Chapter Text
There is a girl. A girl troubled by dreams of a life she can't remember. A girl named Nessa. And this is her story.
×××
Nessa woke to a splitting headache
Nightmares again?!
She sighed and headed down the ladder into the living room, where she looked into the adjacent kitchen.
Shermie was struggling to pull his sword out of the kitchen counter.
“How does something like this happen?” Nessa asked.
“If it could happen to anyone, it would be Shermie.” Beth responded.
“Idiot.” Nessa laughed.
“The ‘idiot’ is right here!” Shermie complained.
“I had the dream again,” Nessa said, trying to sound casual as she reached for a piece of toast.
The sword popped out of the counter and Shermie stumbled back.
“I told you before, just ignore them and they'll go away!” He said angrily.
“But they mean something!” Nessa insisted.
“No, they don't!” Shermie snapped as he headed outside.
“Why is he acting like this?” Nessa said, frustrated.
“You know he doesn't believe in magic stuff like that. It scares him, especially after that story we heard.” Beth said.
Nessa scowled.
“What was it this time?” Beth asked, more gently.
“A-a boy. A boy in blue. A..human boy.”
“We do need to figure out a way to stop these dreams.”
“You think I want to have them?!” Nessa demanded.
“Of course not.” Beth said, heading out to check on Shermie.
But you do want to have these dreams. They make you feel special, don't they?
Nessa wasn't sure why she hadn't told Shermie and Beth about the voice. Maybe because it was dangerous. Maybe because she wanted them to trust her.
You'll never get to the bottom of these dreams if you do what Shermie says.
Maybe you’re right.
If you let me-
After what you did to those girls?!
They deserved what we did to them.
What you did to them.
It had been years, but Nessa remembered like it was yesterday.
•••
The girls in the village had been teasing Nessa about having no proper home and family, as usual.
But this time the teasing was going deeper. She'd thought these girls were her friends.
The blonde one, jeering, the leader.
The one with the black hair, full of barbed taunts.
The one with her hair in braids dyed pink, mocking her.
And the one with orange hair, the one who watched.
Let me teach them a lesson. The voice had offered.
And Nessa, in her anger, had accepted. She remembered a rush of power, and then she'd blacked out.
When she'd came to she'd seen a circle of scorched grass and the girls collapsed, each with a small scar on her throat.
What have you done to them?
I took their voices.
So Nessa had to leave another town.
That night, she'd run into the woods. As soon as she stopped to catch her breath, she heard growling in the forest.
Oh great.
A monster charged out of the woods, slashing at her. Nessa drew her daggers, but not fast enough. A sting of bright pain. One of her eyes wasn't working. Why wasn't it working? She pressed her hand to her face. Warm. Sticky. Blood.
If you let me-
Never again.
She lashed out with her daggers, and felt them connect. The monster let out a scream.
Nessa couldn't think, couldn't focus. She couldn't see. Everything was spinning.
Blood loss. She thought distantly.
And then…darkness.
Nessa had woken up in bed. She looked at her surroundings through her non-bandaged eye, and saw a warm looking house.
“Hey!” Came the voice of someone she couldn't see.
“Shermie, you're in her blind spot.” Another voice said.
“Right.” A small grey something (Shermie?) came into her field of vision.
“You feeling better?” Asked a large yellow dog standing next to him.
“Urgh. I'm…as well as can be expected.”
“Well anyway, I'm Shermie, and this is Beth!” Shermie exclaimed.
“Nessa.” Nessa replied.
•••
Shermie and Beth had been good friends. Then the dreams had started.
Maybe the voice was right.
No matter how much you may trust your friends, you'll still end up all alone…
×××
Nessa wasn't the only one who remembered that day. One girl did too. All the girls did, as a matter of fact, but she was the only one who would talk- or rather not talk- about it.
Ginger-haired Keyora, with the scar on her neck. And this is her story too.
×××
Keyora slipped silently into a tavern, again with the shiver of fear that someone would remember her, recognize her.
You went out of your way to ensure that you've disappeared.
Just like she did.
Searching, still searching. How long has it been? How long since her life had been her own, since she'd been able to laugh and sing?
Too long.
She walked up to the bar.
“That one, please.” She signed, and pointed to the Honey Energy Drink on the menu.
The bartender passed her the drink with narrowed, suspicious eyes.
“I don't want any trouble from you, understand?” The bartender growled.
Keyora nodded and slipped into the crowd, searching. Information was hard to come by, but supposedly there was an informant here. That didn't stop her searching the crowd.
She'd memorized every line of the face of the girl who had ruined her life.
Searching, still searching.
For…
Nessa.
×××
This story does not only belong to two. A third person wants a chance to tell their story. Someone who wonders endlessly about lands far away. Someone longing to explore. Moss.
×××
As the sun set, Moss anchored their grappling hook to the top of the tree, climbing up into the tallest branches.
“Little help?” Their friend Coral called from below.
Moss hauled Coral up next to her and returned to staring at the distant horizon.
“What are you looking at?” Coral asked.
“I want to see it.” Moss said.
“What?”
“The world. I want to see it.”
“Why?”
“The answer is out there! The answer to my dreams, the answer to this…feeling.”
“You're too restless.” Coral admonished.
“I just…want to explore. I want to understand it. I want to do what Summer did.” Moss immediately knew they'd made a mistake. No one mentioned Summer anymore.
“Summer was an exile. She didn't leave to explore. We all know she only found sadness out there.”
“So we're told.”
Coral threw her hands up in the air in defeat.
Moss returned to staring at the horizon.
I will see it, someday.