Avalon Myst

CHAPTER 1

A pair of big brown eyes framed in strong cheekbones stared into the red, beat up Voltswagen rearview mirror. Aurora looked at her mother's reflection and that of her own in disdain. It was just the two of them ever since she could remember. Her mother held her gaze, silently pleading for the slightest bit of understanding. Aurora didn't get why they had to move; giving up everything they had worked so hard to obtain, just to start over in an unfamiliar and uncomfortable place.

The old family estate came into view as the car turned the last winding corner. For hours now the two had endured the tediously long trip down roads that led to unmarked forks, roads of which were lined with the all too familiar forests of Northern Labrador. If it weren’t for Emily’s acute sense of direction, they would have been lost in the middle of nowhere ages ago.

The car slowed to a cautious crawl as the sight of a once beautiful country estate stood weakly in disrepair. The gate stood ajar: rusted, bent and broken and the cobblestone wall it was attached to was overgrown with a heavy layer of moss and vines. The grass rose up passed the car's grill, being impatiently mowed over by the old beast of a machine. Emily stuck her head out the window just to judge where they were going. Oddly shaped trees and bushes grew within the massive yard, all grey and leafless, making the grounds seem like a haunted graveyard. Various weathered statues were strewn with the random assortments of the now very wild foliage. There was every different colour that can be grown naturally within that stone wall, yet both girls knew there wasn't a specific design to any of it.

The car lurched to a halt, wheels spinning wildly in the deep pile of mud amidst the mini swamp of grass. Aurora simply stared at what lay before her, her mind trying to make sense of the information her eyes took in. Her face went blank with her mouth slightly agape, Emily purposely avoiding her daughter’s vacant expression.

"This can't seriously be it..." The daughter muttered in disbelief.

Emily frowned as the car pulled itself from the pit of muddy hell. She sighed heavily as she pulled up as close to the house as she could. "... What's wrong with it? It's very spacious and close to town..."

"Mom, please. This place is a complete disaster!" She exclaimed with as much abhorrence she could muster. "I mean look at it... Broken and falling to pieces, Mom? I don't think there's not a rotten piece of wood in the lot! It should be condemned, not lived in..." Aurora jumped out of the car as it puttered there, stranded in another petite sea of mud. It was an Elizabethan styled manor at one point, but the serious lack of care left it ugly and in serious need of some TLC.

The once elegant milling work upon the outside veranda had long been rotten and in need of replacing. The Shutters had fallen off their hinges to feed the mass of plants beneath as fertilizer. The only window at the front that was not cracked or completely shattered was the one in the attic, a beautiful stain glass masterpiece crafted in the shape of a lotus flower. Everything about the house, even the land surrounding it, seemed as though it had not been touched for eons. Aurora could tell the house had been a beautiful glowing white once upon a time, but all that was left were chips here and there upon the ground; a vague indication that this house used to be the pride of the surrounding area.

"Wait, Aurora help me unpack first!" her mother called after her as Aurora continued her unpleasant venture across the overgrown lawn, making sure to acknowledge every flaw so as to complain about it later to a mother who refused to be moved.

There were three steps leading up to the veranda, two of which were cracked, whether-beaten and torn off their track. Aurora lept over them and landed shakily upon the uneven floor, trying hard not to fall through the floor boards. Tip-toeing across the way with every single board squealing a different note, Aurora turned the surprisingly shiny handle to the front door. A loud screech echoed through the quiet morning air as the last hinge that hung to the frame cried out in protest and pulled itself from the wood, toppling to the ground as Aurora stood there in shock. "You've got to be shittin’ me..." She mumbled under her breath, staring at the newly painted door at her feet. "The whole place is a death trap..."

Her mother gleefully strolled to the entrance, half of her belongings piled high in her arms, glancing at the door lying dully on the ground. "What'd you do that for?!" She exclaimed, oblivious to the sny look her daughter was giving her. Aurora rolled her eyes dramatically and strode inside, grabbing one of her bags from her mother and draping it over the shoulder.

The inside wasn't much different, nothing but the smell of old dirt, mould and animal urine. Everything was covered in old sheets and plastic, all of which were covered in a fine layer of dust. Aurora's nose began twitching diligently as sneeze after sneeze escaped her grasp.

