3It was a peaceful Saturday morning.
As usual, mom and I woke up early in the hopes of seeing dad off to work, but being the busy salary man that he was, he was gone by the time we had forced ourselves to get up and leave the sweet warmth that our beds provided behind. As usual, my little sister—named Jane after my grandma from my dad's side—woke up late, sluggishly making her way to the kitchen in her bright green pajama, demanding that mom make her favorite breakfast meal: pancakes. By the time my mom finished making the "fluffy pieces of heaven", as Jane had dubbed them, she was up and about, raving about her latest obsession.
"Sis, you HAVE to watch it!"—she exclaimed—"Hunter x Hunter is the best anime, in like, EVER."
Her face was practically less than an inch away from mine, and I could see that her eyes were filled with determination. That meant that even though I had zero interest in those Japanese cartoon series, she would force me to watch them with her, whether it was with my consent or not.
"Is that why you woke up so late? Because you were watching those episodes until who knows what hour?"—I asked her in a teasing voice.
Not surprisingly, she ducked her head a little to cover her slight blush, as she twiddled her fingers nervously; that was something that I used to do when I was a lot younger, too, until I noticed and forced myself to stop. Having remembered my old habit, I couldn't help but roll my eyes and smile at her reaction.
"I know you're obsessed with that cartoon, Jane, but you need to sleep earlier; you're only eleven, after all."
She lifted her gaze from the ground in favor of looking at me, her eyes now reflecting disbelief, and from what I could see, a bit of indignation. The thought was confirmed when she scoffed loudly and crossed her arms with a pout.
"Like you're soooo much older, Rue"—she muttered—"You're twelve, baka onee-san!"
"Even though you say that, I'm still one year older than you."—I replied, if not a bit childishly—"And respect your elders more, warugaki."
Though I'm not really interested in anime, I'm proud to say that I have picked up a fair share of Japanese vocabulary that I could use against my sister.
Offended, she opened her mouth to retort, but she was stopped short when mom placed a hand on her shoulder softly, silently telling her to calm down.
"Now, now, you two"—she chided in that soft and mellow tone of hers—"fighting is no good!"
Though mom and I are nothing alike in character—me being slightly self-centered, sarcastic and a tiny bit antisocial (…okay, more like a lot), and mom being like a grown up version of a typical goody two shoes as well as a social butterfly—I love her very much. She has always been there for my sister and I, and though many kids my age would think of it as weird, I consider mom my best friend; a confidant who I could talk to about anything and everything. Jane probably thinks the same, even though a ton of girls and boys from our school approach her in pursue of her friendship. Not that she cares much about them.
"Instead of being all coped up in the house, why don't we go out?"—mom suggested.
Distracted by the prospect of going out, Jane looked at my mom's smiling face.
"Where do you plan on taking us to, mom?"—she asked curiously.
"To the amusement park"—she replied cheerfully—"get ready, girls!"
Because of her excitement, Jane practically skipped to her room and tripped once, before swiftly standing up. Sighing, I followed her example (not including the skipping-and-tripping part) and went to my room to get ready. As I searched for comfortable clothes to wear, I thought of my sister's crazy morning antics and our silly little arguments; despite the fact that it was sometimes troublesome to have to hear her babble nonstop about "how sexy" some character named Kura-something was, and how much she wanted to "become a Hunter", I wouldn't trade her for the world. Smiling, I decided that today would be a good day.
Today would be another peaceful Saturday morning. Or so I thought.
Sad thing is, at that moment in time…I didn't know how wrong I was.
When we arrived to our destination—precisely at 10:30—I incredulously noticed that the amusement park was almost empty. And I say incredulously because, a) the amusement park was quite popular and b)it was usually filled and crawling with people, even on no vacation days. Apparently my sister thought the same, but she got over it quickly enough, running to the front of the entrance happily while mom bought the tickets.
I made my way to the entrance as well, observing my surroundings. Even though it had only opened the previous year, I was still surprised at how big the amusement park really was, and at how well it had been built. From where I was standing, I could see a tall clock tower with a shape I considered to be quite weird: it was cylindrical, and the top part of it was made in a way that reminded me of a hornet's sting (honestly, it looks kind of cool, but that doesn't change the fact that it's weird). I could also see a lot of roller-coasters, a Ferris wheel, and a bit of what I assumed was a merry-go-round.
"Why are you just standing there, sis? Let's go!"
