The Way to You

CHAPTER 5:SHE DIDN'T SEE HERSELF

Her short grey hair wasn't the same. It was totally black and long, trailing down her hip. A small yet vivid image of a blackbird was tattooed on the left side of the neck. Her hand slowly moved to touch the tattoo only to shiver from the strange feeling. She could clearly remember that she didn't have black hair, she wasn't this tall, didn't have the said tattoo and most importantly she don't look like this.

She didn't see herself in the mirror but someone else.

" Am I... Am I dreaming? But—but when did I fall asleep? " Ava thought to herself still looking at the beautiful woman in the mirror. How could that be possible? She wasn't herself.

" This must be a dream... This—this should be a dream, I'll wake up eventually. Just bear with it, Ava, you'll wake up soon, yeah—yeah, " she walked around the room trying her best to not look at the mirror as the woman's face instead of her own fuelled the unfamiliar feeling, her chest slightly clenching at some point.

The time moved at a slow pace as possible while Ava was ticking every second that passed with anticipation to wake up soon. She remembered walking into a room on the 5th floor to place the compass back into its place.

On thinking about the compass, she felt a dread flowing through her veins. If she was found passed out in any of the corridors with that compass clutched to her hand, she'll definitely stand behind bars to meet her brother afterwards.

" Just don't think anything negative, Ava, just...just sleep, you'll be fine... Yes, you'll be fine when you wake up again. " she chanted to herself and fell asleep within a few minutes.

But nothing changed when she opened her eyes again when someone knocked— Actually, banged on the door of the same chamber she was in. She jolted up awake and was barely able to breathe for a minute. Finally, after a long silence, she looked around expecting to see Nancy or Xavier but, no, she was, still, inside the luxurious room without anyone around her.

But soon the pounding on the door increased as someone from the other side kept on asking if they could come inside. She stumbled out of the bed and walked straight to the door to pull it open revealing a female taller than her in a simple maid dress looking down at Ava with widened eyes.

" Your Majesty, you could've just called me in. Why did you walk this far?! " she panicked as if walking some 20 steps could make Ava's legs weak. But before Ava could tell anything, the maid came in and placed a tray right before the bed and quickly discharged.

Ava took a slow glance at the tray and found a plate of fried chicken and stew with a bowl of rice and a set of glasses and a jug of watermelon juice. The maid walked in again and prompted Ava to eat the food and nearly forced her to eat everything saying that it was an order from someone named Acton.

The elder woman, who confessed that she got her son only after 7 years also entered the room and urged Ava to sleep early. She was unbothered by everything that Ava babbled and kept on saying that she wasn't mad at Ava for not being pregnant.

" How should I be pregnant when I don't even have someone to do that with, old lady? Please pull yourself together and go check a doctor! " she wanted to scream at the lady but Ava dozed unexpectedly because of the medicine in her food and felt too scared to do so. She only hoped that she would eventually wake up and everything would turn back to normal.

Nothing changed even after a week.

She was still in the luxurious room wearing expensive and beautiful dresses with hundreds of maids running around her in the early morning to get her ready every day. That was too overwhelming and Ava had to suppress the attacks raising through her heart by staying inside the chamber from dusk to dawn, formally, avoiding everyone around her.