Fictional Story: Entangled Love

CHAPTER ONE- The Beginning of a New Life

My name is Lareine. At the time, I was only 17. The only thing I remember was that while I was getting into bed, a stranger grabbed me from behind. It was all too fast even to remember. I was suffocating, screaming out to my parents.  Though it was too late, they got me. In the mist of my struggling, I can remember that I was able to take off the mask of their leader. Till today, I can still remember his face. He had an awkward heavily protruding nose with a noticeable scar just above and below his right eye. It was as if someone had tried hard to aim for his eye with a knife. But what really struck me is that his right eye was filled with so much hatred. Hatred that’s far from what the human mind can imagine.
The next thing I remember was at an old abandoned shack. More like a hut now that I remember it. All a around me was old cardboard boxes and pieces of trash left around the floor. On the other side of the room there was a bed which seemed like someone lived there. I remember that beside the bed was a rustic red looking door with a window. I stood up to see through the window. The men with masks were playing cards and drinking beer.

One fat one asked the leader, ” What are we gonna do with the girl boss, she saw your face.” I heard someone walking to the door, I quickly return to position.
“No problem, we’ll get the money from her parents and kill her, problem solved,” the leader responds.

I hear a man dialing, the rest were all playing cards and having their beers. I knew I had to get myself out of there. I looked up and around behind me to see a small window. I quickly moved. Lucky for me, the window did not face the red rustic door. So I climbed on top of a few boxes and opened the latch to climb out. I tried to close the window but the window was suddenly stuck! Too late, the leader saw me out so I began to run without hesitation. As I ran, I saw nothing but trees. I called out and screamed out, but no one responded. I could hear the men now. I started running faster, but I was coming to the edge of the path.  I looked out to see the end of a cliff with an ocean at the bottom. I don’t know if it was me or if it was just my gut instincts but I just knew I could jump down safely. The water plunged up my nose and I gasped for air as I floated to the surface, I could see the men watching me from above and leaving. I felt pretty safe when suddenly; I see a humongous wave heading my way. Everything went black. Somehow I could hear a voice. It was a boy, his voice was deep.

“Are you ok,” he says. After hearing this boy’s voice I felt warm, almost safe. Trying my best to stay conscious, I then dozed back into sleep.

Waking up was hard since I felt horrible and weak inside. When I opened my eyes, I can see a boy’s face very close to mine. I saw that I was in a very small quaint-like guest room. There was a really bright window with small purple curtains at the head of my bed, an end table on my left, a shelf at the far corner on the left, and a desk on my right. Among the people who are around the age as me, there was a girl.  She glared at me and back to the boy, she gives me a nasty look and disappears into the crowd of kids. I looked back to the boy.

Looking calm, he says, “You’re really pretty.”

I could recognize the voice, it was the boy with the deep warm voice. I felt my cheeks swell up as I heard his compliment and sat up to see many small children around me and a small group of teens whom were also about my age.

“Where am I,” I say feeling a bit flustered.

The boy that was close to me says, “I’m Luke, and you are at the finest children’s orphanage in town.” I look up to see a really pleasant looking lady walking towards me.

“My dear, you should be resting, you have quite a bit of a fever you know. Oh you poor thing, what you must have suffered out there to be found unconscious by the sea late at night. You should thank Luke here. He was very worried when he found you. Said you were constantly yelling out for your parents.”

“That’s odd; I have no memories of my parents. I only remember…” I drifted off and it flashed back to me, scenes of me running off a cliff and men chasing to get me. My head hurts. It pains, it’s as if there’s something pushing on all sides of my head. The pain subsides after a while.

“My dear, if you cannot remember don’t force yourself. What you are meant to know, you will know in time, no need to rush it. Now let’s get up to eat. I’ve made a hot steaming bowl of porridge and orange juice on the side.” She looks to the kids.

“Come on now, go out to play.”

The lady helps me eat some porridge and lays me back down to rest as the rest of the kids and Luke leaves the room.

“Excuse me what’s your name,” I ask.

“Oh dear, I certainly am forgetful now aren’t I? My name is Eleanor. I’m the founder of this orphanage. I started this orphanage when I found Luke crying on the street. Oh the poor thing; he was abandoned at age 4. Then the others were found around the area just like Luke and they all came here. “

“I see. I don’t remember my name, maybe you could help me pick out my name?”

“Lareine, why don’t we go with that? My mother’s name was Lareine”

“I’m sorry to hear. But Lareine is a lovely name.”

“Yes, it is,” she says looking up to the window.

“But it’s alright, it wasn’t anybody’s fault, it was her time anyways. Okay, now you go have your rest, I won’t bother you with any of my stories.”

