Chapter Five

Hot.

That's all I was thinking the entire time I was running. The familiar forest was set ablaze with reds and oranges. The air around me was shifting from the heat; it was too hot to breathe and I couldn't see. My eyes stung too much to try and keep them open long enough to see where I was going. My lungs felt like they, themselves, were on fire. I coughed and covered my mouth with my shirt as I ran through the forest. My hands reached out to smack aside burning branches, wincing in pain each time. It didn’t stop me. It couldn’t stop me. My life depended on it.

I ran the usual route. The only difference from previous times was instead of trying to get away from that beast, I was running to get out of the forest. The ground felt hot beneath my bare feet. The sweltering forest floor created blisters on my soles. Wait, why was I barefoot? I looked down. My feet were cut up, bleeding, and dirty. My feet were smaller than usual, too. Another thing, I was wearing a white nightgown. Well, it at least used to be white. Now it was dark from being covered in dirt and soot.

I finally pushed aside the last branch that blocked my way from the clearing. My hands were cut and bleeding from pushing aside the thin whips of fire. I winced as I put them against my chest and cradled them. I looked up from my hands and to the cliff’s edge, seeing only smoke before me.

The stars were hidden by the smoke; the ground blanketed by a gray haze, making it impossible to see exactly where the edge was. My legs started to move on their own, dragging me to the cliff's edge. All around me I could hear shuffling, growling...

Screaming.

Multiple different voices were screaming. Agony, despair...those were the kinds of screams you only heard in horror movies. I could feel my heart rate start to quicken as I stepped closer and closer to the edge. What the hell was going on? This was completely new to me.

From what seemed to be all around me, I could hear a voice. It was almost like a child's voice. At least, it started out that way. But, it turned into a man's voice. Low, and threatening. It sounded familiar. I didn't know how. I didn't know where I had heard it before, but I knew this voice. The memory of who was the owner of it was buried deep in the backwoods of my mind.

"Remember."

It said this over and over. Faster and faster. My legs moved every time the word was spoken. It didn't take long for me to reach the edge.

I finally stopped, my dark eyes peering down the long fall that awaited me if I took one more step. The smoke was trickling over the edge like a waterfall. I looked around me at the smoke that was becoming thicker and thicker, darker and darker. Before long, the smoke started to take shape behind me. My heart dropped down into my stomach as I saw what form it had taken.

The wolf stepped out from the smoke. Its nasty teeth bared at me as a low and guttural sound came from it. "Remember!" it yelled. The hot and rancid breath hitting my nose and almost making me gag. I instinctively took a step back. I felt the ground beneath my feet crumble and fall off of the edge.

By the time I realized my mistake, it was too late. I started to fall. I let out a scream and swung my arms in hopes of grabbing onto something to save me, but the only thing I grabbed onto was air. That’s when the panic had started to set in.

This was different. Why wasn't I waking up? Why wasn't-

Splash.

The cold water enveloped my body. I gasped from the shock, the icy cold water being sucked into my lungs and replacing the air. My eyes widened and I frantically tried to swim to the surface of the water. I couldn't breathe. I couldn't see. My arms flailed around. I wasn't moving! My heart rate accelerated as I kept trying to push myself up to the surface. My vision was going dark. My limbs were getting tired and the fatigue was beginning to win.

I didn't know why I wasn't waking up! Was this actually real? I didn't know. All I knew was that I was fighting a losing battle. I started to sink down to the bottom of the water. My vision was dark now. The only thing left of my senses was that I kept hearing that word echoing around in my head, very faintly like someone was shouting it from afar.

"Remember..."

*~*~*~*~

A loud gasp escaped my lips as I woke up from my nightmare. Sweat beaded my forehead as I breathed heavily and looked around the hotel room in a panic. My brown eyes darted around to make sure there was nothing on fire. I took a deep breath in and finally glanced over to where Freya was supposed to be sleeping.

Except, instead of her sleeping face, I was met with her green eyes looking up to me in worry. She slowly sat herself up and put a hand to my shoulder. "Are you okay?" she whispered, a small frown stitching her thick brows together. Her thumb gently caressed my shoulder.

