Chapter 3 : Entanglement

My surroundings were filled with greenery. Confused as to where I was, I run in a random direction, and then I see a boy walking... towards a house, an old dilapidated shack. I decided to follow him and I went towards the entrance. I see him sitting in front of a large bird's nest. "What are you doing"? I ask but no response. I went closer to the boy and as he walked towards the door, he walked straight through me, and before he ran out of the shack he said "I'm sorry". My surroundings began to change and I was free-falling in the sky. I was shocked and didn't know what to do. Suddenly, a man grabbed my hand in midair and said "Don't worry, we'll make it through this" and as we fall out of the sky my surroundings changed again, I see a woman sitting beside a lake reading a book, and a gentleman walked behind her and offered flowers. The woman seemed pleased and let out a smile.

And my surroundings changed again. A large bedroom, an elegant pattern on the walls, a large chandelier on the ceiling, and an enormous bed. I stand there wondering as to where I am. Suddenly I hear behind me"Mary?". My eyes widen as I slowly turn around to see a woman lying in bed, reading a book. The voice seemed familiar, but her face was one I did not recognize. "Who are you... How can you see me?" and as I say those words the walls and the bedroom changed. From being clean and elegant, to tattered and cracked. The walls embedded with bullet holes. The chandelier has been broken into pieces on the floor. I rush out of the room and I run into a man kneeling on the floor in the middle of the great hall, I walked towards him slowly, then he let out an agonized roar. A sound so loud my bones began to rattle, I continue walking towards him and find him holding a woman. His tears kept on flowing, sorrow grasped the room as his grief was immeasurable. After some time, he stood up and his brunette locks faded to an ashy grey, crimson Rose petals fall from the ceiling and while walking towards the door, an intense light emanated from the entrance... And I heard a voice "Come with me and I will help you".

The environment changed again from a torn mansion to a battlefield. I see soldiers running through trenches, some were stabbing each other, some were shooting their guns. A dastardly stench pierced my nose, I see some soldiers hiding behind barriers puking and inhaling a white substance, some were just seized up in the fetal position. I hear loud gunshots and I see a Jeep, speeding through the battlefield... It seems that they need to escape as it was going opposite of the battle. My surroundings change again but this time, I was inside of a jeep. I was sitting beside a woman in the backseat. We were driving at a pretty high speed, I was going to look at the face of the woman, but suddenly a man appeared on the hood of the jeep. He lets out an immeasurable bloodlust and while holding a gun he points it at the woman. She was not fazed by the pressure the man let out and instead, took a hold of the wheel from the driver and swerved the jeep so we could dismount him. Somehow, he couldn't pull the trigger. All I could sense was his bloodlust fading, he was wearing a mask and I could not see his facial features... But he was not budging from the top of the hood. While we were swerving back and forth, the driver did not notice the large tree that we were going to crash into. I see the tree and try to brace myself. Somehow, the woman turned her head and looked at me and braced as well. Before impact the scenery changed again, I was sat in a field, I see a jeep that crashed. Miraculously the woman got out of the car, but had a broken leg and was bleeding all over. She crawled towards me, and as she struggled for her life I notice her features, she had long black hair and porcelain skin... She was someone that was not supposed to be in a war but a household. She kept crawling and as she was in front of me, she looked up and I finally realize... It was my mother. A moment in time freezes as I see my mother, ragged and bloodied. Tears come out of my eyes and she raised her hand to my face almost as if she were going to wipe them away, I heard a gunshot.

A bullet traveled through the air to the back of my mother's head. She was still smiling even in her last moments. Blood splattered across the grass. Yet It did not get on any part of my clothes nor my body, it all passed through me. Nevertheless, my mother still acted as if I was there. I see the man who fired the bullet, he took off his mask, he had long ashen hair and blue eyes. He revealed tears. Rage took control of my body, my eyes let out nothing but hatred. I run towards him while screaming ready to give a beating, but all that happened was me passing through him, almost as if a ghost. He knelt to the ground, and embraced my mother's body and wept. "Are you insane?" comes into my mind, "crying to while embracing the person you just killed?!?". I felt powerless in this situation, I fell to my knees. He then proceeds to reveal a knife and cuts off his right hand. He then turns around and looks at me. Suddenly, his hatred was put in show, I realized that his glare was not for me but someone behind me. A strong light blocked his features, all I could see was an outline. He spoke just one-word "Suffer". I felt lightheaded and dizzy but amidst all this confusion, I close my eyes, cuff my ears, and scream, as hard as I could. "it's all a bad dream", "this isn't real", "it's all lies". Rejection seeped through my being and as I opened my eyes, I was not screaming. Nor was I crying. This time, I was in reality, I barely wanted to move from the alley but I could hear some chatter around the corner and some kids playing about, "it's about to be night" I say to myself as I find the strength to move and scurry back home. But while going back home, her smile and that scene were still vivid in my mind.

