Illusion and Reality

Wickedly beautiful

Another sleepless night, but for the first time, it wasn’t due to my nightmares. The thought of sleeping under the same roof with that pendant kept the thoughts running in my head. 

“Are you sure you don’t want to come with us?” asked Lily wearing a floral maxi dress and dabbing lip balm on her lips.

Lily’s voice pulled me back from my world of scattered thoughts, “Yeah, I want to stay here today.”

Lily and her family had always welcomed me with open arms but I knew my boundaries. They accepted the girl who was not accepted by her own family. After school, I was more than ready to move out and then Lily asked me to share the apartment with her, the apartment which was given by her grandmother. 

My happiness had no limits that day and no matter how much I tried she never accepted the rent.

Sometimes I envied the relationship she had with her family, always loved by everyone. I knew it was wrong, but she had everything I never had….a family.  A family that made sure she was always happy and comfortable, whereas mine for sure forgot about my existence the minute I stepped out of their door. 

Shaking the thoughts away, I inhaled the aroma of freshly brewed coffee in my hand, “What are we going to do about the pendant?”

Thinking for a while she walked to her room and came back with tissues in her hand. Looking around the room, her eyes stopped on the bookshelf in the corner. 

She removed the pendant from the tissues and put it in an empty decorative treasure chest, “Let’s pretend it never happened, we will forget about its existence until we find a way to get rid of this for good.”

I looked at her skeptically as she put the box back to its place on the shelf, I was not happy about spending another day with the pendant but I didn’t want to spoil Lily’s day with her mother, “We should get rid of this as soon as possible.”

“We will think about something, try not to think about it until then,” she picked her bag from the table and walked towards the door in a hurry.

“If you are scared you can always come with me, my mum loves you more anyway.”

“I will be fine Lily,” I said with a small laugh. 

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.

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Looking at my phone for what felt like hours I finally dialed her number, after a few rings when I was about to cut the call she finally answered.

“Hey, mom.”

“Samara? Why aren’t you in your class?” came the confused voice of my mother from the other end. 

“It’s weekend mom,” I replied, my voice came out small. 

“Do you need something dear?”

I could hear the sound of children in the background, “No, I just wanted to talk to you.”

Biting my lips I tried not to let the sadness become visible in my voice, I was hoping she would at least ask how I was but my hopes were crushed completely by her next sentence, “Sweetie, do you mind if I call you back later? I am sort of busy right now,” without hearing my answer she disconnected the call.

Wiping a stray tear from my eye, I threw my phone making it clatter on the table. Closing my eyes, I took deep breaths, the sad void was a part of my life which I could never fill.

My parents were not happy together, of course as a kid I failed to notice that, but over time it became more and more obvious with their robot-like conversation. My parents were not happy together but they didn't leave each other because of me. When I turned 8 my mom was already in love with someone and decided she didn't want to sacrifice her happiness, her only chance of having a picture-perfect family. 

I thought it would only be me and dad but I was wrong, he fell in love within a year of divorce.

Mom focused on her new family and I was a constant reminder of her unhappy days, which she didn’t want to remember, ironically it was the only thing mom and dad’s new wife agreed on. I constantly felt like a guest who overstayed in their house.

But there was a place where I was welcomed with wide smiles and hugs, it was Lily’s home. It was a place where I spent most of my childhood.

Shaking all the memories from my head, I decided to make something. I went to the kitchen and started gathering the ingredients.

 I mixed the dry and wet ingredients separately then combined them and poured the batter into the baking pan. I transferred the pan to the oven and went to my room.

While waiting for the brownies I decided to read a book. A noise from outside the window made me stop instantly, hesitantly I moved towards the window but out of nowhere, a bird crashed straight into the glass. A scream escaped my lips, taking a few breaths I tried to calm my heartbeat. 

Slowly I went to help the bird, opening the window with one hand I leaned forward to see the condition of the bird, but what I saw made me froze. There was nothing outside, not even a feather.

Quickly I locked the window and grabbing a random book, I ran out of my room.

I made a decision to stay in the living room until Lily came back. I stared at the words in the book but nothing seemed to make any sense. 

After the agonizing day, Lily’s voice felt like a breeze on a summer day, “Honey I am home.”

“Is everything okay? You look pale.”

Concerned she stared at me for an answer, “I baked some chocolate brownies,” Like a fool, I said those words instead of telling her the truth. With everything happening around, it was safe to tell her the truth.

“Are you sure everything is fine?” she asked, putting the brownies on the table.

“Something weird is happening,” I started slowly.

Wiping her mouth she looked at me with a smile, “You mean light emitting pendant weird?”

I bit my lip thinking if it was right to tell her, no sane person would trust anything I was about to say.

The smile was gone from her face as she put the plate down, “Sam, what’s wrong?”

Taking a deep breath I started telling her everything, starting from the dahlia, abandoned building, and the bird.

After finishing my story I looked at her face for a reaction.

“Why didn’t you tell me about it sooner?” she asked softly.

“I thought it was nothing but later when we went shopping I felt like someone was following us.”

“We will deal with everything, those dreams, and your crow. Promise me no more hiding stuff, it doesn’t matter how weird it is,” she added with a completely serious face to which I nodded, “Let’s get rid of that crazy thing first.”

Walking towards the shelf I corrected her, “It’s a raven, not a crow.”

“Potato potahto,” shrugging she removed the pendant from the box that was still lying under many layers of tissue, “I am not touching that thing, maybe it belongs to aliens,” giving her theory she passed the pendant in my direction.

I gave her a ‘you can’t be serious look’, which she ignored.

“Let’s just throw it somewhere far away from here.”

I took the pendant from her and removed it from the tissues, there was something about that blue pendant that was making it hard to take the eyes away from it. I wanted to keep it close to me forever.

“Sam?” asked Lily with a suspicious look in her eyes, “You were staring at it.”

“I was just thinking something… you are right we should throw it somewhere far away from us.”

With caution, Lily opened the box to put the pendant inside, “Goodbye you wickedly beautiful thing, let’s never meet again.”

I grabbed the stone to put the pendant inside, but somehow cut my finger from the sharp edge, “Ouch.”

“Be careful, wait lemme bring first…..what the hell-” her blue eyes widened in horror as the blue circle started swirling around the pendant. Soon a blinding light appeared from it, making us close our eyes. When I finally managed to open my eyes, a blue circle was formed around us. 

“What’s happening? I can’t get out of this circle,” Lily tried pushing an invisible wall.

“I have no idea,” were my last words as the light kept becoming brighter with every second.