"Ah, yeah. Just a bad dream. It’s nothing," I answered quickly. I stood up from the bed and walked around it to go to the bathroom. I wanted to wash my face. Cool water would help me calm down. I felt hot and sweaty. It still felt like I was in that burning forest. I grabbed the faucet handle and hissed in pain. My eyes went to my cut up and slightly blistered hands. I frowned, but cupped some cool water in them anyways.

"You were screaming, Mel. It isn't 'nothing' at all!" she protested as she stood up and followed me to the bathroom. She leaned against the doorframe and crossed her arms as she watched me splash some of the running water over my sweaty and red face.

I gave a sigh as I looked at her through the mirror. "Rey, please, don't do this. I have them a lot, okay? It's nothing. Really. Now come on, let's get out of here. We still have a long way to drive," I muttered and pushed past her a little bit so I could gather up my belongings and change clothes. I didn’t fully understand what was going on, and wasn’t in the mood for answering any question either. There was no point in telling her that this last one didn’t feel like a dream.

She glared daggers at me and she stamped her foot. “Emelia Grace! You are going to talk to me about what the fuck is going on! You are not going to start shutting me out!” I saw her eyes water up and my mood I previously had vanished. I quickly walked to her and gave her a big hug.

“I’m sorry. I’m just…freaked out.” I took a step back and showed her my hands. “I had a dream where I was running through a forest fire. I was having to move burning branches and stuff and when I woke up this morning had burnt and cut hands.” I left out the other details for now of the dream. It was a rare occurrence that I remember everything about them. I didn’t know what it meant that I remembered everything from this one. Perhaps it was a message? Or a memory? Or maybe-

My thoughts were cut off by Freya grabbing my hands to examine them. Her fingers held my wrists as she turned them this way and that. I felt my heartbeat accelerate from the gentle touch and looked down to her. She finally spoke, “That’s really weird… What could it mean?” she asked as she let go of my hands.

I gave a shrug and stared at the small cuts and burns. “I don’t know. Hopefully, we’ll find out soon.” I went back to the main room to start getting changed. “We should get going. I’m only collecting more questions and nowhere near enough answers. We still have a long drive ahead of us, too.”

Freya nodded, quickly getting dressed before she grabbed the keys from the small nightstand. “Alright. I’ll drive.”

*~*~*~*

We drove throughout the entire day and finally arrived at Oaks Mill, Wisconsin. The population was a whopping five hundred and twenty-three people. The town consisted of a road that, of course, they called Main Street as well as avenues branching off from it that held the neighborhoods and the occasional mom and pop store of something or the other. Most of those shops were on old fashioned, brick strip malls on Main Street. The signs were faded and the cobblestone brick that served as a walkway throughout the square were black and weathered down. I'm sure when the sun was out, it looked like a cute little town you saw in the movies. But, with the sun having gone down on the little town, it truly looked like the town had been completely abandoned and left to rot in the shadows.

To mine and Freya's utter surprise, there was a little motel off of the main strip. Beneath the big "Oaks Mill Motel" sign was a red neon sign that said "vacancy." Freya gave a big dimpled grin before pulling into the parking lot. She parked the car and hopped out excitedly.

"Isn't it so cute?" she exclaimed, bouncing on her toes just a little bit.

I slowly got out of the car. My eyes examined the worn down sign. The lights that were supposed to light it up didn't even work anymore. There was no way of seeing it without the assistance of the street light that stood next to it.

I raised a brow as my attention then went to her. "Uhm, yeah. Cute," I said. Maybe during the day, but right now, it just looked creepy to me. I grabbed my bag and headed inside with the curly haired woman. I walked up to the empty front desk and looked around the room. The walls were wood panels with a tan trim at about waist height. From the trim down was a lilac colored wallpaper that had small yellow flowers as the design. Against the wall adjacent from the door, were two leather chairs; the brown leather chipped away in the cushion and faded. In between the two chairs was a small and circular wood table. A plain white vase filled with fake sunflowers and red roses stood in the center of the table. Scattered around the vase were some old magazines.

I rang the small silver bell that was on the counter, the sharp ring echoing in the small lobby. From the room behind the desk I heard a small, "I'll be right there!" A frail old woman came out from the room and walked over to the desk with a smile. Her silver hair was permed and her makeup was caked on. You know how the older ladies always did it. It didn't look horrible. It was just the signature old woman look. "How can I help you two beautiful ladies?" she questioned, raising her face some to look between me and Freya.

