Yo, How's it going and welcome back!
Nathan saw the dresser falling in slow motion. He went with his first instinct, diving out of the way with a bright purple light burned behind him. The sound of the wood dresser exploding and crashing against the walls and floor hurt his ears. Glass and rocks flew in every which way, some hitting Nathan in the back. He turned slowly to see what had happened to his sister. The dresser was in pieces, splintered wood scattered across the room. Rocks and glass were not as wildly scattered, almost like they were tossed away. In the middle of all the destruction was his sister laying still. Nathan ran to her and began to shake her, "Trin? Hey, Trin. Wake up."
He dragged the smaller girl into his lap "Come on Trinity, wake up."
He tried to pick her up, but she was too heavy for him. "Okay, okay I'll um…I'll get mom and dad, they can wake you up."
Nathan hurried to the door almost tripping as he went through. He ran down the stairs and into the den where he spotted his grandmother staring into the fireplace muttering to herself. He approached her slowly, "Um Grandma. The dresser fell a-and, I think it fell on Trinity. She won't wake up, and the purple lady..."
Her eyes shot open at those words. "Purple lady? Where? Where did you see her?"
"I-in the bedroom, we were playing and..."
"I will check on the girl."
With that, she left heading up the stairs to the spare bedroom. Nathan had half a mind to follow her up there, but something told him to find his parents. He ran around the house searching for any sign of his parents. After three full minutes, he finally found them by the car. His father knelt to his level after opening the door "Whoa buddy, calm down. What's wrong?"
Nathan looked at his father panting "We, we were playing and...and, Trin fell, and the purple lady came. Now she won't wake up! Grandma went to go check on her, but you said to come and get you if we see the purple lady, so I ran around and around and, and..."
Small tears began to form at the corners for the small boys' eyes. Victor gently grabbed both of his sons' arms and gave a little shake "Hey, hey, hey. You did good, okay buddy. Now I want you to stay here with your mom while I go check on Trinity okay?"
"Okay."
The small boy sniffed trudging over to his mother and hugging her waist. "Hey, hey sweetheart look at me." Ella looked down at her son.
His eyes were red and puffy as he looked up at his mother. "You did really, really good okay. When something goes wrong, you always get mom or dad."
"Is she gonna be okay mom? She...she wouldn't wake up."
"Don't worry. Your father is taking care of her."
Ella, on the inside, was losing her wits. Her daughter was somewhere in the house, passed out and non-responsive and she had to stay down here. However, she had to remain calm. If she freaked than Nathan would do the same. She just had to breathe and then...the sound of a phone ringing interrupted her thoughts. She picked it up "Hel-"
"Ella, keep Nathan down there and don't move until the police get here!"
The panic she tried to store away hit her like a freight train.
"Victor, what the hell happened? Is she okay?"
"Your fucking mother happened that's what! She was...Hey, you stay the fuck over there all right! Don't move."
Some shuffling and the sound of her mother's voice was heard in the background along with a loud 'bam' sound. "Damn it, listen …stay down there, she's breathing and has a pulse okay. She...she should be fine."
He hung up after that leaving Ella scared and confused.
Rewind
The girl became scared when the dresser broke. She fell fast expecting to feel sharp glass or hard rocks but instead she saw a face. The purple lady's face, her arms reaching out to her. As soon as they touched everything went black. Instead of sharp pain, she felt cold dirt and warm sun bleeding through trees. She blinked her eyes open, blurry at first showing greens and browns. As her vision cleared, she realized that she was no longer in the spare bedroom in her grandmother's house, but in a forest. She was surrounded by dense forest and the smell of damp leaves with musky, moldy dirt. Trinity sat up from her laying position, "H-hello?"
She fully stood looking around more frantically. Fear began to take over her. "Nathan? Mommy? Daddy?"
She began to wander through the forest looking for anything familiar. The sounds of strange animals and insects filled her ears as she walked on. She continued to wander and call out for any response until she happened upon a building. It was a large, old, building made from crumbling stone with moss growing within the cracks. Stairs led up to a plateau that had an entrance doorway in the center. She slowly walked up to the building climbed up the rough stone until she came upon the opening to the building.
