A Search for Paradise (On Hold)

Chapter 6

Mila took the leaves off my face and placed her hand on my head.

“Still hot,” she sighed. “I’ll fetch for Seraphine.”

I grabbed the leaves Mila dropped and placed them on my head, feeling the coolness travel down through my body.

Why couldn’t I just have listening to Seraphine in the first place? If I had, I wouldn’t be stuck here in bed.

I ran my fingers through my hair and felt something just behind my ear. I grabbed it and saw a beautiful white gardenia. It was Tristan’s way of telling me that it was him who brought me home. Well him and Jayce, probably.

Four years ago, Tristan got extremely ill. Everybody feared for his life. It was a rough time for Jayce and I.

Jayce and Tristan always had each other. Being twins, they were inseparable and even just the thought of losing one another was enough to destroy a person. Jayce stopped spending so much time with Tristan because it hurt to think about losing him and I was all Tristan had to cheer him up.

I did everything I could for him. I would row him over to STJ Island, sing him songs, and make him food and basically everything.

His parents, although they loved him, shared the same opinion as Jayce. They stopped spending time with him because it was hard to watch him waste away.

Tristan left home and resided on STJ Island. I visited him every day, sometimes keeping him company at night too.

 On one night when he was feeling particularly ill, I dragged him over to an open area where we could watch the night sky. Tristan had always loved looking at the stars. It fascinated him, so he was grateful that he could do that again without the leafy rooves of trees obscuring the view. That night, Tristan had found a flower bush. In the night, it seemed to glow. The flowers were gardenias. It was sort of a secret between the two of us. Nobody knew about it apart from us, even Jayce.

Over the period of time that Jayce was sick, the build up of worry for him led me to think I was in love with him. I didn’t know for sure, and still don’t, but I couldn’t help wondering if he felt the same way.

I heard Seraphine’s voice from outside my room talking in a low voice to Mila. It reminded me of the day I finally convinced Tristan to go see her a year after he fell sick.

One day, Tristan was feeling better but still not completely great. He was just well enough to walk around unaided. I took him back to Anya and convinced him to come with me to see Seraphine. After I told him that she didn’t actually live in the village but in between the village and Forbidden Bay, he finally agreed.

We rushed over there; eager to hear what Seraphine could say about what was wrong with him.

When we arrived at Seraphine’s hut, she didn’t look surprised in the slightest to see us. She checked Tristan over and pulled out a flower from her cupboard. It was the same flower that Tristan and I shared as out secret: a gardenia.

Seraphine crushed the flower up with a rock and put it in water. She swirled it around until the flower dissolved and the water began to glow. That flower really was magical. Tristan drank the mixture and within days he was well again. He went back to his home and everything was back to the way it was before apart from our friendship being much stronger.

“Sara,” Mila called to me, breaking me out of my reminiscing. “Seraphine just told me that she gave you a remedy, is that correct?”

“Mm-hm,” I said, shutting my eyes. Whatever sickness I had, it sure was making me exhausted. I had no energy to tell Mila that the remedy was now somewhere in the ocean.

“Pst! Sara!” I heard a small voice hiss. I rolled over, groaning at the effort it took to do that and looked into the small hole behind my bed. In it I saw a blue grey eye. The eye of Tristan. He slipped something through the hole and I looked in it. It was a bottle with a glowing substance in it.

“I remembered how Seraphine made the cure for me.

“Thanks, Trist,” I said groggily. “Thanks so much.”

Tristan winked and disappeared from the hole. He obviously knew how dangerous it was for him to be visiting.

I quickly downed the substance and felt strength return to me instantly. I sat up and crawled over to the door. An Elder Meeting was being held, and they were always interesting to listen in on.

“We have to think of some way to stop this, Mila!” said a voice I recognised as one of the elders.

“There is no way to stop it,” Mila responded exasperatedly, like she’d repeated that same thing to them over and over again. “They’re much too powerful.”

A rumbling noise filled the house.

“There they are again,” an elder whispered, terrified. If the people of Anya knew how scared their elders were, nobody would live peacefully.

“Just think of them as… big birds or something like that,” Mila said, fake enthusiasm covering her voice.

“And what about the people on Anya, eh?” said another elder. “We’re struggling! And ever since the people have found out that it was Arlo who led the attack, they’ve been refusing to come out of their homes unless absolutely necessary! Konan hasn’t been helping.”

I heard a grunt I recognised as Konan. How dare he come to my house and since when was he an elder? I supposed he must have taken Arlo’s place.

“The people can learn to live with their fear until we fix this place up somehow,” Mila said tiredly. I could just imagine how she would be rubbing her bloodshot eyes. “And Konan, please just stay out of the limelight for now. The people haven’t been very fond of you since you stuck up for Arlo and stood up against Sara, your supposed fiancé. Oh and speaking of that, not that Arlo’s out of the picture, I am letting Sara make up her mind about whether she want to marry you or not. She never had a say in the decision.”

Yes! Go Mila!

I heard Konan’s heavy footsteps walk out of the house and then a door slam.

I wished I could see Tristan and Jayce and tell them the good news about me not being engaged anymore, but I knew for Mila’s sake I, like Konan, had to stay out of the limelight for the time being.

I know it's not a great place to finish the chapter, but I had to stop somewhere, didn't I? I was starting to ramble on about useless stuff a biit, so sorry about that!  But I hope you still enjoyed it :)