Chapter 1

The Dream:

I find myself running down a muddy path in the dark, brushing aside the branches from the tall trees that lean over me. The rain violently pours from the sky, each pattering noise appearing as a warning. 

But a warning for what? What could possibly be going on? I think to myself trying to stay focused. 

My body moves on its own as it turns down another path leading to the sound of running water. Thoughts that aren’t mine fill my head, all of panic and terror. Goosebumps form on my arms and legs, unable to tell whether it is from the cold or the unsettling feeling that suffocates me. 

No matter how hard I try to clear my mind, I can’t. Just like a puzzle that’s finally assembled, every time it goes back into the box the pieces only get mixed up again. 

I suddenly inhaled sharply as I felt an extreme discomfort crawl over me. Exactly like a shadow, becoming one with me. 

No, more like swallowing me whole, devouring my courage. As though it had been waiting for this moment, it didn’t hesitate to hold back. I take a deep breath and try to shake off the feeling.

 I look up from the ground, the stream isn’t that far up ahead. Cautiously, I start to take steps onwards.

The moon shined brightly, almost like a sun for the dark sky. Soon after the stars begin to appear one by one, taking their time to join the moon in the clearing. 

I continue to walk forward until I feel the water begin to damp my shoes. Once I gaze down, I notice a faint discolouring to the water. The rest of the water remains transparent, while slightly tainted blue, but this part of the water appears dirtier than the rest. 

Stepping out of the water, I shook my foot to get whatever water was still inside my shoes.

Now walking up the stream, the stars and the moonshine bright enough to give enough light to see what was in the water. 

Kneeling down to get a better look, trying hard to not wince as my bare legs press onto the sharp jagged rocks. Shocked I realized that the water wasn’t dirty at all, instead, it was a slight red.

When wondering over what it could be, only one thought comes to mind. 

“Something like this couldn’t possibly be blood, right?” 

I could feel my heart pound against my chest, as though its goal was to burst out. I breathe in and out slowly, trying to calm myself down.

I listen to the whistling of the wind and the sound of the rain hitting against the ground. The current remains still, too still for comfort. My stomach twists and turns, urging me to not continue ahead, but my legs don’t listen.

I follow the stream against the current, not knowing what I hope to find. My pace turns into an awkward half run and half jog, trying to keep my balance on the bumpy path.

Suddenly I find a large rock that looks way too heavy to move. Glancing down at the water, I notice that the red colour is much darker over there. 

I scurry over to the rock as only more shows on the ground the closer I get. While debating if I should get a better look, I see that I am already approaching the other side. Once again having to brush aside the bushes and tree branches sticking out like a trap.

In most cases, no one would dare to walk to the other side of the rock. Well in my opinion at least. I feel as though the fear of the unknown would have blocked away any thought of continuing down the dark narrow path.

The path became only thinner as I made my way around the rock. There wasn’t any way I could be sure of the colour, since the rain made it all just a dark shade.

“Ouch” I mumble as a sharp rock hits my shoe, causing me to stumble a bit before catching myself. 

Almost as soon as I reach the other side, my body stops in its tracks. Standing almost as still as the corpse laid out on the ground in front of me. The wet patches of grass aren’t only wet from rain and dew, but also the large amounts of blood leaking everywhere. 

The girl that was there had her an arrow lodged into the center of her throat. The arrow looked as though it was once silver, although now it has blood-stained near the arrowhead. The arrowhead was only visible because she was laying on her side, with both parts of the arrow stuck out of the front and back of her neck. It seemed that the arrow only managed to cleanly pierce through her neck from the way she landed, as she was still on her side with the other part of the arrow supporting her up. 

I look around to see what happened, but all I can see is the blood that now oozes out at a slower speed. Unconsciously I walk forward to get a closer look at her face, swatting away the flies that surround her body.

I immediately jolt back as her neck moves more into the arrow. I shudder and quickly back away.