"Mommy? Daddy? Is anyone there?"
Her voice echoed into the darkness but she didn't dare venture in the doorway. It was too dark, too scary. Tears began to form at the corners of her eyes. She didn't wander off, did she? She couldn't remember leaving the house, just the fall. She remembered her parents saying if she was ever lost to call a number, but what was that number? Where was a phone? Trinity took a seat at the top of the stairs. Maybe someone would come to the building; maybe her parents would find her here.
"Well, hello there child."
Trinity quickly turned around to the stranger's voice to find an old woman. She stood immediately, preparing to run.
"There is no need for fright. I will not harm you."
The small girl relaxed slightly. The old woman before her was cloaked in a dark purple rope that covered all but her head. Silver hair fell upon her wrinkled face which had an eye patch covering her left eye. She held a large stick she was using as a walking cane which also looked quite old.
"Can... can you help me find my parents? I don't know where I am?"
The old woman let out a small laugh, walked to the top step and sat down.
"Come, sit, as I said, I will not hurt you."
She hesitated at first then slowly sat on the top step a reasonable distance away from the woman. "So, my dear where did you come from?"
"I was at my grandma's house, and Nathan and I were playing a game. I tried to get the bowl, but I fell, then I woke up here." She hiccupped through her explanation as tears started to fall from the small girls' eyes.
"Now, now, crying will get you nowhere. It seems like you are lost in more ways than one."
"So, you don't know where my parents are?"
"They are elsewhere, in a different land, in a different time. They will not find you here, and you will not find them." Trinity's eyes began to fill with tears again.
"What did I say about tears, girl?" The old woman pointed her cane stick at Trinity.
"They um, they don't get me anywhere," she said slowly.
"That's right. You'll do right to remember that."
Trinity wiped her tears away with her sleeve "So, um what do I do? I have to find them. Daddy said to never wander off without them. I'll get in trouble."
"You will not be here long. You are not old enough, not experienced enough. She will take you back soon."
Trinity didn't exactly know what that meant, who was going to take her back. "Um, who is taking me back cuz daddy says don't go anywhere with strangers."
"You needn't worry about that. You will be safe."
The old woman shakily stood up "Come. I will get you some food and drink."
"But you're a stranger too, and daddy says…"
"What is your name?" the woman interrupted.
"Trinity, but sometimes my big brother calls me Trin."
The old woman looked at the small girl straight into her eyes, "You can call me Grey, Trinity. It is nice to meet you."
She held out a bony, wrinkled hand. Trinity looked at her hand for a second then timidly shook it. "Now come, you must be hungry?"
"But…"
"You have given me your name, and I have given you mine, we have also talked for a little while. Am I still a stranger?"
Trinity began to fiddle with her fingers and looked down at her shoes. Was this woman still a stranger; she didn't know, and she was a little hungry. "Um, do you have any ice cream?"
"I do not." They both made their way slowly down the stone steps
"Do you have any strawberries?"
"No, I do not, I do believe I have some fruit."
"Yay! I like fruit. I like apples and oranges and strawberries and kiwis and"
"Yes, yes I understand now; you like fruit."
"Fruits are colorful too, and you wanna know why?"
"Why is that child?"
"It's because leprechauns make them grow out of the ground. They control the rainbows too and…" The small girl babbled on and on about fruit and leprechauns as they trekked down the stairs.
Rewind
"Vic, I think we left something in the car, will you help me get it?"
Victor looked at his fuming wife "Ye-yeah, yeah."
Ella stomped past her mother and walked back to the car with Victor right behind her. Margret watched as her naive daughter walked away from her. Why did she not understand? Why did she not care? It had to be that girl, that thing! Margret walked over to the fireplace and stared into the flame. Her mother had disappeared when she was young, and she saw it happen. That monster had led her away. It stole everyone away. While trying to find her mother, her friends abandoned her, her husband left her, and that man stole Ella away right from under her nose. They all thought she was crazy; they were wrong. She had done research. She knew the truth. It may have lost her everyone, but she knew the truth.
