Beneath Pleidus' Sky- Chapter 1

Warning: Please read Beneath Pleidus' Sky- Prologue first.

Chapter 1

That boy again. She had to know who that boy was.

   Again, she was like a spectator of the scenario played in front of her. The people in there seemed completely oblivious of her presence. There was the girl, playing in the meadow.

   She stood just beside the girl who she guessed might be around five years old. The girl was crouching low to the ground as she plucked the dandelions before straightening up and blew the dandelions into the crisp morning air.

   By some reason, she followed the sight of the floating dandelions.  She could feel the fresh breeze against her skin. The sun was bright and warm. It felt just nice.

   The fluffy clouds were ever changing, sailing to the west against the vivid blue backdrop. As the dandelions floated to the west, joining the wind, she could see the trees, leaves, grass and other plants swaying calmly as the breeze caressed passed them.

   The girls’ laughter pulled back her attention to the children. She could see that the girl laughed at the sight of a pair of squirrel playing not far from them. The boy was also nearby, also plucking the dandelions with his back facing them. She called out to the boy but she did not mention his name.

   Call out his name, girl, she tried to say but nothing stumbled out of her mouth. Call out his name so I know who he was.

   The boy started to turn to them. As he turned, he could see the dimple on his right cheek. He was clearly smiling.

   But suddenly, the wind blew ferociously. Both of the children seemed unaffected but she could not stand on the ground anymore. She struggled to keep her eyes open but the flying debris kept hurting her eyes.

No! Please let me see more. Please...

   Lilian’s eyes snapped opened. She was lying in her bed and it was the crack of the dawn. She let out a heavy sigh before getting up and went to the bathroom. She had no intention of going back to sleep after that dream.

As Lilian washed her face, her mind was buzzing with questions. Why this dream? Why did it kept hunting me?

   She looked at her wet face in the mirror before wiping it with a towel. As she dried the strand of hair which were also wet when she washed her face, she caught sight of a handful strand of her hair at the side of her head which had turned bright red, the colour standing out from the rest of her shiny, shoulder- length, black hair.  She turned.

   The reflection in the mirror showed more red hair at the back of her head. It looked like a fail effort to highlight the hair using bright red dye.

“Damn it!” hissed Lilian as she pulled the red strands of her hair. “This is definitely noticeable,”

   Lilian brushed her hair aimlessly, knowing that there was no way she could dye her hair black. She had let her hair that way since years ago once she learnt that the dye applied will be dissolved a few hours after application, revealing the red strands of her hair again.

   Her parents, however, showed very little concern about her hair. They were used to it though she could remember it freaked Maria out when she showed the red hair for the first time when she was 10.

   Her father, Jeremy was the one who went out to buy all the hair dye he could find in the nearby convenient store while Maria will applied them but to no avail. The dye would dissolve like ice placed on the hot stove.

   Eight years had passed since then. Somehow, she survived the cynical eyes and mean teases from her schoolmates. Her good friends would regard her ‘hair turning red’ moments as the ‘bad hair day’ while others would made stupid remarks about her being a freak and things like that.

   She actually cried the first few times but she lived through it. What the hell, right? People were forking out their money to dye their hair purple, pink or blue and she does not have to spend anything on dyes to colour her hair red.

***

   The smell of the warm mushroom omelette really made her hungry. Lilian took her seat at the round dining table in the kitchen. Maria was washing the frying pan while Jeremy buried his face in the newspaper as usual.

   “Sleep well, dear?” asked Maria suddenly as she turned to look at Lilian. For a split second, she could see Maria’s forehead wrinkled.

   “Great. I feel really refreshed this morning,” Lilian responded full-heartedly, determined to keep any worries from her parents at bay.

   “Good then. I thought you woke up quite early this morning,” said Maria as she turned to the stove to clean it off. Lilian was sure that Maria took a quick glance at her hair. Her red coloured hair.

“Oh, yes. I forgot that I have to do something last night, so I woke up early to get it done,” Lilian lied.

“Mind telling me about it?”

“It is nothing. Just something I planned with Ryan, Melissa and the others,”

“Ryan, huh?”

“Yes. Ryan and the others,”

“He’s a nice boy, isn’t he?”

“Mom, we are not having this conversation again, right?”

“Honey, she’s not having this conversation,” interrupted Jeremy from behind the newspaper.

“OK. That’s fine. I’m just saying,” chuckled Maria as she focused on scrubbing the stove.

   In a desperate move to escape from the conversation, Lilian took the remote control beside Jeremy and switched on the small television on the kitchen cabinet. It was showing the morning news. She increased the volume.

   “Lily, dear, I’m reading the newspaper. How can I focus with the loud volume from the television?” said Jeremy softly, peering above his newspaper.

“Sorry, dad. This news on the television is more updated. I need to know what’s going on, you know,”

“Fine, then,” said Jeremy, folding his newspaper and placed it beside his plate.

   “At least you can focus on your breakfast,” said Maria to Jeremy who was taking her seat between Maria and Lilian. Jeremy looked down at the omelette served in front of him like he just realised that it was omelette. 

He slowly cut the omelette into pieces.

