Kingdom of Arzialla by Marilyn Arias (story reading txt) 📕

When I finished eating, I stepped out of the cave and stretched under the warm sun’s rays. It was silent and calm, nothing was happening. The leaves rustled as the wind danced around me. It blew my short hair back, comforting me and whispering that the worst has faded.
My eye caught the sight of a small shadow hiding behind a tree and I heard a couple twigs snap when it tried to run away.
“Hey! Wait!” I shouted. My voice wasn’t mine. It sounded more… like a boy.
I began to run toward the tree that it was hiding behind and I discovered footprints moving into the woods. The odd part about it is that the ground underneath the grass was green and purple sand wherever the person stepped on. I crouched down to get a closer look and passed my fingers over it. It shimmered and it looked so much like the sand that Zelimir used to heal my hand. I looked at my hand and found it perfectly fine, without the scar that I made.
I looked up at the trees and searched for a body. “Who are you? Where are you?”
Follow my trail in which will heal your body and soul. You will find mercy and peace at the end…the woman’s voice echoed in the woods. I swallowed and looked down at the trail of footprints again. My eyes followed it until it faded into the distance.

Well… I have nothing left to lose, I told myself again.

I began to follow it deep into the woods and… That’s when I came back to my life and opened my eyes. I was sitting at the very front row of a school bus. I looked up at the small digital clock that was fixed over the bus driver, finding it to be about a quarter before five. I had a long day in school and I’m sure I failed a science test. I stayed up till around midnight studying for the test, which was really a waste of time since I still read all those questions and thought “we learned this in class?”. So once I took my seat in the bus after school, I passed out. I’ve been sleeping for almost an hour… And I still have about thirty minutes before the driver drops me off at my stop. Ugh, crap…
I looked out the window and stared at the houses and trees. As we drove over a bridge, I began to remember my dream. I remembered touching the sand and looking at my hand. I quickly glanced down my hand and discovered that it was indeed a dream since my scar remained in my palm. I sighed and remembered how it’s been over two years since my ninth birthday. My fingers touched Zelimir’s ear cuff as I remembered how I begged Jenny to take me back to Arzialla. She kept saying over and over again how I’m asking for a suicidal wish and how crazy I am. She asked if I was sure that I didn’t fall on my head hard when I got there, which I couldn’t entirely answer since I fainted in the middle of the trip to Arzialla. I’ve had dreams like this ever since I came home from my adventurous birthday. Mom has told me before that she’d hear me talk in my sleep, sometimes even scream, ever since around that time too. Apparently, I’ve said Zelimir’s and Kehlia’s name a few times and mom asked me who they were. I just acted like I didn’t know what she was talking about and that I couldn’t remember what the dream was.
I decided to take out The Count of Monte Cristo--the book that I'm currently reading--out of my custom made messenger bag and flip to where I left off.
Unexpectedly, the bus swiveled to the side and then before I knew it, I, along with everyone else, flew forward into the seat in front of us. I blacked out before I could even figure out what happened next…

I opened my eyes and it took my vision a moment to clear up and to let me see that I was lying down in a hospital bed while I was hooked up into an IV and some other stuff. I felt lightheaded with a bit of a headache, but I tried my best to ignore it as I ripped the needles out and sat up. Within seconds, nurses started rushing in asking what I was doing, why I’m getting up and all. They placed everything back to where they were, had me lie back down and told me to calm down while I wait for the doctor to come. One was nice enough to turn on the television and play some show that has to do with a square, yellow cartoon character that lives in a pineapple. I thought that was a strange thing but I went with it. Minutes later, a female doctor entered and asked how I felt.
“I don’t know… Not all that great, I guess,” I told her. “What happened?”
She looked at me with a questioning face. “You mean you don’t remember anything that happened?”
I thought hard on it. The last thing that I remember was taking some test and being on the phone with someone one night. I couldn’t remember who. “No…”
“Huh… What’s your name?”
I hesitated. “Anastasia something…”
“What’s today’s date?” she asked.
“Uh…” I paused. “I don’t know.”
“When and where were you born?”
How could I forget my birthday? “December twenty-fourth of... 1995. And in Mercy Hospital.”
“What was the last thing you remember before having the accident?”
Didn’t I just say that I don’t remember what happened? Whatever. “Taking a test.”
“What kind was it?”
This is starting to tick me off. “I don’t know.”
“Huh…” she said as she wrote something down on her clipboard. “Do you remember anything after the accident?”
“No.”
I was unconscious the entire time, woman.
“Hm…” she said as she scribbled away in her clipboard. “Seems to me you have retrograde amnesia.”
I gave a look like this was ridiculous. “What? W-what does that mean?”
“It basically means that you can’t remember what happened before the scene of the accident and that you may not remember bits and pieces of your memories, surroundings, about yourself, and your life.”
I looked down in thought and noticed a scar across my palm. How did I get this? I can’t remember…