Emily clumsily dropped the boxes by the staircase and whipped out something out of her back pocket. Handing Aurora a cloth mask, Emily calmly walked over to the nearest window. She pulled the large sheet of plastic off of the grimy pane and quickly opening the window just in time for a gust of wind to blow the dust all over Aurora's annoyed grimace. Once again Aurora sneezed, coughed and nearly gagged as she hurried to put the mask over her face. Emily did that for every window on the main floor, each time forcing more dust and god knows what else into Aurora's disgruntled face.

She turned to Aurora, noticing she hadn't moved an inch and had a wide eyed look-to-kill expression on her face, "Why don't you find yourself a room upstairs and set yourself up, Hun?". Emily said cheerfully, handing her daughter a large dufflebag. Aurora growled and began climbing the intensely creaky and dusty stairs, mumbling strings of profanities along the way.

For a brief moment, Aurora saw a little fuzz-ball scurry across the steps "Note to self: We have rats..." She mumbled solemnly as she began popping her head into each grotesquely rodent-infested room, including the bathroom which she was sure would need to be sterilized by burning.

Finally she chose one that needed the least bit of cleaning and plunked her things sloppily upon the floor. There was a lot that needed to be cleaned yet and Aurora didn't want to even think about how much of a headache it would equal up to in the end. A new school, new friends, new life... Change in any form is hard to accept, and greatly uncalled for.

Aurora opened the bedroom curtains and for a second, was pleased with the elegant beauty the room had to offer. Her foot slipped in some goop and she nearly toppled to the floor where more goop awaited. It wasn't just rats they had, their winged cousins seemed to make a home there as well.

"Mum, why do we have to live here?" She yelled over the stair's railings, trying hard not to touch anything. "Wouldn't it have been easier to just get like a two bedroom house or apartment or something? Like come on, this place reeks!-"

"Aurora just give it a chance... It may need work now, but it will be quite the home in a couple months!" Her mother pleaded as she climbed the noisy stairs. "And besides, it's not like we had much choice-"

"Mother please..."

"You know the only way to deal with our debts was to sell the house, and besides... now we get a real piece of history all to ourselves!" She exclaimed quietly. Aurora knew what her mother was thinking but didn’t have the guts to say.

"... Mum... how are we going to pay to repair this...?” Her mother looked her square in the eyes, suddenly seeing as much fear in her daughters gaze as there was in her own. The woman swallowed hard and tried ever so desperately to put on her fake-motherly-smile. She gently took Aurora's hand in hers and compared the two: A young, vibrant, silky smooth hand encrusted in gaudy rings and bright blue nail polish compared to the plain, wrinkled, rough, hard hands of an aged woman... to the naked eye they would be completely different in every way. To her, all she saw was her daughter trying to be something she wasn't. She missed the times when she could talk to her about everything and anything; she missed her sweet, doting Aurora.

"... I'll have to work two jobs then... It'll all work out, I promise. Now go have yourself a little adventure." She smiled, remembering Aurora as a tyke running around the town in a pirate suit. Aurora gruffly muttered some undesirable words and ran down the stairs.

"Children have adventures Mum, I'm too old to do any of that stupid ass bull shit..." Aurora ran out the front, anger pumping through her veins. She wasn't a child anymore. 15 is much more than an acceptable age for being married with kids and what-not in other countries, so how could she still be considered a kid! At least, that's what ran through her mind before she stubbed her toes on a stone that jutted out from the path and began swearing every curse that had ever crossed her lips. Her anger slowly subsided with the pain as she gazed around accusingly, ready to bite the head off the first living thing that showed its face. Naturally, there was nothing, so she instead turned her attention to the path she had stumbled upon.

The slate stone pathway wound all the way around the building, as did the consistent colour gradient of brown and grey plants that marked the signs of careless gardening. Amidst all the dead foliage and trellises for vines was a magnificent marbled fountain placed elegantly in the middle. It seemed so out of place with its gleaming surface cascading ripples of light off of other variously placed items, an angel stood perched upon the mountainous lode with its arms outstretched as though it were presenting something grand and heavenly. Its eyes glowed blue in the sun and under closer inspection, Aurora discovered that the eyes were large sapphire jewels, gazing at her in a hopeful acknowledgement of forgotten truth. She gazed over it as though she were an artist critique and was baffled at it’s great detail and it’s odd presence amidst a place so full of decay and death.