I cleared my throat as I gave a polite smile. "Oh, we were wanting to rent a room, please. We're going to be here for a few days. But I'm not sure exactly how many," I answered, starting to pull my wallet out.

"Oh! Wonderful!" she said happily. Who knew how long it had been since she had a customer that wasn't a local drunk come in. She sat down at the chair and put on the glasses that hung around her neck with beads onto her face. She started to write something in a thick book. "What's the name, dear?" she asked, looking up from the book and giving a smile.

"Emelia Baxton."

"What a beautiful name," she cooed, starting to write down the name. She wrote slowly, but elegantly. Once she was finished jotting my name down and today's date, she stood up from the seat and walked over to the wall behind her that had a key rack full of old keys. She grabbed one and walked back over to the desk as she held the key out to me. "I'll give the total at checkout, dearie. Since you don't know exactly how many days."

I took the keys and gave a nod. "Thank you, ma'am," I said, looking over to Freya. "Let's go unpack our things. Oh! Ma'am, do you have any suggestions of where to eat around here?" I asked.

"Oh, there's a wonderful diner down the way. It's Tania's. Tania's Diner," she said, making her way back to the backroom as she spoke. "Excellent fries and shakes," she muttered before she disappeared out of eyesight.

I laughed a little to myself as I looked at Freya again. "Tania's for dinner it is then." Freya gave a happy nod as she walked back out to the car. We grabbed the rest of our stuff and found our room, bringing everything inside.

The room looked similar to the lobby. Wood panels with a tan trim around the middle. The difference was, instead of lilac wallpaper with yellow flowers, it had a cream colored wallpaper and little red roses as the design. I set my things down on one of the beds that were in the room and sighed. I could barely believe I was here. Right in the town everything happened. Whatever it was that happened.

I laid on my back on the bed and stretched my arms out until my hands were above me. I was examining them, my mind still turning around theories. I didn’t understand how injuries I got in a dream transferred over to my waking life. It just didn’t make sense.

Freya set her things down as well and glanced over to me. "Well...big day tomorrow. Isn't it?" she asked, sitting down on the empty bed and looking up at me. Her green eyes examined me carefully, making sure I was okay.

I smiled, giving her a nod as I set my hands back down to where they rested on my stomach. Tomorrow I would finally find out who I was before Mom and Dad adopted me. And maybe, just maybe, I would find out who that boy was. "Yeah, first let's go eat."

*~*~*~*

The next morning, before the sun even rose up, we were on the road to the address my mom gave me.

We took a left turn on West Sakura Street. It was a dirt road that looked like it hadn't been traveled on in years. The grass was beginning to grow over and all that was left of the road were two dirt strips where tires of vehicles traveled the most decades ago. The road was bumpy so I gripped the steering wheel with white knuckles to keep my car straight and steady. The road had trees on either side of it, the branches curving around the top to create a canopy. A small bit of the morning rays trickled from between some of the leaves. It was quite beautiful, honestly. Of course, probably much like the town, I was sure it was the creepiest thing in existence at night. The drive down this road was probably a two or three mile trip from one end to the other. So it felt like we were on it forever before we finally reached the end of it.

At the end of this road, stood the orphanage. Or, at least, what used to be the orphanage. I felt my heart drop into my stomach as I saw the decrepit and burned bricks and wood of the orphanage. Only two of the walls remained intact. The other two were only partially standing. The rest of it was rubble at the foot of those walls. The roof was completely gone. The only other thing remaining was the foundation of the building and the stone steps that lead up to the building as well.

I parked in the grass a little to the side of the building and jumped out of the car. Freya jumped out as well and we met at the front of the vehicle. My brown eyes scanned the building slowly. "Well...I don't think the headmistress is in her office." I muttered sarcastically beneath my breath. I leaned back against the hood of the car, crossing my arms over my chest and just staring at it for a long while.

I felt disdain. I felt a sense of helplessness beginning to set in. How was I supposed to get answers now? Was this trip for nothing?

