Rainbow Lemonade

Chapter Thirty Two  : Undeniable Revelations  / I was still groggy when I woke up, to a cloudy light pouring in from the living room windows... Living room? I didn't remember much from last night, but I guess when we got back home I crashed in the living room. I stepped out onto the deck, studying the sky. The sun was concealed behind countless grey clouds, only letting out tiny rays of light. All the vibrant colors of the trees, grass, and plants had faded.  I went back inside and upstairs to the bathroom. After brushing my teeth and taking a long, hot shower, I dressed in a sky blue tank top and mint green oversized sweatpants. I put on pale pink socks and tied the laces to my buttercream colored Converses.  Downstairs, I ate breakfast in silence. I wasn't sure where Dolion was... The front door opened. "Where were you?" I asked, and when I looked up I almost choked on my oatmeal.  A horrifying creature with a lizard's face and human's body stood in the door...

Chapter Thirty One  : Liar, Liar, Church On Fire  / "But Mirai had told me about you - and she said that you turned and let all the Corrupt out." I said. "Mirai didn't know what really happened, because she didn't know 'your friend.'" Orpheus argued.  "She was clueless despite all her visions?" "Some evil can't be seen, even with the mind." My head was too tired to try and make sense of this all, and I sat down in one of the wrecked pews. I took a deep breath in an attempt to calm myself. "Do you smell... Smoke?" I asked fearfully. Orpheus didn't have to reply, because a thin cloud of smoke was pouring in from the crumbling walls and ceiling, and I could see the glare of flames through the stained glass windows.  His eyes widened in terror. "Come on, we need to get out of here." I urged. "It's too late." He whispered, moving to cower beside me. I could see its shadow nearing the door outsi...

Chapter Thirty  : Orpheus / I couldn't help but wonder if I was running for my life, because that's what it felt like. I was terrified and confused, without any answers. I was helpless; I lacked Dolion.  I didn't go to any place that I already knew; not the city or the faery realm or the lake... Instead, I went to the church that existed deep in the woods.  My parents weren't really religious people, and they had never brought me to a church - not even this one, which was a couple miles away from my house. I only knew about it because some of the kids from my school told me they'd have Easter Sunday and Christmas Eve services there.   There was obviously a road leading to it, but I stayed hidden in the trees as I hiked there. I didn't want to walk on the old dirt path anyway.  When I arrived, I was breathless. I hadn't let myself take a single break along the way, for fear of what might happen if I stopped. I stared up at the church, catching my breath just...

Chapter Twenty Nine  :   The Warning  /  We returned home safely, unbothered by whatever else was creeping around the forest. The thought hit me as soon as I stepped foot on the deck and was about to go into my house. "Wait... We need to bury Mirai." I stated sadly.  After searching for about a half hour, we still hadn't found her. "This is ridiculous, she was just here." I fretted, pacing back and forth in the area we had last seen her in. "See, this is  definitely  where she was." I gestured to the flattened and stained grass. "I'm not crazy..."  "Of course you're not," Dolion assured me. "It's late, we should get back so you can sleep." I had this weird hollowed-out feeling as we walked home for the second time that night. Something wasn't adding up, I just didn't know what. Nothing in this twisted world made much sense, but I had some foreboding feeling about what had been happening these past few d...

Chapter Twenty Eight :   Mirai And The Faery Village  /  In the kitchen, I focused on sitting still as Dolion pulled a few small shards of glass out of my knuckles and fingers. I couldn't watch because it made me too nauseous.   Afterward, I rinsed my hands in cold water. The blood mixed with the water and turned a pink-ish red, swirling down the drain... And all the memory of my fading away went with it. "Can we go outside?" I asked Dolion. "You're not too tired?" It questioned. I looked out the window at the shimmering moon, hung in the sky like a pendant on a necklace. I twirled my amethyst necklace around between my fingers. "I'm a little tired, but... This will probably feel better than sleeping right now."  We walked for a long time in near silence, watching the stars and strange planets and clouds churn around in the sky. All the colors were gorgeous, without words to describe them. Looking up at it all, I was a grain of sand lost in the...

Chapter Twenty Seven  :   The Trip Back  / The sun shone brightly in through the open window, waking me up. I remembered with dread all that I had gone through last night in order to fall asleep. Today seemed like a mountain too high to climb. But I had to; to help the jackrabbit family, and to get back home. All the horrifying sights from last night were gone, though, so I felt a little better.  I got up to eat breakfast, looking over at Dolion who lay still with its eyes closed in the bed beside mine. I grew scared at its stillness that reminded me of my parents, until I reassured myself that it was okay - because it always was. I wondered if it saw me as weak compared to itself; I was alike to a flower while it was like a rock. I freaked out over small things that happened, but it would've been completely unbothered if the whole world had collapsed.  Downstairs, I forced myself to eat breakfast, which consisted of alien fruits and some type of pastry. Like la...

Chapter Twenty Six  : Our Stay In The Kingdom  /  I spent the rest of the afternoon sleeping, because as soon as Dolion and I were shown to a room, I fell onto the bed and covered my face with one of the soft pillows. Unconsciousness took over me almost instantly. And my sleep wasn't even peaceful; I dreamt of beasts I couldn't describe, and an endless corridor filled with meaningless doors, in which a blood-stained blindfold was over my eyes and I fumbled around, feeling for the walls with my hands. I was seeing it like I wasn't in my own body; I watched myself fall through a trapdoor in the dirty carpeted floor. A horrid hum buzzed throughout my dreams, eventually waking me up.  I sat up in bed, hot and breathless. The curtains were closed and I was seeing everything in a dark grey haze. My stomach churned; I felt sick. "Dolion?" I asked, my voice hardly a whisper. "Dolion?" Fear cut through me like a knife.  "I'm here," It answered, gett...