Chapter 35
Genevieve
As we continue through Mermaid Lake, I try to shake the feeling I got from that guy.
I saw how he looked at Illysia, he looked at her with the same eyes that Ector had looked at me with.
Like he adored her from afar, waiting to get her full attention or to see her smile.
His eyes held love that was ready to be given.
It was easy to recognize the warmth along with the nervousness that spread around him when he tried talking to her, and it was adorable to witness. Especially the way Illysia immediately folded in his presence.
Not being able to help it, my mind, one of a hopeless romantic, started creating a love story for the two of them. The shy girl with a wonderful smile and the charming, teasing guy without a name.
I started giggling to myself, butterflies spreading through me at the thought of it.
More pillars and buildings appeared around us, and one was impossible to ignore, it was a gazebo. It had a beautiful staircase leading up to it, one where clear water was running down each and every step. Wonderful pink roses were working their way up every pillar.
Suddenly my body took control over me, leaving Illysia’s side and making its own path up the slippery staircase. Every step made it feel like I was making my way into a different realm of magic and mysteries.
It was almost like someone was calling for me and letting me know that they were waiting for me on the other side. It was a pull I had never felt before, so drawn towards a mysterious place that I couldn’t explain.
“No, no, no!” I heard a voice, but it was quiet, and dull.
A hand wrapped around my arm and gently dragged me down the steps I had just taken, pulling me away from the majestic building.
“You can’t go there.” The voice spoke again. “Hello? Genevieve?” Her hand waved before my eyes until my mind decided to come back to reality.
“What?”
“I said, you can’t go there.”
“Why?”
“No why’s, no but’s. That place looks magical, trust me I know, I have eyes. But it holds a tragic story and unsolved disappearances.”
“Unsolved disappearances?”
“People, mostly young children, have been lured up there by something unknown for centuries and never come back. We have an unspoken rule that says: If you feel drawn, no you’re not. If you feel the pull, no you don’t.”
“What does that even mean?”
“That whenever passing this place, you have to ignore everything that is not the clear path.” She says, pointing to the path we were walking on earlier, and for some reason, it seemed to be farther away than it was before I left it.
She takes my hand in hers, and I follow immediately without arguing, Daffodil looking up at me with worry in her eyes.
“Just follow me, okay, we’re almost outside of Mermaid Lake. This part can feel almost haunted sometimes, that’s why no one’s here.” She explains.
I do as she says and try my best to stay focused, but it’s hard when the only thing that consumes my brain is the thought of the missing children she just told me about.
The children who had innocently walked up the long staircase, totally blinded by the beauty of the gazebo and never returned home to their dear mothers.
What exactly was it that made them disappear and why was it mostly children? Did they feel the same feeling I felt? The pulling of something warm, almost like someone would take my hand and drag me into a world of joy and pureness?
It was a question that I would never get the answer to, a mystery that would never be solved.
Pushing the heaviness of the poor kids out of my mind, I try my hardest to think of something else, something that could bring me a feeling of home.
And while I thought that it would be Esme or Ector’s face that would flash before my eyes, it was actually my mother’s.
It was my mother’s face, her big smile with the small gap between her front teeth.
It was a warmth that I was longing for, to be curled up in her arms.