I was near my house, just two blocks away from my street. I knock at the door and our maid Cora lets me in. "Welcome home young lady," she says but I ignored her and went straight to my room. I landed face-first on my bed and cried and cried... and cried, the whole time feeling so crushed. The knowledge of what unfolded before me all feels... surreal if those visions were true... I'd hope not. I go to bed after a few more hours of sorting my thoughts and pushing back today's experience as nothing more than delusions.

When I woke up the next day, there was a bouquet on my bedside cabinet. It had a note attached to the front of it, "the flower's names are Gladiolus, Heliotrope, Hyacinth, Aloe, Chrysanthemum". just looking at the bouquet, I knew all the flower's names but one. My mother was an avid botanist and would often teach me about flowers, even so... Why did she appear in that vision? "I've never heard of a Hyacinth before", it's purple and placed as the centerpiece of the bouquet. This seemed bizarre and then I notice a note inside of the bouquet. How cryptic... It was sent to me by my father and some of his colleagues. Cora knocks and I let her into my room... She takes a seat beside my bed but I was going to prepare to go to school.

"I think... I think it would be best for you to not come to school for today" she says with a stern look on her face, I take her mood seriously and ask "why?". When I asked this, her face seized up and was on the verge of tears. She then says "your mother... was officially pronounced dead today". Shocked by this news, my legs felt soft and I could not remain standing, I fell to the ground while staring blankly to the ground. Remembering the visions I had made it ten times worse, the knowledge of how she would have died devastated me. Tears come out from my eyes... It was all I could do, just cry. As my powerless self was realized, I was left a hole in my heart. "I've already told miss Ruth and sir Cassius... that bouquet was sent to us by the military, it was all just purple hyacinth". "No... the bouquet has a gorgeous arrangement" I said to her as I grab the bouquet behind me and notice that it was all purple hyacinth. "ah, what a deep sorrow my life is" I thought and everything blacked out.

And then, I woke up in a large room. "Did I pass out?" I say in my mind. I stand up from my bed and try to grasp my situation, I look out the window and see a lot of children in the courtyard, they are all playing merrily, I see someone with a nurse uniform "oh, I must be in a hospital" I say as Ruth, Cassius and Cora enters into my room. They all look so... relieved, and then they explained that I have been in asleep for three days". The last thing I could remember was the conversation Cora and I had. "Ernest was also asleep for three days," Ruth says "He just woke up 3 minutes ago, we went to see him first and found you awake". "Oh, is that so," I say as I rest my chin on my hand with a thinking expression. Suddenly Ruth embraces me and says "Don't ever try to push yourself too hard, I'm sure it was probably because you tried to complete the math homework that you passed out". I let out a laugh and the atmosphere of the room changed immediately. After leaving a basket of fruits Cora stayed to talk with me. "I brought the letter that your mother left, open it right now" the mood changed again, from lighthearted to serious. In my confusion, I ask first, "Why would I do that? I must be proper and wait to open it for three more years" and as I say those words Cora suddenly shouts "I have little time left, and your mother told me instructions on what to do if she was gone". And as she said those words, she fell back to a chair and looked exhausted, she was breathing heavily and sweating as well. "I've also left a letter that explains this situation on top of your bedside cabinet, I just need you to read this letter". With a concerned look on my face I open the letter :

"As time foretold, everlasting love is but a dream. A moment in an ocean of moments, a love not lasting but fleeting. Alas, my heart beats in thy diamond eyes and shining face. I am but enthralled to thy likeness. Lost in an emotion unfamiliar to thee. I am lost, to love, or to give? Who am I to take? Why would I not be content? As my first ever real love appeared I let go as time passes by, I hope the pain will soothe and I can finally say goodbye. I am not a man without flaws, I am not a perfect man. But I still hope thy finds one fitting for thy pedigree, for nothing shall be as fine as I have ever met. And with our final moments separated, I cherish what little happiness we had. I still love you and I will always love you, for as long as my heart beats, and this breath leaves. I will always remember thy face like the sweetest one ever to grace this land. The days will pass without me ever forgetting your face, I am sorry for thy could not reveal the secrets. I could not proclaim these feelings. Albeit a love not eternal, I still felt it as real. I still love your gentle smile, your grace. I still love everything about you. When I first met you, I was ecstatic to find a new comrade who thinks similarly to me. The days pass by and the people around us started to notice.

