The parallel universe, the sixth sight

She followed him deeper inside the forest. She felt comfortable with the old man, his presence brought warmth, which felts nice. He took a couple of turns and up a rope ladder which brought us to a treehouse about 2 storeys high. Inside it was small, but the size was just right for one person staying there.

Sit anywhere you want. I need to get something to show you.

He spoke with his back facing her. She looked around the house and settle on the couch filled with dry leaves. Everything in there, the furniture, the chairs, the cups, the utensils were all made up of branches or leaves. That made the house look even more beautiful. Unlike the city that was lit up by the lifespan of the people around, this is the beauty of nature, natural beauty. Then he returned.

Let me introduce myself first. I am Damon.

Nice to meet you, I would tell you my name, it’s just that I am not really sure that’s mine to begin with.

What’s the name?

Lya

That’s definitely your name.

How do you know?

From behind him, he pulled out a photograph. In the photo there was a boy and a girl. His arms were around her shoulder. Both of their miles were bright. Then she look closer. The girl. She resembled her. Or rather she resembled the girl in the photo.

Who is she?

That’s Lya, and beside her that’s Bryan.

What happened?

That’s something only you will know. Only you can find out yourself. I was just a good friends of theirs. What I know of is only the past but not the future.

Then what is the past? And how do you know I was her when you saw me hold the flame in in my hands?

He sighed, then their eyes connected. His eyes showed despair. It was as though he had unspeakable sorrow within him. It was filled with regret. At that point she knew it was a hard topic for him to touch on.

It’s alright if you don’t want to share it. If it’s too painful, it’s fine.

No. you have to at least know about your past. It’s the only way I can help you.

He took a deep breath with his eyes closed. When he opened them, the candle light shone on them. His eyes were green. The kind of rare green that people see. Emerald green. It was a rare eye colour like hers. Hers were grey. Greyish blue. Then he spoke.

Bryan and I were childhood friends. We grew up together in the woods away from civilization. We only visited town when we need to get supplies. Every inch of this forest is like our home, every inch of it is imprinted to the back of our heads. Then one day, when we were about 20, while searching for branches to make our furniture, we spotted you, laying on the floor with blistered feet and cuts all over your arms and legs. The only thing that was keeping you warmth was a piece of ragged cloth. Bryan immediately picked you up and brought you to our house. Treated you like you were one of our own. Even then, we were shocked, because no one had dared to enter the forest before, as it was unknown territory. You only woke up a few days later. The first thing you did was to open your palm and look at your flames. Then you blew a sigh of relief. It shocked us was your ability to control the blue flame, the will to live. That was something no one we knew could do. We tried asking you but you didn’t say, you just said you were born that way. Soon after you got really attached to Bryan and you guys decided to move out and find a place of your own. That place is where the empty place stood now. The hut with a small rabbit house. After you guys had moved out, we didn’t keep in much contact just once in a while we would discover new things and share them with each other. One of our greatest discovery is the portal. The portal comes with a cunning reaper called Grim. He doesn’t takes people life for fun. He takes it away in exchange of deals with the portal itself. It was said that if someone passes through the portal, they would reach a parallel universe. Are you sure you have no recollection of this at all?

She shook her head. Then he continued.

After that conversation, we didn’t put much thought into it too. As it was partly your decision to make, to find out what exists in the parallel universe. Every single time we shared information about the portal or Grim your eyes would waver and you would stand up and leave abruptly, saying you aren’t feeling well or something you got to do at home. Bryan would always run after you. A few weeks later Bryan came looking for me, saying he was going to make a deal with Grim. No matter how I asked him why, he wouldn’t tell me. He just told me to take care of you. Shortly after he left, it began to rain so I decided to head over to your place but you were already gone. 

She looked at him expecting him to continue, but he was done with whatever he wanted to say. She was looking for the right words to say, but nothing came. Where is this Bryan that she got attached to? Whose memories was she looking back into? She had got some questions answered but there were still a few that weren’t answered. Suddenly, she stood up.

I’ve got to go. There’s somewhere I have to be.

Sure, you do. But I want you to have this.

*

There you go. Goodnight midnight bunnies