A Window To Everywhere

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| prologue | 

Today was Lydia Preaker's twelfth birthday.

That's all there was to it, simply a birthday. Nothing more or nothing less. It wasn't that she disliked birthdays, unlike most of the children at her age or even adults for that matter, she just didn't have a strong care for them. To Lydia, birthdays were just a day to celebrate a digit increasing by one and a day closer to someone's death. She knew for sure that this celebration was for something insignificant, being only a number. Besides, a day closer to death was not worth celebrating, cake or not.

These thoughts spun through her head as she took the long route back from school. On most days the longer route was Lydia's preference because it involved walking through the park. It was probably known as the 'park' to most but as The Sunset Gardens to her sister Valerie and her, named after countless days of watching the ethereal glow of the sunsets from their treehouse.

The Sunset Gardens or whatever its proper name, is located around the middle of the neighbourhood. It is also connected to a miniature forest that was cut down so that the town could be created, which is where their hidden hideouts are. This was Lydia's reason for taking the long route; she loved strolling through and seeing the lush greenery inside the forest.

The familiar scent of wild flowers and damp dirt hit her all at once. Walking into the forest had left her with a wave of memories. Lydia closed her eyes and watched them flicker in her mind like an old home movie. She reminisced her younger memories with Valerie, making her a little sad. Valerie being three years older than her had fallen into a world surrounded by boys and superficial things like gossip, make up and popularity. All things that Lydia thought she would never understand, let alone obsess over.

When Lydia reached her house door, she could hear a faint sound of high pitch giggles which could only belong to one person, her best friend Piper. Lydia wondered what Piper was here for as she fumbled around in her backpack and looked for her key. Once she stepped into the house, Piper's laughs were hushed and vague murmurs of their voices could be heard. Dropping her bag next to the coat hanger, she looked up to see her dad awkwardly smiling.

"Hey Lyd, was school good today?" he said casually.

Maybe a little too casually. Two could play that game.

"Yeah, it was a good day but Piper has been getting on my nerves lately. She's so bubbly and happy about pointless celebrations. It's getting annoying." she smirked.

Given by Lydia's expression her dad had caught on and had a knowing glint in his eye.

"Really? That's a shame, I guess we won't be able to have her over anymore."

"What!!? I am not annoying!" Piper whined as she stood up, giving away her position and confirming Lydia's suspicions.

"Hey Pipes!" she spoke cheerily. "See Dad, she even ruins surprise parties!"

One glance from Lydia's expression told Piper that she was merely joking and had tricked her into ruining the surprise. Piper sat down defeated and hunched over, unhappy about the fact she'd been so easily fooled.

"SURPRISE!" yelled Valerie and a girl whom Lydia did not know.

Lydia shot Piper a quizzical look and mouthed, "Who is that?"

At this Piper perked up and smiled whilst walking over. For as long as Lydia could remember, Piper had always been super friendly and enjoyed making new friends. Lydia was the slightly less friendly, bubbly, and more realistic friend by her side.

"Lyd this is Laurel and Laurel, that is Lydia" Piper said as she pointed at the two of us. "She moved here a week ago and will be starting our school tomorrow."

Lydia smiled at Laurel warmly, "Hey Laurel."

"Happy Birthday Lydia," Laurel answered as she handed Lydia a purple coloured box, "here is your present."

"You're not from around here? And thank you so much for the present by the way."

"No, my family moved from the States. I'm Californian."

"Hey let's cut the cake!" Piper chirped, "That has gotta be the best part of birthdays and considering you don't like birthdays, we gotta give you the full experience at least once."

"Wait you don't like birthdays?" asked Laurel.

The question was left unanswered as Lydia got rushed into the cake cutting process. The cake itself was fairly small, it was covered in creamy red icing and was a little lopsided, probably because her dad and Valerie baked it.

"Happy birthday to you!" they all merrily began. "Happy birthday to you!"

"YOU!" hollered Piper.

Then something very strange happened. Lydia lost sense of control, losing focus of the events and her surroundings. Her awareness of her own body, the room and the people instantly grew fuzzy and distorted. What is this? What is happening to me? She felt like she was made of sand and someone had picked her up, letting the grains of herself slip away through their fingers.

Lydia stood silent and still, holding a belief that maybe it would go away if she didn't move. And it did, just after everyone had finished singing the song in time to see her gazing mindlessly.

"Lyd? Are you okay?" Valerie asked as she refocused back into reality.

"Huh? Oh yeah, uh sorry I just sort of fazed out, thinking about today and the party." She breathed, feeling guilty for lying so effortlessly.

Intuitively, Lydia felt the need to hide what had happened from all of them. Of course, no one had noticed what had happened, given that it was inside of Lydia. So that was that, and the party continued on.

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Once the party had finished, Lydia decided to take a breather, using the excuse of wanting to open her presents outside in the fresh evening air. The forest located at the end of her street was where she instinctively headed to. A neat path stretched ahead, it's ends shrouded in colourful wilderness and seemingly from this distance, possibly another person. She walked towards the middle of the the Sunset Gardens where the Preaker's treehouse had been built.

A couple of metres in front of the treehouse sat a small boy of around her age, give or take a year. He was quite frail looking with a lean and lanky appearance. His mop of hair blew in the wind, the curls sticking out from each other. The boy sat still on top of a smooth stone, almost intensely gazing into the depths of the forest and made no clear notice of Lydia.

Lydia felt uncomfortable watching him and his strange behaviour. She couldn't figure his actions out and was reluctant to bother him. For a moment Lydia's surroundings yet again grew fuzzy, blurring the features of the boy. She blinked and the blurring faded, returning back to normal. Lydia decided to walk back home instead of sitting inside of the treehouse like she had planned.

But something had made her hesitate. The sinking sun's light fell onto his enclosed hand and reflected off of a shiny surface. It was blinding for a fleeting moment, causing her eyes to glance down at her own body. A sinking feeling settled into Lydia's stomach causing it to churn uncomfortably. Something told Lydia that the object was a knife. She was positive of it even without proper proof.

Lydia turned around and began to swiftly walk back home, both tired and afraid to interrupt the boy and of the bizarre occurrences of the day. Once the road back home was in sight, Lydia turned around one final time but the boy was gone.