Falling asleep was hard; all I could think about was how blank suddenly everything is in my life. Everything seem so surreal. Like it’s a bad nightmare I had fallen asleep to and everything would be alright when I wake up. Unfortunately it is real and I did the feeling of not knowing who I am. The thought that I may never find my place in life back was horrifying. I wasn’t able to fall asleep well. I don’t even remember how long I fake-sleeped because the whole time I was “sleeping”, I was actually trying to collect my thoughts together. Trying to figure out how I’ll ever return to my old life however good/bad it may be. I ended up “sleeping” for a long time. But however long it was, it was long because when I started to “sleep” it was evening, now it’s midnight. I knew there was no use in forcing my self to actually sleep no more. I mean, who am I kidding? How the hell is any decent person suppose to sleep knowing they’ve been ripped out of their original lives and placed into a whole new environment? I desperately needed fresh air. A walk would probably do the trick.

I quietly walked out of the tiny bed room to a long hallway with a door at the very end and a round door on the other. The moon shone into the hallway through the tall windows. The hallway looked so calm and peaceful like in a dream. All the others must be asleep because I could hear the snores through the doors or the rooms. *Creak* A door opened and a boy with dark brown hair walked out.

“Hey you’re that girl that Luke found aren’t you? You look pretty in the moonlight.”

“Yes and thanks… I’m sorry if I woke you up.”

“It’s alright; I was going to get a glass of warm milk anyways. I’m Noah by the way.”

“Nice to meet you.”

“I’d better get going, and now that I mention it, you better get going too. Eleanor won’t be happy that you’re out of bed.”

“Why?”

“When kids get sick around here, Eleanor is very serious about it. One time, I was sick for days and Luke helped me sneak out. Eleanor found out and we couldn’t leave our rooms for two whole days! Eleanor still brought us food; I mean she would never starve us, but she was quite upset when she found out.”

“Looks like she cares a lot about the kids around here-” *Footsteps*

“Let’s talk another time; we need to make our way out without being found, follow me!”

We ran to the door at the end of the hallway. When we swung open the door, there was a huge stair case that spiraled up and down.

“I’m going downstairs to the kitchen, you can go upstairs if you are looking for fresh air. There’s a door there with a small flight of stair leading to the roof. “ *Footsteps*

“You better start running!”

Hoping I could find this roof Noah was talking about I made my way quickly up the stairs to find it lead up to one door. The sound of footsteps seemed to have faded. This door had leaded to another long hallway filled with doors. For an orphanage, they sure had it luxuriously big . In the corner of my eye, I saw that one door had bright lunar light shining from underneath the door that’s on the other side of the hallway. It was 2nd to the end on the left. When I opened it there was a small set of stairs which lead to a big  rooftop. It was exactly what I needed; some nice fresh air. The scenery was beautiful because you could see the backyard was filled with flowers of all kinds and the shimmering water of the lake in the garden was like cherry on top of a beautiful master piece painting. Mmmm….. the warm wind against my skin felt like silk lingering over my face. I let loose of my pony tail to let my  hair fly.

“You’re hair smells nice, reminds me of the flowers on the country side when my mom was here.”

I turned around to see Luke. He smiles and starts to slowly walk over. My heart! Ba- dump! What is this strange feeling? I couldn’t possibly be…

“Lareine, was it?”

I nod. I could now smell him. Interesting, you’d think a boy should smell sweaty or funky, but he didn’t. It was like a minty waterfall scent. Refreshing.

“I heard you have no memories of your parents. Funny, it sure didn’t seem like it when  you kept on clutching to my arms screaming out for them that night.”

“All that’s left in my memory are these men whom chased after me while I jumped off a cliff”

“Off a cliff?!? Now that’s exciting.” I shrugged a half smile.

Looking at him was like looking at a prince. He seemed almost flawless with the moonlight shining over his blonde hair; his eyes even sparkled as I met up with it. I looked over back to the scenery hoping he couldn’t see my cheeks flush hot fire truck red.  It was all so cliche, but magical.

“Want me to show you an even prettier place than here?” He took my hand and showed me to a thick forest. After passing by dozens of trees, it opened up to a beautiful meadow that glowed! The tall grass brushed the side of my white gown, my feet embraced the lush grass, my hair flew in the wind, it all felt so beautiful. When I thought this place couldn’t get any more beautiful Luke whistled and a thousand fireflies flew up.  Just then, my head felt kind of dizzy and I stumbled here and there tripping over a small rock. Oh no, not now, not in front of him! I fell, but luckily the grass broke my fall. He runs over.

“Ulllghh, I don’t feel so well……”

He touches my head and touches his.

“Lareine, you still have a really high fever! Let’s get you to Eleanor.”

All was dark again.

© 2011, Karmenz, Hy & M.C.