Freya came up to stand next to me and chewed on her lip as she also looked over the burned down building as well. "We...can always still look around?" She offered the solution timidly, always the hopeful person. She put a hand to my bicep and squeezed my arm softly. "Surely, there must be something around here that could help you remember or answer some of your questions?"

My eyes moved from the orphanage and over to her. I looked at her for a while before I sighed and gave a nod. It was better than any plan I had. "Yeah...Come on then." I said, pushing off of the hood and heading over to the stone steps. I walked through the hole where the door used to be and looked around slowly. Amongst all of the destroyed bricks and wood panels, I felt...familiarity. I walked around, peering around slowly. I walked through another space that used to be a doorway and said out loud. "This…” I started, “used to be the dining room." I stood in the center of the room as I called this out.

Freya had followed me in. When she heard my words she looked around the empty room besides piles of black pieces of wood and rubble. "How can you tell?" she asked, walking over to one of the piles and beginning to move aside planks. Low and behold, fragments of plates and bowls laid beneath it. She gave a frown and looked over to me. "How..."

I gave a shrug. "I just knew. Don't forget, I did spend six years of my life here..." I said, almost absent-mindedly as I drifted away from the dining room and to the stairwell. The stairs were burned. Too unstable to climb up. But, I knew that if I were able to get up there, multiple rows of rooms filled with beds would be waiting up there.

I continued to explore the house, running my fingers along the bricks as I walked past one of the walls. I felt emotional. Even though I had completely forgotten about this place, I felt sad that it was gone. I drifted to the back of the orphanage. I entered what used to be the laundry room and stared at a large pile of bricks and wood that was against the wall. "Freya...will you come help me move this shit?" I called out, kneeling down and starting to move the rubble away from the wall.

The woman came over, kneeling down next to me and began to help me move everything. "What are we digging out?" she asked, her eyes watching me carefully. She seemed a little freaked out. Or, well, perhaps more...confused. I couldn’t tell the emotion right now.

"There's a door here. A small one." I answered, grunting as I moved a large plank to the side. After a while of us moving things, a door was unveiled. It was virtually untouched besides streaks of black where the smoke and flames licked over it during the fire. I could tell Freya was surprised. She had dropped the brick she had in her hand and stood up.

"Where does it go?" she asked. I knew the emotions now. Excitement and curiosity. All I could do was shrug as I stood up and grabbed the small round handle to it. I tugged on it but it didn't budge at first. I tugged again, this time putting all of my weight behind it. Still nothing. I sighed in frustration and closed my eyes. Who knew how long it had been since this door was used. Of course it wouldn't open. Before I knew it, I felt arms wrap around my waist and then Freya's voice next to me.

"On three."

I opened my eyes and turned my head to look at her over my shoulder. I smiled and then gave a nod. "One...two...three!" We both gave a hard tug, and with our combined weight behind it, the door cracked open. A loud creaking from the hinges straining. I steadied myself before we tugged again. This time, the door swung open and a cold, dusty gust of wind blew out from the opening. I couldn’t help but give a smile.

"It's open!" Freya exclaimed, letting go of my waist and clapping as she jumped up and down from excitement.

I was too in awe to really have a reaction. I just stepped forward and pushed the door open more before getting on my hands and knees. I peered into the dark crawl space and felt fear. I reached behind me and dug in my back pocket to fish out my phone. I turned on my flashlight and held it up. It was a small and dark hallway for a few feet and at the end of that hallway...I couldn't tell yet.

I took a deep breath before I started to move forward. I gripped my phone tight and tried to position it in my hand so that I could still see ahead of me as I used both hands to crawl forward. The air smelled damp and a little bit like mildew. It was stuffy and a little cramped for a full grown adult to crawl through.

It didn't take too long before I saw what was at the end of the hallway. Stairs. A set of stairs that lead down into a basement. I laughed, calling out. "Freya! It goes to the basement!" I looked up, flashing my light up and saw that I could stand up now. I started to stand and heard shuffling behind me. Freya had ventured in behind me once she knew it was safe and came to stand beside me. She looked around and then peered down the stairs. She rubbed her arm a bit nervously.

"Are you sure about this, Mel? It looks...really creepy." She added to her statement by giving a small shiver. Freya didn't like being scared. She barely watched horror movies and when she did it was to give me the opportunity to watch what I wanted to with her.

