She's The Lie (She's The Enemy Sequel)

Emelie

"Pain and loss, they define us as much as happiness or love. Everything has its time and everything ends" 

But what if it no longer does?

Because time seems endless as I rise from where I'd slept the previous night. Except, I can't actually remember choosing to sleep. I can't remember tucking my brother into bed, pressing a light kiss on his forehead as I wish him an undisturbed night. I don't remember. What I do remember, however, is her fingers wrapped around mine, begging and praying that they would never let me go. And I remember the release of pressure as her grasp slid from mine. As I fell and fell and fell. It felt like I would fall forever. Until what seemed like forever had condensed into this tiny moment.

"Emelie?" The small squeak of my brother's voice echoes around the room. I move slowly to look over at him. My neck is strained as if I had just fallen from one side of the earth to the other.

"Yeah?" Suddenly his little face stretches into a beaming smile, a smile that immediately wraps a veil of warmth around my heart.

"Happy Birthday!" He exclaims,  jumping off of his bed and into my arms. He seems different. He seems... carefree. And what was weirder was that every movement felt like it was slower than usual. Even breathing felt laggard and undemanding. Everything was still fluid, things moved as they were supposed to, forces opposed and worked in harmony, but it felt... disjointed. Like something was missing.

No. Not missing. As if something was out of place. 

Then comes the soft knock on our door. Our father never knocked.

***

Do you ever glance across the road as someone passes and realise that these people are living out their own lives, with the same thoughts and feelings as you? And while your entire viewpoint of the world is centred around you, the earth still moves, people still live. There's a girl that lives down my street, couldn't afford to attend school and most likely only has one or two pairs of clothing. Every single Thursday I would watch her skip across the road, humming folk tunes to herself. And every single Thursday, I wonder what she is thinking, what is it that makes her so incredibly happy, all of the time. Until, one day, she wasn't skipping and singing tunes, instead she was sombre and cold. And it wasn't until the announcement of her grandfather's death until I knew why.

I barely knew her. Or him. But I knew that they made each other happy despite everything. And then, it kind of hit me. A billion stories are crafted in a billion different towns in a billion different worlds and, sometimes, if you get lucky enough, these stories cross paths, stretching into a million more stories, more families, more lifetimes.

And that terrified me.

But the one thing I always wondered was... what if we could change the way those paths moved? What if you could take two separate stories and join them together once again...?

***

The door creaks open slightly.

"Em...?" Your voice is one of the most defining features of a human, the way you chose to craft the words you say, an indication of personality far beyond looks. Because you can get an entire image of a person just from them speaking a few words. And I remember the slight intonation of these two letters, the way they are manufactured with such care. I remember from every time I was ever scared, or nervous or even when I was settled to sleep my the slight gesture as my mother combed her hands slowly through my hair.

My mother.

There she was, standing in the doorway of my room. The woman whom I'd wished every night to have another moment with. To see if she approved of the person I'd become, the decisions I'd made. And here she was, standing here as if the world hadn't gone to great lengths to keep us apart.

I'd always dreamed when I'd see her again, maybe once I had died, maybe when I was about to die. But, I'd never imagined that it would be in a situation as mundane as this. She's smiling, standing in the doorway of my room as if it were a normal occurrence. And I can't help myself as I leap off of my bed and into her arms. Her embrace is different, it's warmer and colder at the same time. Not only that, but it's the most comforting thing in the entire world. 

And suddenly I'm no longer questioning the world around me, I'm no longer wondering how I got here. Because I couldn't care less. I'm here. She's here. And at this moment, that is all that matters. We part from the hug and it feels like something has been torn out of me. But she's here. She's standing here.

"Happy Birthday baby, although, twenty years old..." She pauses for a moment, moving her hand to rest on my cheek, "Maybe you aren't my baby anymore..." I smile up at her. I love her voice, it's so gentle and soothing.

"I got you something!" Noah lurches up from his bed, straggling to reach something beneath it. I turn, just to watch him pull the object into the light. It's a deck of cards. I take them from he, ruffling his head as I do so.

"Aw, thank you, bud..." I run my thumb over the top of the deck. Noah grimaces,

"Don't call me that..." He murmurs before giving in to the excitement of the moment, "Look, I made them myself!" He pulls a card out, showing me an intricate drawing of a fae on the back of it. I didn't know my brother could draw like this.  Each pencil line is careful and thought through, the boy who drew them smiling in glee as I study it. I feel a tear prick my eye. He's so much happier, so much freer.

"It's so beautiful..." I choke out, reaching to wipe my eyes. As I do so, my mother hugs me from behind, pressing a quick kiss on my head.

"Come... I made you your favourite for breakfast..."

***

My father is sat at the table when we approach, a smile painted on his face. A smile that I don't think I've seen on his face since the night mother died. But she didn't die. She's here. Breakfast is delicious, mother had made pancakes with blueberries and it tasted like a firework had exploded in my mouth, minus the burning part of course. It was weird. Not bad weird. Just, It was happy. I was happy, father was happy, mother was happy and Noah was gleeful. Although, there had been no mention of Avery yet.

"Hey... where's Avery?" I ask casually while placing a forkful of pancake into my mouth.

"Avery? Is that one of your friends darling?" My mother asks in a high pitch tone. Avery. She'd fallen, just like me. Where was Avery?

"Well... as nice as this has been, I should probably..." I'm cut off by my father.

"Ah yes... Ari told me he was waiting for you, by the lake I think..." The lake... Our lake. Isla and I.

Isla.

I didn't imagine Isla.

I didn't dream Isla.

And I know that because I still feel her, I feel her everywhere, in my heart, in my head. We're mates after all. She's alive. And that's when I realise that I have to find her. She'll know what to do... she will.

***

Well... I hope you all enjoyed! I'm excited to know what you all think of this chapter and maybe your theories as to what happened... Some of you may have guessed already but I'll keep the emphasis on the may. Anyway, Thank you all so so much for reading and I'm sorry this is much later than I said it would be.

Wishing you all a lovely day!

PS- I am trying to commit to this chapter a day thing but it may turn into every other day. I'll give it a go though :)