Seasonal

“Good morning Poppy.”

It was a morning on the start of spring. A black cat stretched in a downward dog-or maybe a cat?-pose as it too, slowly woke up. The fresh cool wind greeted me as I opened the window of my bedroom.

“Goodbye winter and hello spring!”

I shouted to no one in particular. I was in a very good mood today. I always loved the warm and soft spring more than the cold and harsh winter. Not to mention spring is the season of love and a new beginning! Speaking of new beginnings, I clean the whole house every start of spring, and today is that day. I tied my long gold locs into two braids, gave mirror-me a thumbs up and kissed my parent’s picture good morning.

I worked my way up from the kitchen to the living room, bathrooms, bedrooms, all the way to the attic. From throwing out the old and reorganizing belongings to dusting off cobwebs in the far corner was a bit overwhelming for me. So by the time I got to the attic-the last room left uncleaned- I was too tired to move and sat down next to Poppy who was trying to dig the floor. Poppy likes to follow me around the house, even in the attic. After a while the scratching noises stopped. Only to be replaced by desperate Meows. That’s when I noticed that Poppy’s claws were stuck in the wooden planks.

“How did you get stuck there?”

Scolding Poppy, I leaned over to take a closer look.

Baam!

Some kind of wood hit me in the face as Poppy wrenched her paws out of the floor.

‘Owch! What’s this?’

Upon closer inspection I realized that it was a trapdoor I had never noticed. However, before any further inspection,

“Who’s the lucky girl that found a trapdoor? You are!”

I patted Poppy’s head vigorously. She hated it. But then I heard something which made me freeze.

“Where are you from?”

“What’s your name?”

“Ohhh, your hair looks gorgeous. Which salon did you go to?”

There were voices coming from the pitch blackness of a place below the trapdoor.

“Poppy.. Did you hear that?”

Poppy gave me a cat stare.

“.. Why did I bother to ask.”

I turned towards the hole and shouted.

“Who’s there?”

There weren't any answers.

“If anybody’s there, I would kindly ask you to please leave. This is my house and if you are there, I’ll call the cops on you!”

There still weren’t any answers. But this time, a bunch of annoying giggles whispered in the air.

‘I guess that’s something.’

I took a deep breath. If they weren’t going to come out, I would have to find them.

“I’m coming down. So you better prepare yourself.”

I was trying to look for any sources of light I could carry down with me but at that moment, Poppy jumped in.

“Poppy!”

Then without a second thought, I hurriedly descended down the ladder hanging from the trapdoor. I climbed lower and lower until..

*bang

“Ouch!”

I banged into something. Or maybe someone.

“Who are you?”

A tall figure of a man towered over me. Scared, I looked up to take a closer look at this stranger’s face. To my surprise he looked just as shocked, scared and bewildered as I felt.

“What,,? How did you even get in here?”

He was the one to break the awkward silence. But his words left me with more questions.

“That’s what I have to say. This is MY house!”

“What do you mean? I lived here my entire life, and I’ve never seen anyone like you.”

That’s when I finally took in my surroundings. I noticed that though every structural placement was shouting that this was indeed my house, minor details were telling me otherwise. A brilliant example of this was the wall paper. The wall papers in my house were and had always been, an old-fashioned pink peony pattern. Which has stayed with me all throughout my life even before I inherited the house from my grandmother. But in THIS house, instead of the familiar pink, I saw a light-blue base color with sunflowers as a pattern. Unless I was magically able to change the wallpaper and various items that were out of place while I was climbing down the ladder, this was clearly NOT my house.

“Huh…? Where am I?”

This was clearly not the way I thought I would say ‘Get out of my house.”, but at times when neither of us had a clue of what was going on, I think I can call it an exception. Afterwards, the conversation went all over the place, which makes it  hard to summarize the whole thing but I think it went something like,

“What’s your name?”

“I’m Linda from 305 Peony Street. Nice to meet you.”

“Ah, Nice to meet you too Linda. I’m Vetur. The house you’re standing on is at 614 Sunflower Street. So you’re suggesting that you don’t know how you got here?”

“Yah, I haven’t got a clue.”

“Well. Don’t worry. I’ll help you.”

And definitely not like,

“What…?”

“Huh…?”

“How…?”

“Ahh! Just who are you?! How did you get here?! What are you doing in my house?!”

“I don’t know how I got here! I WAS in my house like, two minutes ago. Just where am I?”

“614 Sunflower Street. Third house on the right.”

“Where in the world is Sunflower Street? I’ve never heard that name in my life.”

“Then, where did you come from?”

“305 Peony Street.”

“I’ve never heard that name in my life.”

“...”

“...”

“What…?”

“Huh…?”

“How…?”

“What’s your name?”

“Linda. But do call me Lind. And your’s is?”

“Vetur.”

A moment of awkward silence broke between us as we gazed at each other’s face trying to guess what the other was thinking while also trying to start up the conversation again.