"That girl knows where she is, she has to know." she began talking to herself.
"I need to find out. I need to find out how to get there." She continued to mutter to herself, unaware of Nathan running up to her.
"Um Grandma, the dresser fell and, and, I think it fell on Trinity. She won't wake up, and the purple lady..." Her eyes shot open at those words.
"Purple lady? Where? Where did you see her?"
"I-in the bedroom, we were playing and..."
"I will check on the girl."
She quickly pushed past the small boy making her way up the stairs. This was her chance. She could finally confront the purple lady finally, find her mother. She walked through the doorway to see the room in shambles and the little girl laying on the floor. This was defiantly her work, she could feel it. She slowly approached the girl, "I've finally caught you."
She knelt next to the small girl, "Now, tell me where she is."
The girl didn't respond.
"Don't act like I'm not here!"
The girl did not respond.
"Don't act like you don't know who I am!"
The old woman began to shake the unconscious girl, getting more violent with each shake. "Where is she?" Martha screamed at the top of her lungs, but the girl did not respond.
"Fine."
Martha slowly wrapped her bony fingers around Trinity's small neck "I'll make you tell me. You won't let me kill her, will you?" She squeezed as tight as she could; she knew the monster would not let her die.
For a moment there was no reaction, no response until girl began to twitch and change color. Her skin changed from healthy tan to a sickly blueish purple.
"Don't make me kill her, monster! Come out!" Martha screamed once again.
At the bottom of the stone building, Trinity and the old woman sat beside a small fire. The small girl was humming as she ate another fruit that the woman had given her.
"I like these fruits. What are they again?"
"That's the fifth time you've asked, girl" the woman growled.
Trinity stared blankly for a second "I like them, they're sweet."
"Spirits, help me," the woman sighed rubbing her head. The girl had not stopped talking about fruit since she mentioned them.
"It's a moon peach."
"Moon peach? Do they grow on the moon?" she asked taking another bite.
"They do not."
"Then why is it called a moon peach?"
"It is said that they grow from the moon."
"Wait, but you just said..."
"From the moon, not on it."
Trinity looked at the woman with one eyebrow razed "...Huh?"
"I will do no more explaining and slow down. You'll choke."
Trinity did what the old woman said, chewing slower then swallowing. She was about to take another bite when suddenly it became harder to breathe. At first, it was like breathing through a small tube then after a few gulps of air Trinity couldn't take in any more air. She began to cough and gasp grabbing at her throat.
"Now I told you not to eat those so fast, or you'd choke." The old woman made her way over to the girl and started to pat her back. When she fell forward still gulping for air, the old woman began to panic.
She turned the girl on her back and felt her throat to see if a piece was lodged in place but what she felt shocked and terrified her. There was nothing stuck but her throat was constricted like someone was pressing down on it. As the girl started to turn blue, her eyes rolled in the back of her head as the gasps began to get softer and less frequent. The woman put her hands together and prayed. There was nothing she could do. Only the great spirits could save the girl now.
A bright purple light began to emit from the small girl growing bigger and bigger forming into the shape of a woman.
"Yes! Yes! That's it! There you are!" Martha yelled keeping her grip on the young girl's throat.
"What the hell is going on in here!" a voice yelled in Victor's arrival the purple light vanished along with the woman shape that formed.
"No, no! I was so close. Come back! Come Back!"
Martha began to violently shake the girl again until Victor charged in and threw the old woman off making her smack her head against the floor putting her in a daze. He pulled his little girl in his lap and placed his ear by her mouth to see if she was breathing. When he heard and felt nothing, he laid her back on the floor and tried doing CPR.
"Trinity, come on baby, you have to breathe for me." he panted trying to get as much air as possible into her small lungs. After the second try, the girl finally took a deep breath and began to move slightly but still would not open her eyes.
