Endless Adventure

Beneath the Egress Lake - Introvert Gemini

“Ro….si….e!”

The hairs at the back of my neck rise as soon as I hear her whisper. I am afraid of the being that’s calling me right now. I am way too familiar with her voice. It’s in the way she calls my name. She’s a seductress entrapping me every time she calls my name.

“Ro…si….e!”

The initial whispering gradually begins to sound more potent: much clearer. I can never forget that endearment. Only she calls me Rosie.

I know better that I should run away from this woman at the earliest. I am well aware that she is a threat to my life. I know I should call for help, that I need to find a safe place soon. But I can barely even move my finger. The only movement that I feel is that of the carriage I am seated in. I am bound on the spot, a small cabin this time; by her magical spell. I know where this journey is going to end. She is taking me to a place she only has knowledge of. The Egress Lake is nowhere on the world map.

“Let me take you to your home, Rosie: Our home.” She lures me with her lullaby. And I always fall for her melodious voice. It’s forbidden to be hypnotized by an entity as strong as her. But it’s always like that.

Trying to find my way back from this hallucination is baseless. I am already seated in a wooden chamber that is moving. Fast. It’s dark, foggy and cold. Rubbing my eyes for clear vision doesn’t work, especially if I have to see past the dewy glass window. I am desperate, but that doesn’t take me anywhere. I am still seated in an enclosed chamber in a carriage. Alone!

‘Where is she?’

I could feel her presence but, as usual, she was nowhere near me. She isn’t seated beside me. She isn’t driving the carriage. In fact, she is nothing more than a voice, but enough threat to my entire existence.

“Who are you? Where are you taking me?” I am habituated to asking the same question to which I have a genuine answer myself.

‘To the Egress Lake. Where else?’ Her reply was almost instantaneous. She knows me like the lines of her palms. And I know that she knows that I know about her.

“She’s just an imaginary illusion!” I lied to myself but to no avail. Fear for her is greater than my will to wake up. I can’t ignore her presence. And as long as I am alive, she’s not going to let me be.

“What do you want? Why do you haunt my dreams?” Shrieking mentally is all I can do. My lips are sealed by her spell but fortunately, she hears me. We can talk with each other. And sometimes, I feel as if we are mind-linked to each other. That we are not two but a sole person in existence. Unfortunately, nobody else, except the two of us can listen to our conversation, our ordeal.

She is dangerous and powerful. I am her game. She plays me as if she knows all my moves. However, it’s a never-ending fight for me. But the fight is too biased. She easily overpowers a weak human being like me.

“Ask yourself, Rosie. You exactly know what I want.” Her reply shakes me thoroughly.

‘I don’t know you. I don’t want to know anything about you. Go away! Just…. Just leave me alone!’ My pleas were followed by her boisterous laughter. And I can almost see the intricate patterns of sweat on my palms and forehead. I am sweating profusely.

‘Dud dud! Dud dud!’

My heart beats almost similar to a horse trotting, realizing that our destination is Egress Lake.

“Egress Lake?” I have read so many books and magazines but haven’t come across a place with that name. The more my heart beats, the more I am swapped back to where my physical body rests.

“Rosie…. I will take you with me, even…tu…ally!” Her warning rings in my head even though her voice begins to disappear in the thin air.

I looked to my left and then to my right. A small ray of light started to emanate slowly and gradually on both sides of the carriage cabin. I wipe the fog off the window panel with my trembling hands. She’s gone but leaving the tingling sensation in my skin. The after effect of her possession is still visibly persistent in my body. This is what she is capable of – possession!

With her departure, I assembled all my concentration on the horse ahead of my chamber. This is the sound I must follow to regain my conscience. It is an endless story. She is an ancient being who invades my dreams and possesses my body: my spirit. She causes me to experience sleep paralysis. But the way she controls my mind, body and soul is way more than just sleep paralysis. I may not have her image to recall, but she’s eternal. More than anything, she has that desperate desire to take me to her place. She’s perilous.

……………

“Oh ho! Mary! Please turn your alarm off. I don’t like the sound of it.”

I sigh, realizing that my nightmare is finally over: for now. The first thing I do is to scan the surroundings with my half-closed eyes. More than anything, I want to be certain that she’s left me.

