I
A sweet but foreign smell filled my nose. I could hear rustling across the forest floor. I could feel a cool but gentle breeze whip my hair back and forth. Birds, or what I assumed to be birds, were happily chirping in the distance. I could hear all kinds of animal sounds. Where am I? I dared not to speak out loud, afraid that I might ruin the calm atmosphere of the place. I willed myself to take a deep breath and gather enough courage to open my eyes.
When I did, what I saw shocked me to my core. I gawked openly, slowly taking in my surroundings. My jaw dropped even more when I saw what I was wearing. A simple but beautiful white dress not too long nor too short. It was sleeveless, but it was still modest. My eyes travelled to the foliage after my initial shock. I was standing in the middle of a clearing. Trees, which stretched up as high as one can, surrounded me in very direction, letting in small amounts of light pass through. Was it nighttime or was it daytime? I did not know for sure and I had no way of knowing for I had no time device nor do I have a calendar.
I was distracted by flowers, as big as dinner plates, with colours as vibrant as in an artist's colour palette, which were scattered along my line of vision. Squirrels were up and about, hurriedly collecting nuts. Two rabbits at the edge of the clearing were watching me with their round red eyes. I saw bushes, bombarded with different kinds of berries which looked as luscious as ever.
As I took a step forward, the squirrels retreated back to their habitats, some dropping a few nuts on the way. The two rabbits scurried away, frightened by the noise I had made. The forest was soon filled with silence as the animals hid from me.
I looked at my feet and sighed. I was barefooted, hence the noise I had made when I took a step. I cringed repeatedly as I padded towards the bush nearest me, a raspberry bush, hearing the noises I made. It took me about 15 paces and lots of unwanted noise but I finally reached the raspberry bush.
I reached out my hand and gently plucked the fruit out of the stem. I stared at the red fruit before indulging myself in the juicy taste of the raspberry. I ate the sweet but bitter fruit happily. I had decided then that the fruit I ate was the best fruit I have ever tasted. I moved to reach out for another one but I suddenly felt a throb of pain in my right temple. It was dull so I merely shrugged it off.
After eating a few more berries, I came upon the decision to gather firewood and some leaves and branches to build a temporary shelter. I did not worry about food as I was surrounded by fruits. I was not familiar with this place, wherever it was, so I made a mental note to explore after doing my shelter.
As I moved to stand, I suddenly felt nauseous; everything that I ate was threatening to lodge itself out of my system. The dull pain I felt earlier was now vying for attention. I tried to grab onto something in order to steady myself but it only resulted into landing unceremoniously on my butt. I attempted to stand but succeeding with a hazy mind and probably a broken ankle or leg is next to impossible. The throbbing in my temple felt like someone was pounding down my head. It was excruciatingly painful and it was getting worse by the second. It was severely aching that I did not notice my body's urge to gag until I finally did. The taste of bile was in my mouth and it certainly wasn't pleasant. My bile was all over the forest floor. Its horrendous stench polluted the refreshing atmosphere. Tears were continually streaming down my face. I was subdued to a coughing fit, making it harder for me to breathe. I struggled to breathe as black spots clouded my vision. I sobbed and coughed until my body could take no more, I finally passed out due to fatigue.
I could hear an owl hoot faintly. Followed by another one, then another one and so on. Sounds of crickets fill my ears as I regained my consciousness. A strange odour helped me wake up as it tickled my nose. The aroma was something between herbal and minty but I couldn't quite point it out.
I sat up abruptly with a gasp as I recalled the recent events, accidentally hitting my head on the low ceiling. Ceiling?
For the second time I could remember, I was in a place I knew none of. I scanned the room carefully, taking some details in. From what I could see, the room was average-sized, though with a low ceiling. It was in a mess. I could not see the colours of the walls for the shelves obstructed them from me. The shelves were filled with unlabeled jars containing various liquids. Books were strewn everywhere; some open, some stacked, whilst some looked old and leathery.
I was curious about what these books contained so I moved to stand. Minding not to apply too much pressure to my throbbing foot, I wobbled awkwardly to the nearest stack of books and reached for the topmost beige moleskin book. I flipped it open at a random page, landing on a dog-eared one.
I was surprised to stare at a perfectly blank page. No scribbles, no writing, no ink blotches, just plain blank. I stared and stared as I tried to comprehend why anyone would dog-ear a blank page.
I set the book down and reached for another one, still bewildered.
A black, unlabeled book came in contact with my hand. It was thick, leather-bound and rough. I could tell it was old by the sublime smell of the book. I had quite the trouble lifting it to my lanky arms. I flipped it open cautiously.
Thankfully, this book was not completely unmarked unlike the last one, in fact, it was filled with words, gibberish ones. I scanned the page profusely, trying to decipher the kinky markings that my eyes fell upon. I was about to give up as the markings were making my headache return when the door-there was a door?!- suddenly opened loudly, colliding with the shelf near it, sending a cloud of dust flying towards me.
On the doorway stood an old lady. She was quite small due to her hunched back. Her graying hair was elegantly swept up in a bun. There were wrinkles in her face but gold eyes shone like the sun. I was about to ask who she was and where I was but then she uttered a sentence that confused me even more.
"Welcome home, my dear Azariah."
