​Chapter 2 – A friendly soul

A/N: Part two in my serial for Shino's Serial Contest. I had to write something, so I wrote something. Didn't have time to edit it properly.. But yeah, making some progress with the story, at least.

Music, or rippling water? I couldn't tell. Maybe it was the sound of rustling leaves, but that didn't make sense. It shouldn't be so warm outside, not in the mountains, though the water in the pond had been pretty warm. Drowning. Air, I need air. I couldn't breathe, I didn't know where my body ended and the air began, much less how to use my muscles. Somewhere inside me there was a voice telling me that I should panic, that it was the logical thing to do, but for some reason I felt at peace where I was. If I got my body back, I might feel those arms around my waist again, relentlessly pulling me down into the dark. Wasn't it alright if I just stayed as I was, for a little while longer?

There was no way for me to tell how quickly the time passed, or even if I was awake or asleep. My thoughts seemed to drift away at times, becoming pleasantly fuzzy and numb, but then they'd come back much sharper than before. Every time they came back I'd hear that melody again, louder for each time, unlike anything I'd ever heard before. It sounded more like one of nature's sounds than something from dots on a lined papers. My oldest daughter, Selma, knew how to turn those dots into music, and it had always baffled me that scribbles on a paper could be interpreted as sounds. Water running into my lungs. It burns. Let me go.

My eyes snapped open as I gasped for breath, expecting to start coughing up water but feeling no need to. My lungs didn't burn, and I didn't feel cold anymore. The darkness was gone as well. All I could see above me was a sky filled with grey clouds, and the occasional yellow leaf that fluttered down over me. The air smelled fresh, pure and cold, even though it wasn't. The sound of water rippling gently reminded me of where I was, or where I thought I was, but when I sat up I couldn't see any waterfall or pool. Instead my left leg was half submerged in a shallow brook. The water was as warm as the air. It should be freezing. Somewhere further up stream the rippling became a distant roaring, and I realized that somehow the water must've carried me down stream, even though it was far too shallow.

I shook my head, trying to clear my thoughts. I remembered walking away from the path and climbing down to the waterfall to get water, but after that everything was blurry. Bits and pieces came back to me as I concentrated, but disappeared as soon as my focus wavered. I was sure there had been music, and I was sure I had seen a man in the waterfall who had pulled me down. Instinctively I felt my pockets for my phone, but realized I had put it in my backpack while I was walking. If I could just call someone. I had hit my head, I was sure of it now. When I was climbing down the cliff I fell down into the water and hit my head, then I must have walked to where I was. That's it. Now you're making sense. I had a memory of putting my backpack down on the bank of that pool, so if I just followed the brook I should be able to call for help. There was a risk I'd have to walk a bit before finding a signal, but it should be fine. It will be fine.

With careful steps, always making sure to lean against the mountain birches, in case I'd feel wobbly and fall. My head didn't hurt, and I didn't feel dizzy in any way, but I knew I had hit my head. It was the only reasonable explanation. I probably should've touched my head and see if I was bleeding, but I didn't dare to. For all I knew my skull could be exposed, and I really didn't want to have any memories of the feeling of bone underneath my fingertips.

The roar of water got louder, and seemed to mix with music just like it had before. Even though I knew it was foolish I tried to move as silently as I could when the pool came within sight. There's no man there. There's no music. I crept closer, my eyes fixed on the waterfall. He was there, his eyes closed as he played, not seeming to notice me. Even though I knew I was hallucinating my heart beat faster and at the same time felt as if it had stopped. Images of the warm darkness, of struggling for breath came back to me with pangs of fear. Calm down. He's not really there. All I needed was my phone. If I could get that, then I could call for help and the doctors could fix whatever was wrong with my head.

I could see my backpack next to the pool, exactly where I had left it. Each step towards it was painfully slow and careful, since I put my feet down as gently as I possibly could to not disturb the gravel I was stepping on. Every time it did shift underneath me I held my breath, glancing up at the man, making sure his eyes were still closed and he was still playing. He's not real, he can't hurt me. The serene expression seemed so different from the memories of drowning, so strange compared to my memories, yet so perfect in this place, in his face. He really did look like a Roman limestone statue, too perfect to be a living human. The strong jaw, the straight nose, the long elegant fingers making music that was hauntingly close to the sounds of nature, the sharp contrast between the charcoal black hair and the pale white skin.. And those cold eyes that watch me as I choke on water. I shivered, forcing myself to look away from that face and back to my backpack. Only a few more steps, and I'd have my phone.