Even though it was only to myself, I was still hesitant to talk. Regardless, I let a mumble escape my mouth, “I should see who she is and what happened.” 

Rushing over, I see if I can stop the bleeding, yet it only makes my hands sticky in blood. No matter how much I wanted to run away, almost every bone in my body screamed at me to help her, do anything I can to save her.

I pull out the arrow, gripping it tightly as I rip it out in one go. Blood begins to spill out much quicker now as I quickly apply pressure to the wound. 

I switch out one of my hands to grab my sweater and yank it off to apply it to the wound. I check for a pulse quickly. My hands eagerly tracing her arms and neck in search of something that wasn’t going to be found.

My throat hurts as I choke back a sob. Instead, a bitter scoff comes out. 

What did I think would happen? What was I even thinking in general?

I place her head in my lap carefully and begin to brush aside her hair. I still pondered over if I knew her or not. With the heavy rain, it was hard to see around me, let alone minor details. I start to lean in, but just before getting a closer look, a scream interrupts.

A girl appeared holding a bow, one who looked a lot like a silhouette of me from far away. She was yelling, screaming, using all the power in her voice to call out. 

Though I couldn’t see her face it was obvious that tears fell down her face, getting mixed with the drops of rain. She begins to run up to where I sit. She runs fast straight for me. 

No, not for me, she can’t see me. I heave a sigh of relief.

She grabs the girl in her arms and holds her tight. The girl’s hair falls back over her face. She starts to cry harder, her tears come down faster than the rain.

No matter how close I am to them, their faces are too hazy for me to recall. It was simply annoying.

I begin to get up off the ground, but suddenly an arm grabs my leg firmly. As I turn around I see the girl who had been holding onto the bow.

“It’s all your fault.” Her face is unclear though I know she carries a cold expression to match with her tone. 

“It’s all your fault. You are to blame. You did this.”

The beginning:

I awake in a cold sweat. I grab onto the blankets as though they were the only thing holding me from going back. I sigh and begin to get up, immediately going to the window. 

My feet hit the cold wood floor and immediately retreat back under the covers. Carefully, I lean over the bed, reaching my hand to grab my slippers that are tucked away underneath. Slipping each one onto my feet, I once again, get out of bed.

Walking towards the window, I already know what to expect. As I pull open the curtains I see rain falling outside.

“As usual, whenever it rains I have the same dream.” I take a quick pause and try to shake the images out of my head. No matter how many times that dream happens, it’s just something that I can never get used to.”

I look into my mirror, at my emerald green eyes, and my shoulder-length strawberry blonde hair. I always thought I looked like a leprechaun, especially with my freckles. With my green pj’s on, I really did look like one.  

Emma barges in with force, making the door hit the wall. 

“Rise and shine Yumi!”

“Hey! I already told you to stop doing that. What if I barged into your room?” I say to her in a stern tone.

She chuckles my tone off and smiles. “Sorry, sorry. I was just coming to check up on you, it’s raining you know. I was just worried about you, and you know the rule about not going into my room.”

“Of course I know, and whatever don’t worry, I won’t,” I grumble. 

“Well don’t worry, I made your favourite, waffles with strawberries on top! Come on let’s eat, we have a big night tonight!” 

When she smiles I know I can’t say no. Something about her makes me feel so giddy all the time. She must know this too since she seems to use it to her advantage whenever she can.

“Be there soon.”

She chuckles softly and leaves the room, leaving the door open. I groan as I begin to make my way to the door. The floor creaks as I shuffle my feet against the floor, still not awake enough to have the energy to pick them up. 

As soon as I reach the door, the smell of waffles wafts over to me. I smile and walk towards the kitchen.

“Thanks, I guess I needed this a bit.” I let her see a smile sneak onto my face for a split second.

“No problem! Remember I’m here whenever you need me.”

I nod in return. My phone begins to ring loudly from my room.

“Who is that?” I tilt my head towards the room. Emma answers by nodding. It was an unspoken language of ours, it was like asking for permission without saying anything. Emma used to joke that we could read each other's minds.