‘Ah! I am back.’ Finding Eva sleeping soundly in her bed in the farthest corner of our room makes me sigh hard. I am a second-year archeology student and my roomie Eveline is a year senior to me. She studies zoology and believes that archeology is an adventure in itself. Well… she’s wrong, especially when I need to get ready for a field trip in the wee hours of the day and she gets to enjoy summer break partying.

‘Why do you have to set an alarm, Mary? You are a night owl! You don’t need no sleep at all.’ She turns her back to me, taking a pillow to cover her eyes as I light the candle.

“Tolerate me for a few more months, Eve. You are graduating soon, remember?”

‘What will you take to shut up and let me sleep? Do you have to disturb me? Again! It’s just 3 A.M.!’

“I am so sorry, my sleeping beauty. You can at least wish me luck.”

‘…’

“Hey!” “Eve?” She’s silent but I want her reply so that I can be sure that the entity has left our dorm.

“Oh, so you are asleep already, huh?”

‘Mary! Stop it!’ She screams because of being disturbed while I shrug my shoulders off as I make my way to the bathroom to freshen up. Satisfied! I like teasing her and she knows that. She tries to ignore me, but I have my own way of getting on her nerves. She’s like a sister to me: a sister I never had.

“20!” Professor Stark calls in his shrill voice, but gets no response to his roll call.

“Number 20!”

He calls again as Victor responds from a distance. All of us are already seated in our respective seats on the carriage. Professor Stark gives him a side eye as he enters our coach.

‘Settle down, Mr. Raynott. I hope you have an honest reason for your delay.’ I too hope he has a valid reason aside from the one the professor hates to hear, because he will take a toll on the entire department if his excuse is troublesome.

“Good morning, Rosemary! Do you mind me taking this seat?” I was surprised to hear Victor’s question.

‘Does he even know my name?’ I began to think while looking everywhere for an answer.

‘Does he know that Elisabeth isn’t joining us this time?’ The seat beside me is the only vacant seat in our carriage, but I still play dumb. Well, that’s the seat for Serial Number 6, which is Elisabeth: his girlfriend.

‘Please!’ I said, moving further towards the right window. I don’t want to look foolish, but damn it! I can hardly hide my excitement. Oh God! I only know how many butterflies are fluttering in my belly. It was really hard to concentrate on our professor’s instructions with Victor seated right next to me. I just hope that he doesn’t notice his impact on me.

‘THE SCARLET CLIFF OF SAINT PETERSBURG!’

My body hair rises as soon as the announcement is made. My ears perch up on their own in an otherworldly way. The rest of the students are making merry thinking about the adventure that follows. I can’t help but concentrate on the way my body reacts to hearing the name of that place. Numbness slowly starts to crawl inside of me, finding seepage in my fingertips.

“Hey! Are you alright?” Victor snapped me back with a gentle tap on my shoulder.

‘No!’… ‘I mean … yeah! Fine? Yes, I am fine Raynott.’ ‘Thanks!’

“Do you need water? You look so pale.”

Damn it! Sighing is all I have left to do. What a shame?

.-.-.-.-.

“Listen carefully, everyone. The Scarlet Cliff has a history of its own. As some of you might know, locals claim to have sighted some aquatic humanoids…... some newspaper agencies have also covered the news of reported sightings of mermaids every once in a while. But recently this site has attracted the government’s attention.” The professor’s assertions are met with our sighs. He continues further and I, too, try to focus on his lecture, forgetting the surge of emotional turmoil Victor sent me just a while back. ‘Was that Victor or Scarlet Cliff?’ Anyway, for now, the professor’s words are more valuable.

“Visitors are banned from entering this site nowadays. Maybe we will be lucky enough to encounter mermaids! Or even sirens.”

“Woah! It’s going to be fun!” Adrenaline rushed throughout my body.

“We have been fully funded by the government to understand this matter and submit our report at the earliest.” He took a pause only to analyze our expressions. “And as much as I understand your excitement, I want each and every one of you to act wisely. We don’t have a minute to waste.”

I have never heard or read anything about mermaid sightings in Saint Petersburg. Even though I suffer from aquaphobia, I am as equally thrilled as the rest of the team at the mention of the sea folks. Every field trip with Professor Scot is an adventure. Even though we were informed about our fortnight-long trip, we were kept in the dark regarding the site of our field trip. Our summer break was bound to be interesting but it’s going to be more fun with Raynott beside me.

