice! You used setting to tell the story so very well. The plot twists leave the reader begging for more. i especially love that we still aren't absolutely sure which is the dream and which is reality. Reminds me a little o "Woman at the Edge of Time" by Piercy - One of my favorite books ever. This could be a fantastic novel. Great write!

[Lizzy]

This was a really good story! Wow! You're very creative! You're also good with imagery. Nice work!

[Ice Girl]

That was really great! I like it!