The call:

I race back to the room hoping to get there in time to answer the call. Swinging open the door, quickly but carefully.

I grab my phone off of my bedside table and swipe the answer button on the call.

I speak first. “Hello?”

“Hi! Yumi are you coming to the college party tonight? You’re only gonna be twenty once, am I right?”

I groan jokingly. “Ah hi Luna, that’s a lot of enthusiasm for this early in the morning. I can already feel my energy leaving me.”

“Oh come on, don’t be like that. You never come, you know how hard it is to get an invitation. You should feel thankful I always get you one.”

Just by hearing her tone, I can tell she’s pouting. I let out a soft chuckle, but I got caught.

“Hey! Don’t laugh, I’m serious. Take this opportunity for once, you might even have fun.”

“Sorry but I still can’t go, I have other plans tonight. Tonight my roommate and I are walking into the forestry area behind my house and looking around. How about next time?”

“Hmph, you better keep your word this time. By the way, when did you get a roommate? Wait, nevermind, I gotta go. Bye!”

“Alright, alright. I’ll talk to you soon, take care.”

*BEEP*

“Guess I was interrupted.” I chuckle softly to myself.

I plug my phone back in and head over to the kitchen, excited to begin eating the waffles Emma made.

“Hey, you took too long so I packaged up the waffles. You can eat them later.”

“Awwe, Emma, why do you have to be like that.” I begin to pout.

Emma notices and laughs. “Come on get your stuff in the car and let’s go.”

“Okay,” I say unhappily, wishing I hadn’t taken the call.

The drive:

I just finished grabbing my backpack, filled to the brim with just enough stuff for the day. I throw it in the backseat of my ocean blue truck. 

I wipe my forehead for any sweat from lifting the bag as a joke. Emma catches on and laughs.

“Are you ready for a day of fun?” I ask her with two thumbs up.

She nods and gives me two thumbs up back. We chuckle and hop in the car, the doors slamming behind us.

“Oi, am I driving?” I reach my hand out for the keys.

“Yeah, you know I don’t drive.” She passes them to me quickly.

In a rush, I pull down the mirror on the driver's side of the car. I fix my hair in the mirror and check out my outfit, sweats and a t-shirt. I figured I shouldn’t wear the fancy stuff I would normally wear. I apply my lip chap and put the mirror back.

“Okay let’s go!” I start the car and start driving.

The arrival:

During the drive, we scream to our favourite songs. 

This is just like what we used to do. Wait, used to do? What am I even thinking, we always do it? It isn’t anything old. I find my thought irritating and decide to just continue calling out the lyrics to our favourite songs.

The ride ends not too long after that. We only ended up driving five minutes into the dirt roads.

I unbuckle my seat belt as Emma does the same. We open our doors, making sure to grab our stuff before locking the doors behind us. We set our stuff out as our fun just begins.

The evening:

The day flew by fast, we ended up hunting with my bow and arrow. Emma started the fire for dinner, that way I could prepare the animals we hunted.

“I’ll go get wood! Don’t worry too much, you’ll be fine without me.” She looks at me with a big smile, yet a hint of sadness peaks through. 

I started to worry over what she had said. The words were straight forward, but the last part seemed to have another meaning.

“Look I’m doing it again, I need to stop this constant worrying.” Yet even when I speak those words, there isn’t anything that destroys the bad feeling in my gut.

Five minutes pass, ten minutes pass, fifteen minutes, twenty, soon enough I begin to lose track of the amount of time she has disappeared for.

Finally after already finished cooking the meat, I set it aside and got ready to go look for her.

The search:

As I search for her, the scratches on my legs only continue to grow in amount. While pulling the branches away from my path, it only becomes more and more familiar to my dream.

“EMMA?” I scream her name, hoping with all my might for an answer.

“EMMA?” 

Desperate for an answer I call out once more. “EMMA?”