‘Our professor has a way of surprising us.’ I heard him whisper, carefully, not to let the other two as well as our professor hear our conversation.

“Remember! We will be met by Professor Scot and his team there. And all I ask every single one of you is to co-operate with his team. We will be working on this project together, Sunrise Academy of natural sciences and our Wolf Vale University.” “Just be clear that I don’t want any complaints. Am I clear?”

‘Yes sir!’ We unitedly answered. And thus, a total of 38 students with two teachers and 10 coachmen started off with our journey to Mermaid Land at around 6 in the morning.

…….

“So? You believe in mermaid tales, huh?” I am startled to find him prying at what I have in my hand. It was past midnight and I really tried not to disturb anyone while I flipped the pages of ‘The Siren Song’, a book I brought for companionship.

‘You don’t? Do you?’ I am agitated.

“Yes and no! You know…. It’s a fifty- fifty.”

‘What do you mean by that? How can you believe and still not believe the same thing at the same time?’ I didn’t expect his answer to leave me hanging in between. I, at least, thought him to be a boy with clarity. Needless to say, I am disappointed.

“Do you believe in ghosts?”

‘I do.’ I replied in haste. It sounded as if I wanted to prove a point to him. I am, to a certain degree.

“So, you must also believe that there exists witches and sorcery…and black magic?”

‘Yes, Mr. Raynott. And let me tell you a secret: I believe in spells and evil eyes too.’

We both laugh as softly as we can, making sure that the other two won’t wake up. I had never been this close to the heartthrob of my class. Victor is more handsome from this proximity. But more than anything, I am amazed at how beautiful his eyes are. In the darkness, my focus was solely on his eyes that reflected the dimly lighted lamps on either side of the coach. I don’t understand why, but I feel as if I have known his eyes for a long time. His eyes are the softest blue; fresh and warm, and I am thrilled by the idea of being the only woman to reflect on those beautiful blue eyes for the rest of both of our lives.

“What if I tell you that you are being haunted by one such witch in your dreams every new moon? Will you believe that too, Miss Frost?”

‘Damn it!’ He shot the brewing romance dead with what he asked next. However, I am stone-faced. I have mastered the art of hiding my emotions all through my life, which he is unaware of.

‘What nonsense?’ is my reply, even if I want to ask him ‘how?’

‘Interesting! In the end, you are just like me, Miss Frost.’ I just opened my mouth and closed it the next instant. He left me speechless.

‘Forget it, Rosie. I am only trying to prove my point to you. So, do you believe me now when I am saying people like me exist? We believe and we don’t believe in anything simultaneously.’ ‘Don’t worry Rosie. I am not going to judge you. I totally understand you. And I promise to keep your secret for the rest of my life.’

I was the one judging him a few hours ago for not having a solid inclination in life. But he quickly turns the tables in his favor. And here he is, in his black hoodie and plain jeans, facing me but with closed eyes. I can’t help but admire him as a character, as a reality, for the assurance he has given me. Forgetting he called me ‘Rosie’, is then a part of the story. This is the only time in 19 years of my life that I have not been afraid of that endearment.

-.-.-.-.-.-

‘For the past 15 years, I have been observing the anomaly of Scarlet Cliff.’ Professor Scot, a celebrated geologist said as he showed us images of the site. The black and white photographs on display recorded a bizarre change that Lake had undergone. ‘My team and I came to the conclusion that this might be due to the presence of Dunaliella salina in the water. But what we don’t really know is that the truth is more complex than what we initially thought.’

‘Our recent discovery defies science.’

“Oh my god!” All of us are in awe at what he shows us next.

It is the first day of our fortnight-long stay in Saint Petersburg but our task has already started with his lecture.

‘Isn’t it amazing to be a part of such a historic excavation?’

“We are going to unearth some treasure or something even bigger!” ‘Ah! A civilization of mermaids or something!’

“Ooh! Just imagine one of us finding a mer-man for a boyfriend.”

