The Future Past

 “The oldest and strongest emotion of the mankind is fear, and the oldest and strongest kind of fear is fear of the unknown.” (H. P. Lovecraft).

***

           Life can be quite a strange thing. Sometimes it makes those exact people meet who are considered as soul mates but would never imagine facing each other due to numerous logical reasons. And exactly that is what makes each new day interesting and intriguing; as we are not aware whom we will run into on our own paths; the part of whose life we will become…And who will become ours, absorbed by our whole existence and kept deeply in our memory. Who knows, perhaps the best soul mate that can ever exist is our own self, the inner world reflected smoothly in an outer one, creating a bizarre combination of the future in the past.

***

           I was wandering by the little, crystal clear lake in a flourishing garden of an old mansion. It was the most favorite property of my family – the lake house. It was the dawn of the spring, the beginning of a brand new life. Birds were chirping harmoniously whilst the setting sun was shining in the clear sky as blue as sapphire. That color caused strange reflections in me, loveable and bitter at the same time… The naughty, golden sun rays were glowing on the water like thousands of tiny, glittering diamonds. The fir-trees, standing proudly in the boundary of the day and night, were being shaken by the light, warm breeze which was softly whispering through the shadowy trees. Air was full of the charming scent of different colored forget-me-nots, violets, cyclamens, lilacs, which awakened many-colored dreams and on which the nightingales were warbling the lullaby to the setting sun.

           This magical heaven of Earth created the atmosphere of perfection and peace, which always puts hearts at ease and makes the world happy to be alive. The nature was celebrating the royal arrival of spring and it was delighted to face the bright future as sleepy mist of winter was disappearing as if it had never existed. The gorgeous spring was coming hand-in-hand with the absolute calmness.

           Whilst the bright sun as yellow as amber was crawling across the turquoise blue sky, hiding behind the dark, emerald green fir-trees, playing peek-a-boo with my joyful eyes, the silvery goddess of the night was growing larger. It looked like a lonely, fluffy cloud at first, but after the darkness and the light had mixed in each other with a wild sway and the sun had disappeared behind the grassy hill, the mysterious grey moon soon formed into a perfect circle…

           “Oh, Sally, you will catch a cold”, my best friend Anna approached me with petite, quiet steps and rose up behind me in just a blink of an eye, putting a warm, red blanket over my shoulders. Looking at her smiling, friendly face and half-visible green eyes, I felt much more relaxed and excited.

           “Is it not nice to be here?”, I said calmly, looking far in the distance. After nagging for hours, my father had finally let me come here with a friend. Foaming my mouth with words was definitely worth it.

           I did not gaze at her but I was sure she nodded. We had been best friends since we remembered ourselves. And finally, we were in this old mansion, by ourselves, and feeling extremely pleased, we were going to have a wonderful educational rest here in my ancestors’ old library at last. If our affection for being bookworms was taken into consideration, this weekend would be a precious little literature corner. We were also hoping to find some secret passages hidden in the dining room because I was sure such thing would exist in an old mansion where generations of owners of different tastes once lived. What is the castle without secrets after all! Little did I know about the unexpected and unimaginable event that was about to take place.

***

        Slowly, in the harmony of the nightingale’s lullaby and the leaves rustling, Anna nodded off in the coach in the end of the balcony, close to the dining room where I used to play during the summer holidays when I was a child. I looked at her childish face, laughing at nonsense she was mumbling in sleep. She had a very light sleep and could be woken up easily, so I gently covered her with the blanket she had given to me and gazed back at the lake. It seemed much more mesmerizing in the heaven of the Earth.

           I rose up, staring down at the glittery surface of water, headed for the edge of lovely, pebbled path. I felt a sudden desire for swimming and I did not hesitate much. Water was still warm and I felt cozier than ever. The lake was quite big and deep, but fortunately, I was not quite bad at swimming. I swam further and further and further to the center of the lake with confidence, lying on my back and looking up to the full moon. It seemed as it was wearing silvery attires, as picturesque as spring. I could feel an extremely pleasing feeling overtaking me which made my beating heart as lively as spring float up above with the shiny stars.

           Suddenly, the heavy water drop fell on my forehead. I did not pay attention to it at first, but then it strengthened, descending onto the calm waves of lake. Although they were gorgeous and mysteriously sparkling, they were falling into the smooth currents. Spring maddened instantly and became turbulent in just a blink of an eye. The clouds darkened, covering the silver moon, and I felt fear forming inside me. Peace of spring suddenly disappeared and the sudden storm broke out – craziness of this splendid season turned up…

           With a quick movement of hands, I tried to swim back to the shore, but the maddened current did not allow me to. I felt fear growing which turned into an overwhelming desperation and started yelling, hoping Anna would hear me, she did have light sleep, I was sure of it… With my mouth full of salty water, coughing and trying to stay above the surface, I yelled once more before the huge wave covered my face.

           I was feeling that my lungs were filing up with water, I kept seeing yellow-greenish sparkles in my eyes, with my voice quietening more and more, and desperate for air and unable to control my movements anymore, I thought it was the end…

           All of a sudden, thankfully, someone grabbed me, pulling me towards the shore, dragging me out of water. I was heavily breathing, panting and still found it hard to keep my eyes open because of bitter wetness and exhaustion, so in mind I was thanking Anna for saving me.

           “A… tha… thank y… you, Annie”… She saved me at the last moment…

           But… but this eager stampede and coughing could not be Anna’s. I looked up and froze in place – to my surprise, she was still sleeping on the balcony. I gazed at my rescuer, but she or he had already run away before another word came out of my lips. The dark silhouette of the stranger had already disappeared through the shadows of the wildly swaying trees.

***

           “How can it possibly be, especially in your case, Anna, that you did not wake up when the storm broke out?”, I could not leave the unlucky event that had just happened to me to myself anymore, so I just spit it out when Anna and I were sitting in front of the crackling fireplace in the cozy living room.

           “Storm? What storm? What are you talking about, Sally?”, a pair of green eyes stared back at me, enlarged because of shock and curiosity.

           “What? You did not hear that? Not even my screaming?”

           “I swear, Anna, I have no idea what you are saying. You know how I tend to sleep, I would definitely wake up if anything happened, especially a storm.”

           I did not answer back, though I was feeling as strange and unsure as never before. It, in fact, was the worst, the most frightening and dangerous day of my life. Did it actually not happen? I almost died for god’s sake! And if it did happen, who was that stranger who ran away as if she/he had seen a ghost?

***

        A whole year passed after that peculiar event. The spring had just arrived after the freezing winter and on one sunny day, I, out of the blue, felt a sudden urge to go back to that place. I did not speak of the strange event that had happened to me to anyone after Anna made me question my own sanity. But, at that time, I felt much more straightforward and sure in my own desires than I ever did. With only a little hesitation, I started the car and drove to the lake house.

           I was wandering near the mansion, recollecting the memories of my childhood, smiling at little birds that were chirping towards the surrounding beauty, when I felt an unpleasantly familiar déjà vu. Thick, glittery raindrops started descending onto the flower blossoms. The sun had already set and the dark clouds started to gather up, covering the moon that was just shining brightly with its cold, silvery rays. I felt as if deep down, behind the opened doors of my heart, I had been waiting for something without realizing all this time.

           No one on earth will ever be able to imagine my amazement, when I heard a sound of rough waves clashing on each other, coming from the lake…

           ... And a girl screaming for help!