Dreams & Memories

"Yes... and I'll come pick up any work you have for her later this evening... Thank you... Goodbye." Alva heard Eve finish her conversation and the sound of a comm. device disconnecting a line. Pulling the covers back up to her chin, she waited for her older sister to walk back into the room.

"Alright, I called the orphanage and I'll be picking up work for you later." Eve explained, sitting on the bed next to her, "Just rest for the day, I'll see if I can slip out during lunch to come check on you." Alva watched as eve moved to grab the near-empty glass of water on her bedside table, "Do you need more water? I'll grab some-"

"Don't go." Alva blurted out, reaching and grabbing one of her sister's arms as she started moving away from the bed, "I mean, can't you stay? Take a day off or something?" She found herself pleading yet avoiding eye contact. She didn't know why but she had the strangest urge to be close to Eve—and she couldn't do that lying in bed. She couldn't have done it if she'd gone to school either, besides it wasn't as if she were feigning sick. She did have a fever and had been nauseous most of the night.

"Alva, I'd like to but I can't." The older girl explained, "My new position is different, I have more responsibilities." Alva loosened her grip on Eve's arm and turned to stare at her hands. She felt Eve move, followed by a hand gently ruffling her hair, "I'll make sure to check on you during lunch okay?"

Eve pulled away, getting up off the bed, "You'll probably be asleep, snoring though." Alva shot her a glare as she began to leave the room, "I'll get you another glass of water."

The younger of the two sighed, staring at the open door. The two of them had always been close. It'd stemmed from being orphaned together—though neither of them really remembered anything from before that. She'd tease her older sister about worrying too much about her but she honestly didn't mind. But she'd never felt so strongly about staying physically near Eve before. She knew it was only a day—a few hours apart, if Eve did return to the apartment during lunch but the thought made Alva unusually uncomfortable. And the fact she couldn't explain why, didn't help in the least.

"Here you go." Eve walked back into the room with the full glass.

"You really can't stay?" Alva tried again as Eve placed the glass back on the bedside table. The older sibling sighed, gently pushing Alva back onto her pillow.

"I really can't," Eve answered while pulling the blanket up over her shoulders, "and you need to rest." Alva reluctantly gave up, frowning as Eve turning to leave the room again. She listened, hearing the front door open and close quietly.

Alva looked up at the ceiling, trying to relax. She drifted in and out of sleep, long enough to lose chunks of time at once, but not long enough to really feel rested. After a few rounds of this, she checked the clock on her bedside table. It'd been almost 3 hours since Eve had left; 4 until she may be back.

As she sat up, reaching to take a few sips of water, her thoughts drifted back to the night before. She remembered taking Eve to the path she'd heard about during the day. Some kids at the orphanage were talking about a supposed 'secret passage' that took you right to the Crystal Pillar. She'd always been curious about the large support that held up and entire planet. As soon as she overhead the rumor, she decided to investigate. And since Eve would've already been near the 'secret passage', she could bring her along.

She recalled finding the path and, in turn, finding her way to the Pillar. She'd been overcome with excitement she'd rushed into the first opening she could find. She didn't know what to expect as she did—she didn't think she expected anything. But what they found inside wasn't anything like she'd seen of, heard of—even imagined- before. She remember being amazed. Until she'd been thrown backwards and knocked unconscious.

Her hand reached up to the back left of her head, she winced as she touched the bump. She didn't remember being carried back to the apartment as Eve claimed but she did remember waking up in a cold sweat, nauseous. She'd woken up more than once, each time feeling worse than the time before. It was like waking up from horrible nightmares, only she didn't remember them—which really, only made it worse. Why couldn't she remember?

Coming to the conclusion that lying around wasn't doing any good, she got out of bed and changed out of her pajamas. She quickly shoved a couple of books in her backpack and headed out of the apartment. As she made her way down the stairs and onto the street, she pulled out her comm. device. Turning down the street, heading for the shuttle terminal she sent a quick message to Eve stating at how she was feeling well enough to make it to school and to not worry about returning to the apartment for lunch.

She began feeling light-headed as she boarded the shuttle towards the Market District but as the shuttle began to move she found the feeling subside. She'd always found the gentle hum of the shuttles soothing. More than once she'd missed her stop having fallen asleep to the sound. While she relaxed slightly as the shuttle drifted along, it wasn't quite enough to lull her to sleep, enabling her to get off at the correct stop.

The orphanage was barely 5 minutes away from the shuttle stop by foot. It wasn't a large building. From the outside it looked like a rather large house. The sizable yards both in front and around the back made it look even bigger. Additional rooms were almost always being added to the building since it doubled as a small school. It had grown significantly since Alva and Eve had left to live independently.

Alva paused at the front gate. It was quiet—it was still too early to be play time for even the smaller children. As she pushed open the gate she noticed the edge of the old tool-shed around the side of the orphanage. She was surprised they hadn't torn it down and used the space to build another room or wing.

Recalling a strange memory of a dream she made her way towards the tool-shed. Pushing open the small door—slightly wincing at the creaking of the hinges, she peered into the room. It was understandably a lot more cluttered than she remembered but just as dusty. Thinking back on the memory, she made her way through the maze of old boxes and furniture until she reached the back wall of the shed.

Running her hand along the wall she smiled as her fingers hit a small notch in the metal. Curling her fingers under it, she gave it a gentle pull. A cloud of dust burst outwards into her face, causing her to jump backwards, coughing. Waving an arm in front of her in an attempt to clear the air, she looked to see—just as back then—the metal had opened up, revealing a thin but tall space in the wall.

But to Alva it wasn't just any space. She remembered the night before she and Eve left the orphanage, standing outside watching Eve hide something there. Alva never saw what it was, and by the next morning she had already decided the entire event was probably a dream. She never brought it up and eventually—memory or dream—it was forgotten. Until now. Why?

Taking a closer look into the space she strained in the dim light to see what was inside. From what she could see it seemed to be a long pole of some kind. It was long enough to barely fit the length of the space. Not being able to see much more, Alva reached in and grabbed it, pulling it out slowly. She nearly lost her grip on it, it was so heavy. Dragging it out into the light, she noticed both ends of the pole seemed to fold in on themselves and; as she ran a hand along it to wipe away some of the dust, she saw it was bright red.

A/N:

Oooooooooh! How exciting!
Yes, yes, I know, "Oh no! More OC-ness!"

Deal with it.
*throws tantrum*
S'MY STORY! I CAN DO WHATEVER I WANT! YOU'RE NOT THE BOSS OF ME!