I snorted at her and shook my head. "It's fine...I...feel really drawn to this area." I said, holding my phone as I started my way down the steps. The wooden planks creaked beneath the weight of us. Freya was glued to me, her hands gripping my arm as she walked down with me.

Once I reached the bottom, I instinctively reached for the wall that was next to me and immediately found a light switch. Of course, it didn't work given that the wires were all burned upstairs. I held my phone up and scanned the room. "Holy shit..." I walked over to one of the corners of the room where two small pallets lay. They were covered in dust. I felt oddly nostalgic as I looked down at them. Did I used to come down here a lot? I couldn't remember.

I looked away from the pallets, scanning the room more until something caught my eye. On top of a dusty box, something was glinting in the light of my phone. I walked over slowly. I stopped in front of the box and looked down. Beneath the dust, was a small silver chain. I stooped down to pick it up and raised it up so I could get a closer look at it.

I gasped softly as I turned it this way and that. It was the necklace from the photo! I just knew it was. The small circular charm was a moon. I looked down to the box again and saw something else. A photo that the necklace was on top of. I then scooped that up as well and put it under the light.

My eyes widened. It was another photo of me when I was younger. I was wearing my hair in a braid and I was sitting on top of an older woman's lap. The same necklace was around my neck. "The headmistress..." I whispered before I turned to look at Freya. "Rey, come look!" I called out excited. Even if the place was burned down, it seemed this box had many photos in it. I opened the box and sure enough, it had multiple photo books and loose pictures in it. I looked through it a little, seeing group photos of kids, and a few photos similar to the one of me. They were most likely used in our adoption files for potential parents to look at.

Freya walked over, her own phone's flashlight on to illuminate her way, and then glanced at the photo and the necklace in my hand. "Awh, was that you when you were younger?" She asked, taking the photo from me and looking it over with a smile on her face, "You were so cute!" she giggled and handed the photo back to me.

"This necklace too...I'm wearing it in all the photos of me, right up until I got adopted..." I said, looking back down to the dusty necklace in my hand. I then put it in my pocket and looked at Freya, "Let's head back, for now. I have to know what happened here."

*~*~*~*

Back at the little hotel, me and Freya both pulled our laptops that we brought with us out and immediately got to work. We researched the history of the orphanage, starting with when the fire started. It took a while, but Freya eventually called out, "Oh, here's something. The fire happened back in 2009. Supposedly, it was from faulty wiring, but locals rumored it to be arson. There's a whole article over that. But, the police and fire department didn't reopen the investigation."

I listened to what she said and frowned some, "2009? Are you sure?" I asked, looking away from my laptop. Surely, she must have misread it or something. Right? She gave me a look and nodded.

"Yes, I'm sure! Why?" She crossed her arms over her chest. If it was one thing she really hated, it was being questioned.

"That was the year I was adopted. What month did it happen?" I stood up from my chair to stand behind her. I put a hand on the back of the chair she was sitting at and leaned down to read her screen too. She scrolled through the article, glancing over it.

"Uhhh, it happened in June." she answered. She then turned her head to look at me. Her face was full of confusion but also curiosity, "When...were you adopted?"

"May." I quickly answered. "Seems Mom and Dad really cut it close with their timing." I said. I walked back around the small table that was in the room and sat down again. I put my head into my hands and let out a sigh. "That's way too close to be coincidental. Surely, the locals were right then?"

Freya gave a shrug. "I don't know, Melly. Let's just keep looking into it. See what we can find." She said and went back to typing on her laptop. I did the same. I scrolled for what seemed like hours trying to find more information on the orphanage.

So far, the only thing I knew was that it was called, naturally, Oaks Mill Orphanage. It was established in 1926. And it burned down in 2009 due to, supposedly, faulty wires. That was it. It was almost like all history of the damned thing vanished.

Finally, I found an article that was noteworthy. "Freya, come look at this. It's a missing person's poster. The article reads 'Missing Boy After Local Orphanage Fire.' let me see..." I clicked on it and once again, my heart took a dive into my stomach. "Oh my God." I could hardly believe what I was looking at. "Rey...I know his face."

It was the boy that was next to me in the photo I found back at home.