A love so true but foretold so poor. I'm sorry, I just could not seize the opportunity to be with you, I was a fool? No, I was scared. A relationship of my stature would ruin thy status I said to myself early in my involvement with you. The gods disapprove. And yet, it so painful to say goodbye. As tears flow out of my eyes I am still in love with you. We have not talked in months, decades even but I am still in love with you. As the first and last person to capture my heart. I now lay claim to these feelings as mine, something as profound as love would lay waste to my life this much? But alas, to love is to give. And to give I have chosen. I must let you go, for not once did I make you mine. I am a fool for letting you go but a bigger one so for not being able to protect thee. I am no longer going to keep you in my mind and I will only keep you in my heart instead, I accept the fate that I was given. To seek you for as long as I have time. I ask that you accept me and my heretic stature. But alas! I will find you again.

Tick tock, tick-tock. The clock chimes in as a distraction of the moments without you and yet, I find myself counting these moments without you as the clock chimes in. We might meet in the future? decades, even centuries may pass, I hope and I pray that one day we will be together. As the red string of fate intertwines and gets tangled, I hope the other end of my red string leads to you. For no other outcome would satisfy me the most. I love you with all of my heart, and as the last goodbye, I say my first and last I love you. I hope that sorrow and misery come to me for abandoning you. For if not for these dreaded gods laying waste in our lives, we could have been happy but I will find thy next form and my life shall be at your behest for I will search for you as long as time still holds. Defy all the gods and declare you as my betrothed".

And as I finish reading the letter, Cora fades away, disappearing from my room. Tears once again come out of my eyes as I realize "I lost another dear person in my life". Some nurses and a doctor enter the room and see me throwing a fit they try to calm me down, but I was hysterical at the time, eventually they sedated me, in the end, to stop me from hurting myself. After a week of not going to school and receiving therapy, I finally go back home. I walk upstairs to my room and lay in my bed until night. I see the letter Cora left for me and I decide to open it for later.

I wake up the next day, feeling lethargic as ever. I grab the letter on my bedside cabinet and open it.

"I'm sorry our farewell had to happen like this. If you are confused I would not blame you, all of this happening to a sixteen-year-old maiden would be a heavy burden to bear. But please, this burden started with a betrayal. One that would be rewritten in the books of history. Lydia, a lady of great renown would have an encounter that would cause enough commotion even for the heavens to act upon it".

"Lydia, it is time for us to have lunch" I heard my mother but I was more interested in what I found.

"Mother, please come here, I found a boy sleeping in a bush!"

"A bush?! Good heavens, bring him here and we'll help him". "Okay mother" I do so as she says and my mother was surprised that the boy was very clean, no dirty spots, no wounds. "What is your name?" I ask our strange guest. "Theodore" I then ask "How old are you...Theodore?" "16". My eyes light up at finding a new friend.

"Theodore, lets play?" I say those words and tears come out of his eyes, surprised by his reaction I say "Do you not want to play then?", "No, let's play" as he wipes away the tears, I and Theodore go around our estate and find strange bugs.

Three years pass by and my dearest and closest friend Theodore was interested in Alchemy I never meet other kids in the same age as me so I have him as my only friend. I ask him "Why alchemy?" He responds with "With alchemy, we can be whatever we want" after six months of helping Theodore learn alchemy, bringing him materials for whatever he needed, a mob of villagers appears in front of our house at night. They grab me and tie me up. They left me in a nearby forest clearing. While blindfolded, I hear Theodore's voice and he let me loose. He said "If you feel in danger, drink this" he gives me a vial of a light purple liquid. But as we try and make our escape, some villagers caught us.

They affixed me, my mother, and Theodore to crosses. They lit a fire under our crosses and as fear grasped my heart I looked at both my mother and Theodore only to find them to be at peace. "The vial I gave you was supposed to kill you, you know?" Theodore says full of regret. And as my body was consumed by the flames I somehow felt that in the end... Everything would be okay.