Staring past the fountain, Aurora caught sight of something rather unusual in the corner of the garden. Sitting snugly between conjoining cobblestone walls stood a shining silvery arch, covered in different vines and flowers, the likes of which seemed foreign and beautiful. A small chill ran down her spine and a sense of deja-vu radiated through her consciousness. There was something very familiar about that gateway that was tantalizingly invigorating. Before Aurora knew it, her feet had led her through it and onto the path that lay beyond.

Her curiosity knew no bounds as she slowly strolled down the various ingrown paths, to what end she wasn't sure. What was minutes felt like hours as she made her way through the maze of trees. Deeper and deeper into the established, yet unknown, grove she crept, curiosity turning more into an odd sense of uncomfortable caution. She stopped, looked back down the path and realized she hadn't even wandered far from the house yet. A small chuckle erupted from her lips as she realized that she did exactly what her Mother advised to do... "-Adventure..." She mumbled, shaking her head from the irony. She also noticed off to her left, a little cote, barely discernible from the surrounding brush, "Right on..."

The cote was old but in much better shape than the manor, almost like a home-away-from-mansion. It reminded her of an olden day greenhouse, with a glass ceiling reinforced with weathered copper bars and intricately carved windows upon the aged grey walls. Cautiously entering through the elegantly stained glass door, her eyes immediately fell to the table and chair in the right hand corner. Little saplings sprouted out of the cracks in the floorboards and lit up the little building with their gentle green youth. The cote seemed quaint yet elegant with it's calm blue walls and stained white floors. Old faded pictures were placed on the wall of people Aurora couldn't immediately place. The whole place was charming in every sense of the word.

On the table sat an old hurricane lantern and a marvellously engraved wooden box. Aurora quickly sat next to the table and opened the mystery box, curiosity percolating inside her jittery belly. It was a book.

Aurora glanced at it quizzically, picking it up and inspecting the cover, which was so worn; it no longer had the title etchings on it. Opening it to the first page, an instant smile was plastered all over her face. Jane Austen's 'Pride and Prejudice', Aurora's favorite read. An old picture fell out of the pages and onto the dirt floor. Picking it up, Aurora saw that it viewed an uncanny resemblance to her... very uncanny; almost identical. Shocked and a bit confused she flipped the picture over and read what was written. 'Emilia Clanilla 3'. It was her grandmother.

She thumbed through the pages of the book and noticed a bit of scribbling on one of the blank pages. It was very sloppily written, faded and made no sense in the slightest. 'It will wrap around the arch and crawl down the spine, bring you back to where secrets tell lies.' Aurora raised her brows, going over the words in her head a couple more times and put the book back into the box. Shoving the picture into her pocket she rushed out the door, eager to show her mother the chilling picture of her Grandma.

Excitement ran through her as she jogged down the now beaten path to the house. It took mere minutes to get back to the unfortunately familiar withered manor, a lot shorter than finding her new little hidey-hole that might prove to make her new life more bearable. She ran by the kitchen window, which was wide open, letting all the boxed up musty smell out of the house. Her mother sat at the table, head in her hand and tears running down her cheeks. An old oval frame was clutched tightly with her white and shaky fingers. Aurora watched on in confusion; part of her wanted to rush in and give her mother an enormous bear-hug to make her feel better, and the other part was frozen in place, afraid to show that emotion she hated to expel. Between mumbled sobs and discernible sentences, Aurora made out little blitz of words. Finally, her words began to mould properly out into the open, words Aurora had never believed would come from her mother's lips.

"Oh Ma... You were right. You were so very right about him-about Aurora and everything you had predicted, Ma... I can't handle her anymore, I can't- can't..." A loud sobbing sigh escaped through the silence. "The lies I've had to tell her... the secrets and lies, Ma. I can't tell her-but I have to. I can't smile for her anymore- she's tearing me apart from the inside out... I hate her so much-what she's become... I hate being the mother..." A new wave of tears cascaded down her face as she cupped it in her hands. "I hate lying to protect you."