A rustling noise appears in the bushes, not too far away from where I am standing.

“Emma?!” 

I chase after the sound of the bushes moving, hoping to grasp onto any lead to finding her I can.

I continue to run after it until I catch a mere glimpse of Emma as she turns around and looks at me straight in the eyes. 

“Emma! Emma, stop running away. Come here let’s go back together.”

“I’m sorry, but you need to let go.” She turns around and continues running.

“What? Emma, what are you talking about, let’s just go back okay?” Trying hard to at least get her to stop running away.

“You need to let go.”

“Emma, I don’t understand.”

“You need to let go,” she repeats.

“Emma, I don’t under-” Before I can finish my sentence, I realized that I was falling headfirst into a rocky ditch.

The impact to my head made my vision blurry.

“Emma,” I call out weakly.

“You need to let go.” Her voice now sounds distorted.

My vision slowly fades, starting to get fuzzy along with my consciousness.

The second dream:

I find myself back in the forest just like my other dreams on rainy days, yet this time it’s different. I look around and see that Emma and I both have bows in our hands. We were hunting together.

Emma caught a deer and I caught a moose, not even a bit bothered by the rain that falls around us.

“Wow! Yumi, you always aim for the neck huh?” She asks me, looking as though she just witnessed something amazing. 

“Yeah, I guess it’s just easier for me or something.”

She laughs, then tries to shoot another animal but ends up missing.

“Agh, I gotta go find my arrow.”

“Alright be quick.” I smile.

Time passes fast, yet she still hasn’t returned.

I hear rustling coming from behind me.

I might as well use this time to hunt something. It’s by the stream! But that’s kinda far will my arrow make it?

I aim my bow and release my arrow as I hear a small thud in the distance.

Did I hit it?! Emma will be super proud of me!

I rush over to check it out. Pushing and shoving my way through the branches, the sound of the stream being my only guide in the pitch-black sky.

The stars slowly creeping in, but not enough to give light. Though the moon shines bright once I reach the clearing where the stream is.

I begin to scream, emotions begin to pour out of me, unable to be controlled. I see the horror of a scene from my dreams except without me where I usually would be. Instead, I was the other girl who was carrying the bow. 

All along it was me, and the girl lying there, was she Emma?

I ran over to her frantically. I try to stop the bleeding by applying pressure to the wound around the arrow shot through her neck.

I sob as I look for a pulse, hoping, begging it wouldn’t be like my dreams. 

I feel slightly relieved when I find a faint pulse. I fumble through my pockets grabbing out my phone to call 911.

Good thing there’s still cell service here.

As it rings I only repeat two words over and over. “I’m sorry. I’m sorry. I’m sorry. I’m sorry.”

She weakly lifts up her arm that is already going cold, and mouths “It’s okay, I know it wasn’t on purpose. Please don’t blame yourself.”

I begin to cry more, nodding and holding her tight.

911 finally picked up the phone as I managed to hold back some tears while I explained everything to them.

I tried to keep her conscious until they got there. Her arm dropped back onto the ground and she let go of a heavy breath.

I held her tight as the sound of sirens appeared, and the flashing lights flashed onto us both.

“Help her! Please help her!” I handed her over to them and sat down on a nearby log, waiting to see what happens.

As a few hours passed, I fell asleep in tears. I awoke to someone shaking me, I sprung up. When I looked at who awoke me, I saw it was one of the doctors.

“How’s Emma?” I ask him.

“I’m sorry, but I’m afraid we’ve done all we can.” He says frowning.

“No… This can’t be happening.”

I rush over to the ambulance, only to catch a glimpse of Emma’s dead body lying still on a stretcher.

“Time of death, September, 16th, xxxx.”

After that, a loud humming noise blocked everyone out. I walked in disbelief back to the log. Not knowing what to do anymore. I didn’t know how to feel, let alone even know what to feel. It rained harder as my head began to hurt and I passed out.