When I finally reached I thought of picking up the whole thing, but it seemed safer to just dig out the phone and then leave. The plastic bag I had put it in to keep the water out rustled when I pulled it out of a side pocket, and when I glanced up at the man his eyes were open, directed at me with in a stare that seemed to pierce my very soul. Instinctively I took a step back, a cold hand seizing my heart as those eyes dug into me, freezing me in place. As the music stopped the cold suddenly came back all at once, stinging my skin and making my fingers and toes feel numb. Slowly he slid down from the stone, seeming to float through the water towards me. Run.

My heart raced and no matter how deep and ragged my breaths were I didn't get enough air. My lungs burned, my vision blurred, my cold feet hurt every time I brought them down on the stones. Since I didn't have time to climb up the cliff I had taken off down the stream, following it back in the direction where I had woken up, where it had branched of and become a small brook. The panic that hadn't struck me before came back now, as I could imagine that pale figure right behind me, reaching out those cold pale arms which would wrap around me and pull me down into the dark and drown me again, weigh me down like they were made out of stone. That little voice telling me that my fear was irrational had gone eerily silent, and in my head there was only me, my fear and those memories that couldn't be real.

I followed the stream without daring to look back even once, not wanting to meet those eyes again, not wanting to see that pale figure right behind me, until I suddenly came out of the trees. I looked around, confused but not stopping. Had I missed where the brook branched off from the stream? I kept running, the phone clutched in my hand, before coming to a sudden halt. I hadn't noticed before, but the roaring sound of the waterfall had become stronger again, and now I was standing beside it, looking down at the pool that I had run away from, at the red backpack on the bank, at the figure standing next to it with his icy blue eyes turned up towards me. I sunk down on my knees, gasping for air. /This isn't possible./ I looked down on my phone, turning it on and waiting for it to find a connection, but it never did. “Only emergency calls.” My hands shook as I dialed 112, but as I put the phone against my ear I heard nothing, no dial tone, no message that the number could not be reached, nothing.

Slowly I got up, stumbling back where I had come from, not even caring to follow the stream this time. I just wanted to find the path, to go home and forget this madness. Annika would surely call the police if I didn't return home in time, and then they'd find me. I'd just climb one of those low distant mountains and wait there for a plane or helicopter to pass over me. They'd see me and pick me up, and then I could go to a hospital, and Nora and Selma would come visit me.

I stopped again, a tiredness overcoming me as I found myself staring at the waterfall and the pool from the cliff I had first seen them from. I hadn't walked around, couldn't possibly have, yet I had ended up at the same place again, staring down at the same man.

“Why can't I leave?”

I had expected him to come after me again, or ignore me, but he held up his hand towards me, opening it and revealing a small glowing light that lifted and soared towards me. As it came closer I took a step back, and then another one, until I stumbled over a low bush and fell down on the heather. The light landed on a rock and suddenly faded, revealing a small dark brown lizard with big firefly wings.

“No need to be afraid of me.” At first I hadn't known what the high-pitched happy voice had come from, but then I realized the lizard was eyeing me expectantly, like it wanted me to answer. I stared, not knowing what I should say. I had gone mad, that much was clear.. Either that or I was still laying unconscious and was now hallucinating. “My name is Vivi, and I'm a krat. What is your name?”

It turned into a light again and flew towards me. This time I didn't try to pull away, I didn't even feel scared. I had clearly hit my head way too hard, and I was now seeing things. Somehow it tugged at my clothes and my hair, swishing around me almost too quick to see while giggling with the same shrill voice.

“I'm Torsten,” I mumbled, not knowing what to think about this creature. It seemed so ridiculously happy to see me. “Why can't I leave?”

“Because the nix won't let you, obviously. He decides who can come here and who can't.” It landed on my knee, peering up at me. I could've sworn the lizard looked curious. Shouldn't I be freaking out? I felt strangely calm now, more like I was waiting for something rather than anything else. Waiting to wake up.

“So what do I have to do if I want to leave?”

“Oh, why would you want to leave? Don't you like it here?” Was it disappointed? It sounded like it.

“I have a family waiting for me at home. I can't stay here.” Maybe I was talking to myself. Debating with my subconscious. Surely that was possible?

“Well, you'll have to wait for the nix to grow tired of you then. ”

I sighed. “And how long will that take?”

“Hmm..” It walked around on my knee, seeming to think. What would happen if I smashed it? I had accidentally stepped on a lizard much like that before – but without the ability to talk and fly, obviously – and it had crunched under my boot much like a nacho. Its head snapped up towards me like it knew what I was thinking. “I don't know!” It exclaimed loudly, laying down suddenly without taking its eyes of me for a moment.

I'll just wait here then.