“I asked if you could remember anything after the scene because maybe you woke up and then blacked out again. It can also be possible that you have antergrade amnesia,” the doctor continued. “But since no one has claimed that you have woken up, you probably don’t have that.”
“So… what is it that I have?” I asked her.
“Retrograde amnesia,” she said slowly as if I was stupid. I already don’t like this doctor… “Oh, I had to take your jewelry since I wanted to take x-rays of your head to make sure you were okay. It’s ok to have them now if you’d like to wear them.”

“Um… Y-yeah,” I nodded my head. The doctor left the room and came back within a few minutes with her hand supinated. I held my hands out and she dropped the small pile of jewelry into my scarred palm. She dropped a necklace that was a seven pointed star in a circle with letters in every point that spelled out either DESORD or DROSED, whichever way to read it. I wasn’t sure how to read it since a couple of the letters were turned upside down but I didn’t care much for it. The other one was an ear cuff that looked like silver vines that wrapped around and curved in swirls as three glistening rubies hung from it. Warmth spread through the tips of my fingers and a jolt of something strange bolted all throughout my body. I felt kind of… relaxed.

Apparently, something happened to cause the driver to swerve to the side and hit one of the pillars of a bridge. The girl that sat in the seat across from me died due to a shard of glass from the windshield or window piercing her in the chest. Of course, the driver passed away from… well, from the obvious reason that he just got pancaked by a wall. Most of the other kids in the bus are now badly injured while the minority are suffering only from sprains, aches, bruises and/or migraines. I’m guessing the few that are practically fine are the loud, obnoxious ones that sit in the very back of the bus.
My parents came in one or two hours after my talk with the doctor. The doctor informed them that I have amnesia and that I was lucky to have lived in such a tragic accident, especially since I sat right behind the driver. I didn’t suffer from internal bleeding, but I did receive a crack in my left parietal bone. I’ll be staying in the hospital for one more night and then I’ll be heading home.
I asked my parents everything including how I got the scar in my hand and about the jewelry. They told me I got the necklace from my grandmother when I was a little toddler. I apparently found the ear cuff at a park and I cut my hand open when I tried to jump over a wired fence the same day.
“Really? When was that?” I asked.
“That was like… a day or two after your birthday a couple years ago,” my father said.
I wondered who could’ve just easily lost such a gorgeous jewel at a place like a park but things happen, I suppose. Something told me that what he told me wasn’t true but I found no reason to not believe him.

THE ETERNAL SLEEP THAT THE KING has put me in is… quite strange. I couldn’t remember how he put me into the spell but it feels like thorns have pierced all throughout my body. The only real strange thing about it is that it oddly doesn’t hurt all that much. It feels more bittersweet… It’s very hard to describe. It feels like I’ve been here for years already. Has it been years? I couldn’t tell. My eyes haven’t opened since I’ve been put into this spell.
Wake up, my child. Don’t let the cold hands of the evil eye put you down. Arise from your slumber...

Hm? A woman’s voice? Why do I recognize it?
Awaken. I will always watch over you…

My eyes shot open when I felt something wet lightly brush against my face like sandpaper. I blinked a few