   Lilian drank the fresh milk first. She kept her attention to the television. The newscaster’s face on the television looked serious. Will there be more gruesome news of deaths?

   “This is the latest news we received just minutes ago. A family of four was found dead in their house in Hartford Township, Ohio. The family who just moved in into the neighbourhood was described as ‘very friendly and helpful’ by the neighbours.”

Lilian ate her omelette. Strange feelings hanged in the atmosphere around her.

   “The victims who were identified as Thomas Collin was 40 while his wife, Amber was 38. Their sons, Frank and Morris were twelve and nine years old respectively”

The news showed the pictures of the victims.

Clank!

Lilian turned around. Maria dropped her fork to the floor. Blood seemed to drain from her face.

   “They were believed to have been poisoned since no injury found on their bodies except for small bruises believed to be the result from the struggle with their assailant.” The newscaster continued.

“Mom, are you OK?” Lilian asked with genuine concern.

Maria startled at Lilian’s question.

“Yes, I’m OK.”

Lilian’s attention turned completely to Maria. The newscaster’s voice drowned in the background.

“Jeremy,” called Maria.

Jeremy turned sharply at Maria. Their eyes met for a while before he nodded.

   “Come on, Lily. I’ll be sending you to the school this morning,” said Jeremy suddenly, standing up and straightening his necktie.

“But why?” Lilian looked from Maria to Jeremy. “The school bus will be here soon,”

   “Don’t worry about the school bus, dear. I’ll take care of it. You have to get going. Your dad has an important meeting this morning,” explained Maria as he looked at Jeremy meaningfully.

“Yeah. I just remembered it. But I need to talk to you about something, so we have to go early,”

They were driving Lilian crazy with those secretive looks and all.

“OK, whatever. Come on, dad” said Lilian finally. She stood up and picked up her sling bag from the floor. 

As she was going out the door, Maria called her frantically. She stopped at the doorway.

   “It’s quite sunny, isn’t it?” said Maria as she attacked Lilian’s hair with a hairbrush and tied it up into a ponytail before placing a baseball cap over her head. “This will keep you from getting sunburn,”

***

“Aren’t we suppose to talk about something?” started Lilian.

   “Huh?” Jeremy looked clueless. They were stopping at a red light, just one junction away from the school and they were in total silence all the way.

Lilian raised her eyebrows.

   “Is there something bothering you and mom?”  Lilian asked. Jeremy did not answer for a few seconds, drumming his fingers on the steering wheel.

“It’s nothing, Lily,”

Lilian reached out to her cap to take it off. In a very swift move, Jeremy held her hand.

   “Keep the cap until you come home, OK?” Jeremy bore his eyes into Lilian’s. “I’ll come and pick you up this afternoon,”

“Dad, you are freaking me out. Is it because of the news this morning?”

“No, it’s not,”

   “They were in Ohio, for heaven’s sake. Besides, there are those kinds of news every day. Did you worry about me every day since I was born?”

“I told you it’s not the news. And I’m your father. Of course I would worry about you,”

“So, it is the news,”

   Jeremy opened his mouth to argue but thought the better of it. As the traffic light turned green, he stepped on the accelerator and drove on.

“Just be good. I’ll pick you up. Don’t talk to stranger,”

   “I’m 18, dad. I know better than to talk to a stranger,” said Lilian defensively. “Well, at least it was the experience which taught me about it,”

   Lilian recalled the incident which happened to her when she was 10. The memory of that was still very vivid. She was in the elementary school playground, waiting for Maria to pick her up as usual. There was no one there anymore. The teachers were all in the building, so she was totally alone, absent-mindedly playing with the sand in the sandbox.

Suddenly she heard footsteps behind her. Heavy footsteps, unlike Maria’s who would always wear her heels. 

She turned.

   There was the man in a mud green jacket. He was wearing a sunglasses but she was sure that he was staring intently at her.

   “Do you want sweets?” asked the stranger. His voice was deep but seemed to contain no suspicion. Lilian just shook her head and turned back to the sand. She just wanted her mom. Sweets or ice-creams could wait.

   “Your mom will be late. I’ll bring you for a walk first,” said the man soothingly. He held out his right hand and smiled down at Lilian.

“How do you know? She is never late,” Lilian said grudgingly without looking at the stranger.

   “She is now, right? She’s already 15 minutes late. Come on. We’ll go for a stroll in the park for a while,” the man coaxed her.

Lilian hesitated for a while before turning to the man again. “Can I have ice-cream too?” she asked sweetly.

“Of course, you can. Whatever you want, Lilian,” said the man, still holding out his hand.

He knows my name, Lilian thought. Then, he must know mom and dad.

   Lilian finally clutched three fingers of the man’s stretched out hand with her tiny fingers before he led her away from the peculiarly silent school.

“Lily!”

   Lilian startled as she gazed at Jeremy’s anxious face. Jeremy must have been staring at her for a while. She looked to the road in front her. A truck was heading their way.

   “Dad! You are in the wrong lane!” she screamed hysterically. Jeremy turned to the road to see the truck coming towards them before slamming the brake. 

-End of Chapter 1-