Etherea

Hyma's Tale

This morning, my mother locked me up in my room because I had forgotten to lay out mouse traps, and one of the mice had scrambled over my mom's foot.

"How could you forget! The disgusting things are everywhere, You aren't blind, but you're useless either way." She had yelled.

I was frightened because I was not used to this at all. My mom usually pretended she didn't have a daughter. She can't even remember my name.

When she came home a few hours ago, she still didn't unlock the door. I have this horrible feeling that she forgot about me, and that I would die in this bed. So, here I am, stuck in room with no food and no way of escaping. I mean, my room has no windows, or I would have eaten by now.

My name is Oaklee Collins. Tomorrow, August thirty-first, will be my fifteenth birthday. If there is a tomorrow.

I might be losing my mind, or dreaming, or dying, but I open my eyes. I see a park. Or, if I wanted to be specific, Hyma Lake Park.

This place has always been special to me, even when I was very little. When my mom was busy, which, she usually was, my aunt would take a flight down to my house just to pick me up. I knew that she loved me so much, and I loved her. She would take me here, to this park. She would tell me stories.

It was very bright here, compared to my room, though it was freezing. I decided to go to my favorite part of the entire park, Hyma Lake's edge. When I reached it, I saw that it was occupied by a little girl and a woman about my mom's age.

That's weird. The edge of the lake was usually empty, people were scared of it. Despite the contempt and suspicion that usually consumed me, I went to sit beside them.

They didn't notice me at all. I tapped the woman's shoulder, but my attempts to catch the attention of the woman and the girl were futile.

So, I start to listen to what she's telling the girl.

"Do you want to hear a story?"

"Yes, Aunt Hallie! Please!" Then I realized who these two people were. The young girl was me, about ten years ago. And the woman was my aunt. My aunt continued, causing my younger self to bounce with anticipation. My present self? I took in everything about her, the way her green eyes looked exactly like mine, her hair blowing in the wind, her voice.

"Well, there was a time, people predict this happened millions of years ago, but this land was once owned by the Hyma family.

This family was very wealthy. A mansion was once built in this park, but it was torn down after what happened to their only son, Talib Hyma." I had forgotten the story of Talib Hyma.

"Talib was a very promising little boy. He was the kindest out of the three of them, and he treated the servants as equals. He liked to read and write, but most of all, he loved to see the world. He had many friends, and his teachers at school told his parents how smart he was, how brave he was.

But bravery can often lead to stupidity. Talib was twelve years old. He knew that Hyma Lake could be hundreds of feet deep. He came to the lake anyway. He was all alone. Talib took one look at the lake, and checked around his shoulder to make sure his parents weren't looking." My young self bounced with anticipation.

"What's next?"

"He leapt. This leap might have taken ten seconds, or ten years. He hit the water, and disappeared under the surface. He was never seen again. His family tore down their mansion soon after that, and moved far, far away."

"How do people know he didn't drown?" Five-year-old me asked in a squeaky voice.

"Because, one thousand years later, a grown man called Talib Hyma emerged from the lake. There was no current record of him, but, when the people looked back at the oldest records they could find, they found his name."

"That's why this true, interesting story is still told today. It was a phenomenon no one seemed to forget about."

"How do I know you're not just telling me a childrens' story?"

"It's true, I promise, Oaklee." Aunt Hallie vowed. The suspicion in my eyes softened.

"I believe you."

Aunt Hallie always was an interesting person, from what I remember. She believed in a lot of things, which I now know are impossible. She's the one who made my childhood magical. I'd forgotten about this particular story, though she told it to me more than once. A boy who survived one thousand years underwater? I guess we could believe anything when we're that young.

After that scene, I had completely forgotten about being hungry, and I was whisked into another time.

It was snowing. I looked to my left, but the playground wasn't there anymore. Instead, there was a huge mansion. To my right, I couldn't see anything beyond the snow. Then, I saw what was right in front of me. There was a boy. He had a long, pale face, green eyes, and dark hair. He almost looked like me.

I realized that this was definitely the Hyma boy, if he existed. Was he this stupid? In this weather, the chill would kill him before he could drown.

I took a few steps forward, knowing he couldn't hear me, but to my surprise, he whipped around, fixing me with a frightened gaze. Then, he jumped.

"Talib! Wait! You'll drown!" I leaped to the place he was once standing, but I slipped and I fell into the water, too. The water was a breath-taking type of cold, like my lungs had frozen. Talib had his eyes closed. He was sinking. . .

I swam after him and grabbed his hand, attempting to pull him to the surface. My head bumped against something hard. I could only conclude that this was ice. I felt pretty dizzy. I could just see a woman silhouetted on the ice. Apparently she had come running, but not fast enough.

"Talib!" Her voice was muffled, but I could hear her accent perfectly. Her words were cool and crisp, like an autumn day, and very easy to understand, at least to me.

Then, the woman said something I would never expect.

"Oaklee!"

Is this fair? I thought as I sank deeper, still clutching Talib's icy hand. I mean, this was his destiny, not mine. My lungs were aching for air. Next moment, I was in a painless sleep, one where I could breathe freely in the sunshine. Then, the world went dark. Darker than it was before.