‘Oh, I would love to have one for myself, Angelica!’ Savin giggles. I respect how comfortable he is with his sexuality. I listen to our teammates gossip as we head to our respective rooms, unaware that Saint Petersburg has a series of sleepless nights in store for me. What had always haunted my dreams had begun to turn more vivid right from the first night. I can’t ignore the fact that I feel hollow eyes watching me walk down the empty hallway of the lodge we are staying in. I can’t just turn my blind eyes to the footsteps that follow me everywhere, even when nobody is around. Sometimes she would appear bodily wearing a black gown with a veil across the hallway and when I try to approach her, she vanishes like a gust of smoke. Black. Dark.

I just know she is there with me, but the fear of not being understood by my peers gnaws at me from deep within. I badly need help but I can never ask for one, especially after leukemia took daddy away from us. He was the only person who heard me even in my silence. Technically, my life began to turn into a living hell following his death. I was 12 years old when I was left with just having a mother in the name of having a parent to look up to. She, on the other hand, had her anxiety and depressive thoughts over the responsibility of raising me up singlehandedly. The piling bill of our expenditure, on the other hand, was adding to our misery.

“There is nothing called ‘Ghost’, Rose.”

I don’t understand why on earth I did give birth to a coward like you.’ ‘You are such a disgrace to me.’

‘I have to work two to three jobs to support your education and what not. Aren’t you ashamed of yourself?’ Her words worked like a sword slashing my heart into pieces when she didn't even realize the impact of her hurtful words. I learned to hide my feelings from the world outside. I might have failed to be a good daughter back then, but she failed to be of help to me.

“Just take your pills and go to sleep. Mommy doesn’t have time to waste over your imaginary story.”

I hear my mother’s voice echo in my head whenever I try to talk to somebody about this woman haunting me. I never wanted to be what my mother called me back then, a failure, a disgrace. And needless to say, I am still afraid to open up even to this date. But these days, even my medication fails to work against that paranormal prowess. She is chewing my flesh when other people hardly even notice, while I take refuge in baggy and oversized clothes. I have bruises hidden within my clothes. She’s started to harm me physically ever since I have reached Saint Petersburg.

It is the ninth day on the field and all of us have tanned a great deal. Summer can be punishment, especially when working outside. So far, we have discovered nothing relative to that of the sea folks but we continue with what we have started. There is intense pressure upon us, but especially upon our professors, because we need to draft a report within the remaining 6 days. I am paired with Evan this time. Our work is to register the names of the artifacts that our team discovers after proper identification and verification from our professors. But the intense sunlight makes it difficult for us to work properly when it is right above our heads.

“Ro…s..i..e!”

A whiff of breeze passes right across my ears, blowing a little of my hair. I stand up almost instantly from the plastic chair, caring less about whoever’s around me. My hands and feet shake uncontrollably. I shut my eyes tight, partly due to the burning sunlight and partly fearing to see her even in the broadest daylight.

“Am I going to die now?” A chilly feeling suddenly runs down my spine, draining all my energy. The next thing she does is yell in my ear, forcing me to face my biggest fear- herself.

“RUN!”

A black gown – as dark as death, a feathery veil- hiding a distraught face, she is nothing more than a walking skeleton, with visibly decaying lumps of meat and burning red eyes. I can’t help but scream at the top of my voice when she blows a handful of black smoke at me. It stings beyond explanation, so I rub my eyes to ease the pain. But when I open my eyes, I am not in Saint Petersburg anymore. The woman in black isn’t there anymore, but the heavy feeling is still enveloping me. It was noon just a while back but it is midnight right now. A single blow from her is all that was needed to take me to where I am: her dark world.

‘Why are you doing this to me? What do you want from me?’ I saw nothing except black fog surrounding me. There is a little lamp flickering at a distance: a possible escape route or a death trap! It’s hard to differentiate.

“I want you…. your body…...your soul!” Her reply shakes me to the core.

‘Why?’ “Why, why…just why me?” I am unable to control my rage anymore.

“Cause…. You are the one he wants!”

“Who wants me and why?”

‘I will tell you everything if you are willing to follow me to Egress Lake.’