"Ok, ok we're breathing" Victor let out a sigh of relief "We're breathing, now um...shit." Victor dug out his phone out of his back pocket and dialed 911.
"911, what's your emergency?"
"Yes, I need an ambulance. My daughter was choked and wasn't breathing at least one to two minutes."
"Is she breathing now sir?"
"Yes, yes, I got her breathing again, but she's unconscious and hasn't woken up."
"All right sir if you give your location, I'll send someone right away."
While Victor talked to the operator, Martha began to stir from her daze. When Victor hung up the phone with the police, he called Ella next.
"Ella, keep Nathan down there and don't move until the police get here."
"Victor, what the hell happened? Is she okay?"
"Your fucking mother happened that's what! She was," Martha began to try and get up, "Hey you stay the fuck over there all right! Don't move."
She stood up fully wobbling back and forth, "No, she was there. What did you do?" She tried to walk forward only to trip on a piece of wood and fall over.
"Damn it, listen …stay down there, she's breathing and has a pulse okay. She...she should be fine."
Victor didn't want Ella to see, not only her daughter like this but her mother as well. He would rather have her worried down there than panicked up here. Scooping up his little girl, he gently placed her on one of the beds then looked around the room.
"What the hell happened in here?" He slowly walked over to Martha still on the floor.
"Martha?"
There was barely a response with a small movement. "Martha I'm going to lift you onto the bed okay?" Once again, she gave little answer.
Victor leaned down and picked the elderly lady up and sat her on the bed opposite of Trinity. She was extremely dazed and confused, muttering to herself incoherent words. "Crazy old bat," Victor said walking back over to Trinity and sitting next to her.
The old woman held her hands together in prayer above the motionless girl. An entire minute passed until the child took a deep breath of air and her color began to return. The old woman stopped her praying and looked down at the girl, "Oh thank the spirits you're all right."
Trinity's eyes began to flutter open as she started to stir awake. "Are you all right child?"
"I don't want any more peaches from the moon." she rasped out.
"No more peaches," she grabbed a skin pouch of water next to her.
"Here, drink."
Trinity took the sack and took a small gulp "Can... can I go home now?"
"In due time, she is making preparations."
"What's a pep-or-ations?"
"It's nothing child, rest now." Trinity began to close her eyes as a purple light began to surround her body.
Slowly, she began to fade from existence, "Be more careful with her this time, we will need her unharmed later." Grey said when the purple light was at its brightest. Not long after she said, this Trinity was gone.
After about five minutes, police and EMTs filled the house. They strapped Trinity to a gurney and wheeled her out with an oxygen mask strapped to her face. Martha was placed under arrest and sat in the back of one of the police cars.
"Listen, I'll ride in the back with Trinity just in case they have any more questions. You can follow behind with Nathan all right?"
Ella was on the brink of tears as soon as she saw her daughter coming down the stairs with a mask on her face. She wanted to be with her, hold her, and make sure she was all right. "Are you sure we all can't just..."
"Ella, you know we can't all fit in there, and if they need to know something I can answer right away." Victor wrapped his arms around her and squeezed, "You'll be right behind us. She's in good hands aright."
Ella just nodded as Vic let go. He looked down at his son clutching on to her shirt like it would leave if he let go.
"Hey buddy, I'm gonna need you to be strong for your mom and your sister okay?" Nathan sniffled and rubbed his red eyes "Okay." he said in a small voice.
Victor turned for the ambulance while Ella led Nathan to the car. The car was silent as the two drive to the hospital other than a few sniffles from Nathan. When they arrived, Victor was already in the waiting room, sitting with his elbows resting on his knees. He looked up when he heard the sliding doors open and waved them over. Ella and Nathan walked over and sat next to him, "How is she?"
Victor sighed first, "She started to wake up on the way over but couldn't answer any of their questions."
"Questions?"
"You know, ' What're your name' 'How many fingers am I holding up' those kinds of things."
"Oh ok."
"We should be able to go back there soon. The doctors want to check all of her vitals and everything. Depending on how that goes she might have to stay overnight for oxygen and monitoring."
