Chapter 32:

Back to Wisteria

Echoes of Lost Memories

She was able to sleep through the night. The sun rose through her window when morning came around. She thought the flashes of memories she saw in her mind were just part of her dreams. With her eyes closed, the memories flooded back like rushing waters coming in with no dam. She kept seeing a scene from the basement of her school, so she decided to visit that location. She saw a vision of the cloaked person using his sword to force the silver spiky-haired boy to come with him, but somehow, she was caught in the middle of the chaos. When she was well enough to attend school, she decided to go down the staircase to the school’s basement.

Who were they? She thought to herself.

As she reached the bottom of the steps, everything appeared to be normal. She looked at all of the boxes, they were neatly stacked. In her vision, the boxes were flying in different directions.

There was something that happened here. I just can’t put my finger on it.

She heard a voice coming closer.

“Anyone down there?”

She was growing anxious, wondering if she should hide.

The female teacher saw her and shook her head disapprovingly.

“Young lady, you shouldn’t be in this area, it’s restricted only for teachers. Now come along back upstairs.”

Scarlet responded, “I’m sorry, okay, I will come up.”

She was brought in next to her teacher’s desk.

“Have a seat.”

She noticed a rolling black chair nearby and grabbed it to sit.

“I know you have been out young lady, but we still have rules here. Now tell me why you were in the basement.”

Scarlet was slightly embarrassed and tried to explain. “The only reason I went is because I have been having these dreams lately. I keep seeing the same vision over and over again. I thought that if I could go to the place where it originated from, I could gather more information to answer my questions.”

The teacher looked at her as if she was a little peculiar. She was sipping her cup of coffee in a slow manner while gazing at Scarlet.

Slurp Slurp hmmmm

“Okay…. well, please be careful. I heard from your aunt you just came back from the hospital. Maybe a couple more days at school will bring you back to normal.”

Meanwhile, back in the other world, Theo yelled at Flen, “What did you do?! I need to go back and get her!”

Flen retorted, “Don’t be selfish, she deserves to live a peaceful life in her world!”

Theo and Flen began to throw punches at each other. Theo violently grabbed and pulled him to one side. Flen retaliated by hitting him in the face. Theo felt the pain in his jaw and shook it off. They then grappled and crashed onto the ground, trading more blows.

When the wrestling match continued for far too long, Flen got up.

“I’m leaving!”

He then used his portal to teleport to the lighthouse to clear his mind.

He climbed to the very top of the lighthouse. He watched the ripples in the water and remembered when she was right beside him. This was also the place where he held her close. He really missed her.

What are you doing now, Scarlet? I hope you are safe.

Back in Scarlet’s world, she was sitting at her desk doing her homework.

Her eyes wandered to the little mirror stand on her desk. She moved her head around to see her reflection.

My eyes sure look tired.

Then she stared at her lips while tracing them with her index finger.

An image of someone kissing her appeared in her mind, but she could not make out his face.

Her face turned red, feeling embarrassed.

What am I thinking about?!

Knock Knock

“Who is it?” Scarlet asked.

“It’s Ren, I have your laundry, can I bring it in?”

“Yes, sure, please come in.”

Ren came in with her arms full of folded laundry and she set it down on Scarlet’s dresser.

“There was also this clump of fur for some reason that was in one of your pockets. I kept it there. I did not know you were into needle felting.” mentioned Ren. She then left.

Scarlet stared at that uniform with patchy fur sticking out of the pocket.

I didn’t know I was into needle felting either.

She held the fur in her hands and wondered what animal it came from.

Her ears were ringing, and the wind outside whistled a tune that sounded like, “Woo, woo.”

Her heart stopped; she remembered hearing that sound before. A quick scene of a three-eyed fluffy creature appeared rolling around and whimpering for pets.

She remembered playing with the creature too.

His name is on the tip of my tongue... Where did I see this creature though?

She gathered her freshly laundered clothes into her closet. She was not the best at organizing and she had to give her clothes a little push to have them fit inside entirely.

From her light push in the closet, a cardboard box started to topple over and fell onto her bedroom floor.

It was her father's before he passed away

She was afraid to open it before because she was overwhelmed with sadness. Anything that belonged to him would cause her to grieve when she saw it.

Her hands were shaking nervously while pulling the tape off the box.
She proceeded to look through; there was a small letter in his wallet.

You will always be the love of my life, Lumina.

Rose is doing well; don’t you worry about her.

My hope is Blackwood is holding up well, too.

I’m afraid my time is almost up in this world.

I have a new home for Rose when that day comes.

Signed, Kieran

There were also many more small letters written and addressed to Lumina, but they were all unsent.

Who are these people... Lumina, Rose, and Blackwood? All these letters were signed by Kieran, is this my father’s pen name? Is this his secret family?

Scarlet’s face was full of confusion.

She started to move some items around; they were covering a book. She lifted it up and noticed it collected a massive amount of dust.

She blew the dust off the cover.

It read Memory Book.

Thump Ba Thump

Her heart beat loudly in a rhythmic pattern, those words meant something to her.

She repeated the words again in her mind.

Memory Book…. where have I heard that….

Something clicked in her mind, and everything began to make sense again.

Scarlet started to remember all of the people she met in the other world.

The whirlwind of images merged in her head: Theo befriended her with Flen nodding at her, Kina smirking, Blackwood pat the crow on his shoulder, Grandmother Mimi smiled tenderly, and Pim, the lovable creature with three eyes. She was feeling a bit overwhelmed by them and felt dizzy. She thought those were all part of her daydreams, but she realized they were all real. She had met each and every one of them.

Does this mean my father was from the other world?

He did not mention my name in those letters, only Rose.

I need to come back to the other world to understand this more.

She noticed a crumpled-up slip of paper that fell from her clothes when she was placing them in her closet. She unfolded it and saw that it was a train ticket.

This was from Blackwood, he gave it to me.

The words on it said, “Anywhere you want to go.”

She stood from her desk and started to pack everything she needed including her father’s Memory Book and Pim’s mother’s fur.

I need to go back to the world.

How do you use this train ticket though?

There was a word covered up, she tried to brush it off. There was magical dust filling in the air and it led to a pathway. She followed the dust all the way to the train station.

A train conductor dressed in a long black coat stood at the train crossing.

“Tickets please.”

She pulled it from her pocket to give to him.

“Where would you like to go?”

“In the heart of Wisteria please.”

He moved his hand to direct her to the train.

“Watch your step.”

As she climbed onto the small steps, she noticed some of the seats were vacant.

She decided to sit near a window. After she sat down, there was an old witch that stopped by her. Her wide brimmed black hat covered her tangled wild grey hair. She wore a long-sleeved dress that covered her feet. There was a small wart on her forehead that moved as she talked.

“Mind if I sit here?” She asked.

“No, feel free to do so.”

The witch pulled two knitting sticks out of her bag and began to knit.

She was interlocking each thread to form a pattern.

“It’s a nice day to knit. I can knit anyone’s problems away.”

Scarlet watched her closely. It seemed like she had been doing this for a long time.

“I see.” Scarlet smiled.

“Where are you going?”

“I’m going to visit Wisteria.”

“Ah such a pretty flower.”

Scarlet nodded.

“It’s true, it is the flower, but the city I’m going to is anything but gorgeous.”