Leaving Laurabelle Falls

Chapter 6

"Who did this to me?" I demanded.

I had been mocked for my ears my entire life. I had always thought that my big ears were beautiful, could remember my dad playfully tugging on them, guiding my head back and forth until I shoved his hands away, giggling with glee.

Those big, beautiful points had just felt so right when I had seen them. I knew that I was supposed to have those. Reaching up and finding myself mutilated was... a shock, to say the least.

I was met with a resounding silence.

"You... Were supposed to remember that in the pools." Torrent finally broke the silence. "I'm sorry, we-"

"Is this why so many people were wearing hats?" I asked.

"We didn't think you'd notice." Sam piped in.

"I'm so, so sorry." Madeline gushed, her voice cracking. "Your chakras are supposed to be unblocked, we weren't supposed to have to tell you, we're not really sure-"

"My chakras?" I interrupted. "This is about my ears, not-"

"Please, calm down." Beth interrupted, holding her hand out. I looked up into her brown eyes, always so caring. I stopped, and sat back in my seat. I crossed my arms across my chest, glancing towards the ground.

"You're going to have to start explaining something." I said, my voice flat. "Or I am climbing out of this vehicle and getting lost in the forest. I am not above a dramatic exit."

It was an empty threat. I wouldn't survive thirty minutes alone in the woods.

"... Well, you just saw the Deerman." She said. "You're a smart girl. You've got to know-"

"You let me be in a room with that....Thing?" I demanded, feeling a sharp pain in my chest. These were my friends, my... my parents, supposedly. They were supposed to keep me safe.

"You weren't in any real danger." Beth said. "We had an exit strategy, and we executed it. I promise-"

Torrent's hand was suddenly on my shoulder. She turned to Beth and put up her hand, signaling for her to stop. "I think it's time. I know we don't want it to be, but this fits the prophecy."

Beth went quiet and her jaw tensed, but she nodded. She sat back in her seat, looking tense. Her arms were crossed tightly over her chest, but her eyes never left me.

Torrent turned back to me. "There's a book in your treehouse. None of us know where it is, but you're going to find it if the time is right. You're angry, but you're thinking with your head right now, and not with your heart. You need to breathe."

An image of winding wooden steps and thick bark was at the forefront of my mind, blocking out what I could actually see. There was this odd, iridescent purple color surrounding the memory, just like the starshine-water in the caves. I noticed the wood grain, felt the ground getting further away as I gripped the sanded banister, rising into the air. Then, the memory shifted. I got a view of the full thing, further away. It looked like something out of a fantasy film; moss growing along a shaggy wooden roof, spires rising up out of a tree that looked like it had to be centuries old. It was perfect.

I blinked, and my vision returned to normal.

"I think I just... Saw it?" I said, briefly side-tracked.

"That happens to you sometimes." Torrent said. "...Do you think it was a memory, or a premonition?"

"I'm not sure." I said. "I was climbing the steps."

"It could have been either." Bethany argued, finally turning away. Her brows were set, and her mouth pressed into a thin line.

"And if you guys aren't going to tell me anything," I said, my head finally returning to the conversation at hand, "I guess I'll never know for sure."