Forgotten

• Yashal Imran, Grade 5
• Short Story
• 2020

Again. The agonizing screams pierced my ears as I watched them go. Watch them go fading away forever. NO! I jolted upwards like a whip, panting breathlessly, my heart beating furiously, paining with horror, exasperation and utmost despair, the tingling in my scar almost a pin-prick compared to it. I sighed. A deep, long, quivering sigh. I longed to know who they were, and what my scar meant. What had it felt to have parents who sacrificed themselves for you, I wondered painfully as I trod along the eerie hallway. It felt as though someone was watching me, trying to read my thoughts, about to emerge from the darkness. Amorphous beams of moonlight were dancing in the meadow’s shadows, causing the roses to gleam with dew and ruby redness. The echoing footsteps started once more as I twirled the rose in my fingers, aching to be set free; then I slipped through the door. Finally, I could feel the breeze blow majestically in my face, the sound of the wolves howling in the cliffs as I set off towards the heart of the forest. Then I saw her; her red hair gleaming in the moonlight, the glass around her reflecting the memories of herself through the full moon. Setting the majestic plant beside her, I fell away from earth; yes, this was the feeling of freedom, of peace at mind. Suddenly, I felt a sensation; someone was there. I hurtled around, but saw nothing, until I felt a sickening lurch that lifted me off the ground.
My eyesight was blinded by a flash, which was immediately replaced by a shining lake of the deepest blue. A woman was staring at me through the midst of it, smiling. She looked just like me, with her hazelnut eyes and bronze hair...... but it couldn’t be; wasn’t she- But my thoughts were cut short by a scream. A crying, hopeless scream from the mountains beyond the village I was standing in. I didn’t want to go, but my body wasn’t obeying me........ I finally arrived at the cliff side after an hour’s worth of running. My mouth hang open as I gaped at what I was seeing. The very same woman at the lake was lying in a heap on dusty rubble; only her hair was ruby red, cradling a new born baby. “MOTHER!” I cried as I ran towards her, but it wasn’t me. Then a peculiar feeling washed over me; a feeling that came so suddenly that I understood everything at once: but I had no time to think.
“Mother, no, please” I sobbed. “Go back to your father, Felicia,” she whispered, “go and tell him I love him. Take Jake.”. “But my sca-” “I gave it to you. It symbols my love to you. Go now, I will remember you” Her eyes rolled back in her head, a smile beaming on her face. Slowly everything blurred into the now sharpening forest, colors now coming to view. I beamed. All my questions were now answered. I knew the secrets hidden, my memories from the past. My dream had a meaning and my mother and guardian are watching over me. Now I know where my forgotten self belongs.