After forcing me through the entrance, Jane gripped my hand tightly and didn't let go no matter how hard I tugged; she started dragging me to the different attractions she wanted to visit for hours, and she forced me to enter each and every one of them, including those cursed spinning tea cups. That, combined with the sickening odor of the sizzling greasy food that filled my nose, made me feel sick to my stomach.
"…Mom?"—I called out weakly, in a voice so pathetic that I wanted to slap myself—"I'm going to walk for a while; I don't wanna ride any more attractions with that devil child"
As said devil child grinned in a deceitfully innocent way and skipped off to another roller coaster nearby, mom scolded me briefly on calling my sister names, but otherwise allowed me to wander about.
"Not too far away, though"—she clarified.
Satisfied with the conditions, I walked away with a destination set in mind: the "relaxation area". Yes, I know it sound kind of strange, but that's what the amusement park's map said. This section was right in front of the big hornet sting like clock tower, and it was basically just a green area filled with benches, were people could unwind and sit under the shade of the trees. Apparently, it also had a lake.
When I saw the place, I immediately liked it. It completely devoid of people as well, which was quite nice. After observing the area once more, I chose what I thought was the best bench and sat on it. It was located just in front of the lake, and under one of the largest trees I had ever seen. Closing my eyes, I leaned my head backward and rolled my shoulders.
The wind blew delicately, rustling the leaves softly and making my short orange hair mess up slightly. I was feeling so at peace at that place, so comfortable, that I almost fell asleep.
That is, until I heard a child's laughter.
My eyes snapped open instantly and my head shot forward almost immediately after. Then, once more, the laugh echoed through the place once more, sending shivers down my spine, and throughout my whole body. I tried to locate the source of the creepy giggle (if it could be called that), but I found myself alone.
"Over here, you big dummy~!"—someone called out mischievously.
Scared out of my wits, my head turned slowly to the source of the voice: the lake; floating in the middle of the calm water body, stood the figure of a young girl dressed in jester clothes. Unluckily for me, she seemed to quickly pick up on my bafflement and obvious fear, and grinned toothily.
"So, I finally get to meet the famous Rue Starling~"—though her expression remained the same, I noticed that her stance had become more rigid. The atmosphere seemed to have changed drastically as well; it was so filled with tension, and something more sinister that I couldn't really identify, that I felt as if it was choking me.
"I have something veeeery important to discuss with you, my little pumpkin~"—she continued talking—"let's go to somewhere more private, okay?"
She raised her right arm daintily, and snapped her fingers. Suddenly, my body started moving on its own and even though I tried to make myself stop, I couldn't. The feeling of not being able to control myself, of not being able of screaming for help, was so terrifying that I wanted to burst to tears. I continued to walk unwillingly, until I felt my feet come to a halt in front of "The Mystifying Mirror House".
Once more, my feet took off, and I entered the mirror house with the jester girl following closely behind. I walked and walked and walked, until we arrived at circle shaped room, far away from the entrance.
"Do you know why you're here, Rue-chan?"—the girl said, a curious expression on her face, which was doubtlessly fake.
'Of course I don't, you stupid wannabe clown'
"Well, to put it simply…you're here because you don't belong in this world~"
'W-what? What the hell did she just say?'
"Oh, don't look at me with that expression"—she laughed again, clutching her stomach—"It's the truth, darling~"
I wanted to close my eyes shut, but I quickly found out that I couldn't. Instead, tears started stinging my eyes, and I desperately tried to hold them back.
"You weren't supposed to be born in this planet, heck, not even in this dimension! The place in which you were supposed to be born is very, veeery far away from here, you know~"—as she explained, she circled my still body time and time again, with her hands behind her back—"My mission, little pumpkin, is to take you home, to the family that you're really supposed to be born in~"
As she cackled yet again, I saw that something was beginning to form in the mirrors; silhouettes: a man with long wavy hair, a woman that used a Victorian dress, three elderly people, and kids, some my age and some older. They were all there, and even though I couldn't see their faces, I felt as if they were watching me.
The jester suddenly stopped short, behind my back. She gingerly placed both of her palms in my cheeks, caressing them softly.
"That, right there"—she whispered—"is your destiny; the place you need to be in."
The tears I had tried to stop so hard from falling tumbled down without restraint, as I sobbed softly.
"It's time for you to go where you belong."
Her grip on my head tightened, and without any warming, she snapped my head to the right with a crack.
I had thought it was going to be a peaceful Saturday morning; but instead, that seemingly peaceful Saturday morning, I found myself—Rue Starling—dead, and on my way to a place unknown.