Ella took in a deep controlled breath then let it out slowly trying to release all the anxiety and fear.
"Is she going to be okay, dad?"
Victor looked at his son and smiled "Yeah, she's going to be fine. The doctors are just giving her a checkup."
"Victor you said my mother was doing something to her when you got up there. What was she doing?"
He frowned then looked down at Nathan then back to Ella. "Maybe we should talk about that later…alone." She nodded at him and leaned back in her seat.
What could her mother possibly have done? The double doors in front of them opened; all three looked up.
"Hale." The nurse called out, and the family stood and walked over to the nurse. "Right this way please."
They followed the nurse past rooms filled with the sick and broken until they found the place with Trinity inside with a grin on her face. A female doctor was sitting on a stool in front of her, doing a spinning pen trick. As soon as the little girl saw her family, her eyes widened, and she slapped an even bigger smile on her face.
"Daddy! Mommy!" Her voice was raspy and rough,
"Now remember what I told you, Trinity, try not to talk too much okay?" the doctor said giving Trinity her pen and a notepad to draw on.
She stood up and walked over to the family "I'm Doctor Webb, it's nice to meet you."
Victor stuck out his hand for her to shake "I'm Victor, and this is Ella my wife and my son Nathan. So, how's she doing?"
Webb shook his hand, "She's doing great, an absolute joy to work with. If I could, I would like to speak to you both outside the room for a minute."
"Yes of course," Ella said looking down to Nathan, "How about you check if your sis is doing all right, okay?" Nathan just nodded and walked over to Trinity drawing pictures.
Both parents and the doctor stepped right outside the doorway so they could still see the kids.
"All right so we would like to keep Trinity here overnight to monitor her breathing. Choked victims can suffer from…"
"Wait, she was choked?" Ella interjected.
"That's what my report says, yes."
Ella covered her mouth with her hands in shock "Oh my God, I can't believe that she choked her."
"Hey, let's let her finish okay? We'll talk about that later." Victor said rubbing her back.
The doctor continued "Well when victims are choked, they can have many symptoms including difficulty breathing, severe coughing, and difficulty swallowing. With her being so young there could also be some brain damage. If she starts having and seizures, change in behavior, blackouts; we would like to run an MRI and check things out from there. Right now, as I said before, she's doing fine. She'll need to rest her throat for at least two weeks which means she shouldn't talk too much."
"Well that's difficult thing number one, girl loves to talk," Victor said.
Dr. Webb laughed "Yes, I noticed. She's delightful."
"Is there anything she'll have to take, medication wise?" Ella asked.
"She might have a sore throat for a little while. We can prescribe pain medication and something to soothe her throat if she needs it but most children like the alternative route."
"What's the alternative?" Victor asked.
"Sugar-free vanilla ice cream, works wonders." Dr. Webb chucked out.
"All right, so as long we don't see anything of those signs, she should be good right?" Victor said.
"Well, there is one other thing."
"What is it?" Ella questioned.
"Well, you said that she had fallen from a dresser and that's what knocked her out correct? Not the strangulation?"
"Yeah, well, I didn't see it happen, but that's what Nathan told me. He freaked when she fell and went to find one of us and unfortunately found Martha instead," Victor answered back.
"Well, the curious thing is that there are no signs that she fell. There're no bumps or bruises other than on her neck. Children as young as she is would have had a pretty bad bump from a fall that knocks them out, which is located on the head."
"So, what does that mean?" Ella asked.
"If she did fall, it couldn't have been hard enough for her to be unconscious without some bump or knot on her head. Usually, when we have patients that come in from being unconscious are very confused and can even have some memory loss for quite a while; she has none of that. I believe that it means that something else knocked her out."
Dun Dun Dun, well, kind of. So this is the last of the big flashback thing, hope you enjoyed it. This chapter probably had the most jumping back in forth that will ever be in this story. Still got a little bit before we make it to the Avatar world but thanks for sticking with me. Thanks for reading!