LIGHTS OF THE OTHER WORLD

Chapter 22 : Hallucinations

In my heart, I knew that Dina was right. I was missing Evanthia but I was scared to admit it to my mind. I look in the mirror above my dressing table. All I see is a girl dressed in blue. Her face is pale. She has golden brown straight and long hair which curls a little at the lower edges. Her eyes have the lightest shade of brown which shines as the sunlight from the window falls on it.

Her eyes meet mine. She doesn't have the look of confidence. She looks puzzled. She looks back at me and tries to find me in her. Suddenly she looks furious and frowns at me.

She says, "Go Callidora, get Evanthia back." I rub my eyes in surprise to look again. I still see her. "Go Callidora." She repeats. "She needs you." She adds.

"She doesn't need me. She's happy without me." I reply.

"But you aren't. A friend in need is a friend Indeed. You should be a good friend." She says.

"A good friend to a person who hates me? No way. I'm not going back to that place. All it's given me is despair." I say.

"That place is your birthplace. How can you just abandon it? Evanthia is your own sister! You can't just leave her like that." She explains.

"Well, she forgot that fact so easily, then why should I hesitate?" I ask.

"There must have been a misunderstanding. She hasn't forgotten the fact that you're her sister. She can't. I'm sure in her heart she still loves you." She says.

"That's nonsense! She doesn't and I don't too! I hate Evanthia! And who are you to give me advice?" I say.

"I'm your heart." She says.

"What? What does that mean?" I ask.

"I'm you. I'm speaking from your heart. Don't listen to your mind. It's fooling you. I'm saying the right thing. Just do what I say and you'll make everything fine. Everything will be just the way you ever wanted." She says.

"Enough is enough! I don't need your suggestion. Now just go away! I don't want to speak to anyone! Just stop talking!" I yell as I close my eyes and put my hand over my ears.

I feel exhausted. I look back at the mirror and see myself, standing motionless. Everything is back to normal now. I decide to talk to grandma about what happened. As I turn towards the door, I see someone who's wearing a black hoodie and a mask. By now I'm sure that Zina wants to scare me. She's hiding and watching me. Just when our eyes meet, she gets scared and runs away. I run after her.

"Stop! Zina, stop! You could fool Dina but you cannot fool me! This time you won't be able to run away!"

She runs across the house. As I run behind her, grandma and mom look tensed. I race her outside my house.

On my way I see Lucy walking towards us with someone next to her. "Lucy! Catch her before she runs away!" I shout out to Lucy.

"Catch who?" Lucy asks.
"Zina!" I say, panting.

"Zina? But where is she?" Lucy asks.
"Right in front of you! What's wrong with you today, Lucy?" I ask as I run. I watch Zina running away.

"Why didn't you help me? You did that on purpose, didn't you? You hate me too, right?" I tell Lucy.

"What are you talking about Cal? There was no one to catch. Zina isn't here anyway. I heard that she's busy holding a party for her friends." Lucy replies.

"What? Couldn't you see her? She just ran past you!" I say.

"No cal. I think you're getting too worked up regarding the fight between Evanthia and you. You need rest. Go home and relax. You'll feel better." Lucy says.

"Are you trying to tell me that I'm crazy?" I ask.

"No, cal. I just think that your mind is playing tricks with you. After a good sleep, you'll feel much better. Anyways, meet Stacey." Lucy says and introduces me to Stacey.

"Hi! Nice, you meet you. I think I've spoken to you over the phone once. Do you remember?" Stacey asks.

"Yes. Of course. Nice to meet you. Lucy told me about the two of you. Don't you ever betray her." I warn Stacey.

"Don't worry. I won't." Stacey replied, puzzled.

Our conversation went on for a while and finally, Stacey said she had to get back. So walk back home with the joy of meeting Lucy's special one she talked about. I was glad things were working for her.

When I reach home, mom welcomes me as though she hadn't seen anything before. I head to the backyard to give Cuddles his evening snack. I lean on my apple tree as I'm exhausted. Cuddles senses me, runs towards me eagerly and stares at the pack of dog biscuits in my hand hoping that I would open it and feed him quickly.

"Oh don't worry, I'm not at all fond of dog biscuits!" I laugh. Just then an apple falls on my head. I'm startled. I look at the apple. It reminds me of the fruit I had tasted in Bellendis. It was called the Drabble fruit. It was round and red. It had a covering as hard as the apple but it's taste was different. It was the juiciest and the sweetest fruit I had ever tasted. We had collected so many of them from the forbidden forest and it gave all of us the energy to fight during our stay inside the forest. I look up only to find so many apples.

I hadn't realized that my tree had grown so much. Now, I see so many juicy apples hanging from it. I stretch my hands to pluck some out.

As I do, I see cuddles making efforts to snatch the biscuit pack from my other hand. I sigh and ignore him. I continuously jump and try to pluck apples.

Suddenly my eyes fall on grandma's room. I see someone's back, the black hoodie. I recognize it at once.

What's that person doing in grandma's room? I think.
Cuddles loses his patience and snatches the biscuit pack from me and flees. Once again I ignore him and run to grandma's room. I think that she's in trouble, so I dashed to her room.

"Grandma! Are you alright?" I ask.
Grandma is startled on seeing me.

"Get away from my grandma! If you do anything to her, I swear I'll skin you alive!" I scream.

"Darling, I'm okay. Calm down." She says.

"Thank god grandma, I'm so glad she didn't hurt you," I say as I hold her hands.

"She had no intentions of harming me, don't worry.". Grandma assures me.

"Why are you following me? What wrong have I done to you? Answer me! I know who you are!" I yell at the stranger.

She doesn't answer.

"Will you answer me or not?" I demand.

She still remains motionless.

"Zina, I'm not going to tolerate this anymore. First, I'll remove that hideous mask of yours!" I say and barge towards her and pull her mask out. I'm shocked as I look at her face. My grip loosens and the mask falls from my hand.

"You?"