Emerald Flame

Eliezer woke up.

            It was dark and musty. He lay on the cold, hard floor of an eerily lit room. Rubbing his head, he lifted himself with one arm and scanned the room with blurry vision. The walls were covered in handprints, he couldn’t tell what color, and a single candle illuminated the room. The fire lashed around like hands reaching for something, and it shed a greenish hue; one that matched Eliezer’s emerald eyes. Even the green color wasn’t clear to Eliezer, since his emeralds seemed to be warped.

            Eliezer didn’t remember how he got there. Even more, he couldn’t recall anything. No childhood, no parents, no personality. He wasn’t even sure what his favorite color was or what foods he liked. He had no likes, hates, or regrets.

            Wobbly and tired, Eliezer got to his feet and looked down. He stood in the center of a large circle. Maybe it was red, maybe black, but he did see one thing that was clear: an array of triangles and ancient writing laced the three intertwining circles, and in the center was a big crimson splatter.

            Eliezer stared at it, horrified. He frantically backed away from it and ran to where he had seen a door before. He fiddled with the doorknob and finally pried the door open.

            Eliezer found himself in a familiar setting, though he knew he had never been there before. It was a house. Large and abandoned, the structure stood by a dirt road and in the midst of a thick forest. All day, he went over the house. He studied it and walked it top to bottom. He laced his fingers on the walls and the stair rails, feeling as if his fingers had touched them all his life. But he had never been here before…had he?

            As the sun set, Eliezer sat on a bed in one of the upstairs chambers, staring out the window. He looked down and, on the window sill, he saw a white rose. He cocked his head, looking at it questioningly. He reached for it hesitantly and brought it to his nose. ‘Hm… it smells kind of… bitter…’ Suddenly, a breeze began to blow through the room. It fiddled with his hair and sent chills down his spine.

            “What’s wrong?” an ominous voice whispered.

            Eliezer felt as if the voice had been whispered in his ear and almost felt someone breathing on his neck. He turned, but there was no one there. Only giggles filled the air.

            “Don’t tell me you don’t remember.” The voice, a little girl’s, chuckled again, clearly trying to spook Eliezer.

            It succeeded. Eliezer stood up straight and dropped the rose. “Wh-who are you? Where are you?” Eliezer trembled, as did his voice.

            The voice quieted for a moment. After a short moment of bone-chilling silence, the voice began again, solemnly this time, as if it was disappointed about something. “You don’t remember? You don’t remember your own sister?” An apparition appeared before Eliezer. She flew to him, her eyes blazing with anger and her voice suddenly sharp and furious. “You don’t remember ME!?”

            Eliezer stared at the figure with horror. He screamed and bolted out the door. Down the stairs and away from the house, he sprinted. He didn’t even look back as the house got further and further away. Even when the house was out of sight and the laughter was no longer audible, Eliezer couldn’t stop. He still heard the giggles echo in his head, and her face was still burned on the back of his eyelids. It was terrifying. Not so much that he had seen a ghost, but that he recognized her.

            “Uuuugh…” Eliezer woke up once more. This time, though, he didn’t recognize the log ceiling. ‘What a relief…’ He relaxed for a moment, and then tensed up again as he saw a shadow.