She has been sucking the life out of me ever since I was eight years old. And now I feel pushed to the edge, where giving up seems a lot easier than continuing this torturous journey ahead. Surrendering seems easy, but I never knew that choosing an easy way out would bring me a step closer to my death. The minute I give up on the thought of holding on to my life, a hand starts to form out of the dense black fog. I can feel her darkness in the way her cold hand holds mine. Slowly and gradually, her coldness began to seep inside me, tearing my life with her death. The more she pulls me away from the real world, the more I notice her change into her human form. Slowly and gradually, her facial and physical features began to take shape. To my horror, I start to turn more like her: a skeleton, devoid of flesh and blood. And the more we walk towards that source of light, the more I notice her change into me. I felt terrible being alive in the moment when I could feel and witness the process in which she steals every bit of myself. I am neither dead nor alive but in continuous transition.

“Why?” “What have…I…ever done…to yo…u?” Her creepy smile bores a hole in me. It is weird to see my smile on someone else’s face like that. Technically, that is my face, but in reality, that’s somebody else’s body.

‘SPLASH!’

We hit the cold water together and I couldn’t help myself from drowning. However, the entity floats right above me and she mumbles something incoherent. I taste salty water as it fills my lungs. Several golden bubbles rise up on the water surface as I fight against the tide. My skeleton sinks in the abyss as my rationality sinks deep within the entity’s body.

“Help! Somebody, help me!” My newfound body: the entity, lures Raynott to the lake. I, an empty skeleton with diminishing heartbeats, attempt to rise up to the surface despite the force that’s pulling me down forcibly.

‘Hold on, Rosie! Just don’t give up yet.’ He swims deeper, surpassing my nearly lifeless body with a shiny quartz knife with a silver handle. The woman in my disguise, on the other hand, tries to drown me to death. She understands that her lie has been detected this time and wants to finish me off ASAP. Her hands that wrap my ankle feel uncharacteristically cold even when in water. And I see a chance to hold on to my life tighter. She’s dead even when she’s stripped me off of my flesh. I have what she doesn’t: a beating heart and the will to survive.

“You can never get what you want, Witch!” Raynott digs a ball of red thread from the floor of the lake and starts stabbing it with the amour in his hand. The witch screams in pain and clutches her chest with both of her hands. Victor continues to stab the red ball until it bursts. The knife in his hand is set ablaze as he throws it at the witch.

“You don’t deserve my heart, but hell, Barbara! I am sending you to where you belong!” With that, the witch starts burning, leaving a pungent smell on the water. The more she burned, the more I gained my physical body back. The last thing I remember is seeing a rescue team approaching us. Everything went black after that.

My life is not less than a fairy tale. I never thought that Victor and I shared the same fate – our destiny intertwined with nightmares and a web of Barbara’s deceit. Elisabeth was one of her lies. She had a crush on him and Barbara used her attraction to deceive him. He and I were lovers in the seventeenth century, while she was my best friend. I couldn’t even imagine that she would turn out to be a witch and even sell her soul to the demon. I never knew that she wanted Victor as much as she hated me. Her thirst to win him over was so strong that she remained eternal until we discovered her heart buried beneath the Egress Lake. Even in the 19th century, she is an ancient soul: an undead witch, who needs my body to feel alive again. What she didn’t know was that destiny had other plans. Unlike me, Victor was reborn with his past memories intact.

Even though our fortnight-long field trip ended with no discovery of sea folks, the government re-opened the site for the public after our teams submitted the findings, delayed by a month after that unfortunate accident which nearly took my life along with that of Victor. We agreed to remain tight-lipped and shared nothing about Barbara and our past with anyone. Who would have thought Barbara’s end meant my liberation?

"I love you, Rosie."

I can't understand why she chose to hate me, but whenever Victor pulls me in his arms and kisses me, I tend to believe that maybe this was Barbara’s way to atone for her past mistakes. She must have loved him a lot that she decided to end her story right by his hand. She made my life a living hell, but somehow it brought me closer to the love of my life. He and I share a bond so strong that even an evil witch couldn’t tear us apart. We have been each other’s safe place since ages. We are each other's forever.

PEN NAME: INTROVERT GEMINI

AUTHOR PAGE: Gemstone Galaxy

WORKS ON DREAME:

MY ORPHAN BRIDE: COMPLETE/PTR

FALLING HARD: THE BAD BOY AND ME: ONGOING/PTR

THE SECRET HEIRESS: ONGOING/ FREE TO READ

METAMORPHOSIS: ONGOING/ FREE TO READ

ALPHA BOUND: UPCOMING