The return:

I awoke in the ditch, all the pain starting to hit me. My head felt as though it was pounding, and my body looked pretty banged up.

I was bleeding quite a lot and seemed to have injured my ankle.

My laboured breathing only became worse as I limped over to the other side of the ditch and climbed out.

I limp trying to get through the now muddy path back to the truck. Dragging my feet, becoming more soaked and muddy than before.

The blood begins to drip down my face, watered down from the rain. My wounds sting with every passing second, regardless I continue to the truck.

I reach the campfire, which has already been put out from the rain and the lack of wood. I grab my bag and throw it into the truck, turning on the heat to warm up, and driving back home in silence.

The house:

When I reach the house and park the truck, I head directly inside. Limping to the door as my fingers rummage through my keychain, trying to find the house key. Sliding it in and hearing the click as I turn it.

When I step inside and remove my shoes, I notice that it is slightly different from before. There were no waffles in the kitchen, as well as any sign that they were there. It seemed as though only one person was living here alone for a long time, but then again, I guess there was.

I take a deep breath and go over to the room, Emma’s room. It was a room I haven’t opened in a long time.

When I pushed open the door, the room was covered in a layer of dust. A single dresser pushed up against the wall in front of me.

The room was small and only had a small closet built into the walls and a window. The dresser had a single picture frame on it, flowers, along with my bow and arrow from in the dreams.

I went and looked at the picture graph, it was a picture of me and Emma in highschool. I was holding the camera and surprised her. That was one of my favourite pictures with her, I always thought she looked good no matter what, but she still tried to delete it.

I let a bitter smile escape, then I grabbed the vase with the wilted flowers, and took with me. As I walked out of the room closing the door behind me, my head began to feel worse along with my ankle and the rest of my body.

The garden:

I put on my shoes once again, wincing as it hits my wounds and ankles. The vase makes a small clicking noise as I set it down by the shoe rack, that way it’ll be easier for me to open the door and get outside.

I open the door and walk outside in the rain, trying my best to ignore the pain. My throat feels tighter with every breath I take, but I know I can bear with it just a little longer.

I step outside, leaning on the side of my house so I don’t fall down. Grasping tight to the window ledges that stick out around my house, the white paint slightly rubbing off onto my bloody palms.

I finally make my way to my rose bushes, pulling off four purple roses.

“One…, two…, three…, four…, done…”

I return to the front of the house and step back inside for the last time.

The last time:

I slam the door shut behind me, making sure to lock it as well. I take off my shoes and set them down on the ground. I pick the vase up and walk over to the kitchen.

I empty out the dead flowers and fill it up to the top with water.

With that being done, I return to the room and place three purple roses inside the vase that is placed right next to the picture frame. Keeping the other one in my hand I leave the room.

As I head back to my room, I quickly grab a yellow rose that Emma had given me a while ago. It was a miracle it was still blooming.

I begin to feel too dizzy to stand, my knees crash against the floor. My head begins to bleed a lot more now.

I crawl over to my room, opening the door and going inside. There was a trail of blood in the path I crawled in.

I try to stand up, just long enough to be able to fall onto the bed. Hitting the fluffy pillows and covers, I lie there for a minute.

I clench my hand into a fist watching the thorns stab into my palm. The pain was not nearly as much as the other injuries.

“Hahaha, even at this time I still will know her answer. This yellow rose that lies next to the purple rose, the same flower, yet entirely different at the same time.” Tears start to uncontrollably fall down my face.

“Emma, I’ll be joining you very soon. So please, wait for me. Luna, I’m sorry I’m not keeping my word.” And just like that, I gave in to the strong demands my body screamed at me and closed my heavy eyelids for a rest that will lead me to happiness. Lead me to Emma. I don’t need her to feel the same, I don’t even need her to think the same. As long as it means I can be by her side, and be there for her. At least if I can see her smile, I can rest easy. The room fell silent, the only noise being the rain hitting the window calmly. Just like all of our memories together, flooding the sky, as we both can reunite once again.

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