Aurora stood there paralyzed, mind racing with what it could all mean. Secrets? Lies? Protecting her? Aurora's hand reached up to her face and she realized that she too was crying. Did she know it all along somehow, deep down in her subconscious? 'She hates being my Mum...'

A numbing chill began to cloud her perspiring thoughts as she realized that she had stumbled across something she never should have known. With massive fear and panic she fled into the trees. She shouldn't have been there watching her, she shouldn't even be there at the homestead at all! Whatever secrets that her mother hid from her, they were definitely big... massive, gaping, and dangerous to her right now. Change was one thing, but learning your whole life may have been a lie, nearly broke her mind.

Aurora stopped suddenly, shaking the frustrating panicky feeling clinging to her thoughts and began to cling to the only thing that would keep her semi-sane, maybe it isn't as bad as all that. Maybe it is something small. Maybe she was adopted or born with a tail or something- something that isn't a complete life-ending-deal-breaker. Taking a deep breath she looked at the wild that now surrounded her. The sun glistened just above the canopy, as if winking its little secrets into her nerve-wrecked face, meaning it would soon become dark. Evening birds called out through the woods as a slight breeze happily whispered through the forest. As beautiful as everything was, it soon came to a realization, that she had become entangled within the vastness of forest that encased the little manor. She was lost.

Aurora wound through the trees, trying desperately to remember what paths she had taken just moments ago. Shadows lurked behind every tree and the whispers of nature's children greeted her acutely hypersensitive ears. Tears gently began to rain down her face as she took one more turn around the fork. Now more than anything she wanted her mother to come grab her hand and guide her back home.

Stumbling out of the forest line and into the blinding light of the setting sun, she trotted to a stop, finding herself in the midst of something she had never before laid eyes on. Ocean water caressed the fine white sand as the great orange disc of a sun hovered above the waves. Seagulls and pelicans danced above the waves, swooping down into the ocean to catch supper for them and their families, the fish trying to escape them by jumping up into the air and being caught mid flight by yet another bird. She had never been to the ocean before. Lakes, yes, but the ocean was always a vast, far-away place that remained out of reach. What seemed even more astonishing and definitely out of place were two strange pillars of stone standing firmly upon the beach. Standing between the two, the weather carved stones opened the way to a solid walk of sand, leading out to an island a half-mile off shore. With the nagging feeling of fear now gone, she strolled along the sandbar as though she had gone down the path hundreds of times before. Had she been here when she was younger? The burdening feeling of deja-vu ate away at her stomach as the eerie sounds of the little island steadily began to meet her ears.

The island path was paved with withered sandstone and bordered with smooth, fist-sized, black stones. The birds sang more diligently than before and everything seemed to be wilder; more alive. Elegant ferns and wild flowers stretched themselves out in every direction, hoping for the sun's rays to lick their gossamer petals and leaves. Chipmunks and squirrels played amidst themselves and seemed to argue and yell at one another about which the nuts belonged to. Everything about that magical place lifted her spirit and pulled at her memory.

The walkway ended, on the edge of a small meadow clearing to which housed a chillingly magnificent figure; ancient and awe inspiring. It was a terribly worn, blue-stoned statue of a woman holding out her hands in an offering to whoever walked that path. Her hair draped around her body, like the waves of emotion the statue imbued upon those in its presence. Fabric like water clung to the figure and made the entire statue seem to come to life. Slowly she crept towards it in awe and noticed the head-sized, oval orb upon the ground at the maiden's feet. Aurora picked it up with little effort and examined the odd symbols engraved upon its course, white surface. Tracing her fingers along the grooves, she could feel her flesh tingle with electricity. 'What on earth did I stumble upon now?'

The rhythm of the forest began to change, forming a forceful ancient abstraction. Aurora dropped the orb as a thick caressing mist began to wrap itself around her feet. The cadence intensified as the same feeling of giddiness, fear and now anticipation melted through her with a warm, yet chilling sensation rippling down her spine. Her head began to spin as archaic tribal chants filled her mind. She closed her eyes and fell victim to the soft, moss covered earth beneath her feet.

Next chapter coming soon...