“Oh, right! Poppy! Where is she?”

It wasn’t long after when I realized that my pur-pal was nowhere to be seen.

“Poppy? Who’s Poppy?”

“She’s my cat. You know, silky black fur, baby pink nose, emerald eyes? She jumped in here before me. Ohh. Please tell me you’ve seen her.”

“A black cat…. I did see something black fall from the ceiling, land on its feet, and scurry off out the window.”

“That must be poppy! I have to find her.”

I rushed towards the front door-it wasn’t hard since the structure was the same as my house-when Vetur stopped me.

“Wait. You don’t know these areas. You could get lost. I’ll go with you.”

Vetur really knew how to use his looks. Because not only was he exactly my type on the outside, he was also very kind. Which fitted my definition of ‘ideal man of my dreams’ perfectly. Nevertheless, scooting that thought into the corner of my mind I thanked him. 

“Follow me.”

He gave me a warm smile and led me outside.

Sunflower Street was the dictionary definition of a summer street. The sun was shining beautifully on the green trees and red rose bushes and the streets themselves felt lively with all the people walking energetically with smiles on their faces. 

“Wow…”

“Beautiful isn’t it? I tried really hard to get it right.”

“The word ‘Beautiful’ can’t describe how beautiful it really is. It looks like a scene which popped straight out of a movie!”

I got all excited and started to run around the street like a little kid. Although I liked spring the most, summer was my second favorite.

“How did you manage to grow these!”

I exclaimed.

“Back where I live, we can’t grow summer plants. It doesn’t get warm enough. Even if we call it ‘Summer’, it’s like we have two seasons. A bit more warm season and a bit more cold season. But this? This is amazing!!!”

I ran around a little bit more before calming down.

“Hehe.”

I chuckled. And to my surprise, Vetur gave off a small chuckle as well! As he chuckled, a scent of strong roses hit me. Half stunned and half mesmerized, I stared at Vetur.

“Why? Is there something on my face?”

“N.. Nope! Nothing!”

I quickly started to stare at the sky.

“Beautiful weather today. The sun’s all… ummm…”

I didn’t know what to say. My eyes darted around for a new topic I can actually carry on but to no avail. Then, my savior arrived in the form of a passing neighbor.

“Hey, I happened to be passing by. I didn’t mean to intrude on your conversation but I don’t think I’ve seen you before. Are you new here?”

I grasped that question as if my life depended on it.

“Oh, Yes. But no worries. I won’t stay here for long, I think.. I happened to stumble into this street and Vetur here, was showing me around.”

I turned around to look at Vetur but he had disappeared.

‘That’s strange… Where did he go?’

“Well, That’s wonderful!”

The neighber’s voice brought my attention back to the conversation.

“Say, Can you tell me your name?”

“My name?”

“Yes! Your name. I should at least know what to call you during your stay in our neighborhood.”

 “Oh, well.. My name is Linda. But call me Lind.”

“Well hello Lind. I’m Truflun Sneur. But just call me Miss Truflun. So Lind, tell me a bit more about yourself. Where are you from? Where were you born from? Does your name have a meaning? I know My name certainly does.”

“Ummm…”

And the conversation went on like that. Miss Truflun asked all the questions and I answered. They weren’t even important questions. Just a bunch of questions about me. After what felt like forever, she finally ended the conversation with,

“Oh my! Look at the time. I kept you for too long haven’t I? I live just across the street over there, come over whenever you’d like. Farewell!”

Then left. Just like that. I was totally beat after that.

“She’s quite a nosy isn’t she”

“AH!”

It was Vetur. I could smell his rose scent.

“You scared me! Where were you anyway?”

“I hid as soon as I saw her approaching. She always seems so interested in other people’s business.”

Vetur shrugged and went on.

“Oh well. I already gave her two warnings. This is the third time… She’ll have to pay the price.”

Then he turned towards me, smiled and said,

“It’s getting late. Let’s get back home and we’ll think things through tomorrow. OK?”

“Yah.. Sure. I’m too tired to move any more.”

Although, deep inside, in the corner of my mind, I was actually slowly feeling better just by seeing his warm summer smile.

“That’s a good girl.”

He leaned towards me and quietly whispered into my ear. 

“I have an empty guest’s room on the second floor. Come, I’ll escort you.”

Yah.. Vetur is a warm summer person…

“Sure.”

I felt like I was forgetting something.

“Sleep well tonight.”

It probably wasn’t anything important-since I completely forgot. But something that was important was the fact that Vetur bid me goodnight. Slowly my eyes started to droop. Ah, Vetur is such a nice person. I haven’t washed or anything.. I knew I had to but my eyes wouldn’t stay open… I’ll just….. one small……… nap…………….

“H..Huh?”

I woke up due to a wet and sandy touch on my face.

Meaw!

It was a black cat. With silky black fur, baby pink nose, and emerald eyes…

“Hello? Where could you have come from?”

However it looked injured.

Bang!

That’s when a loud banging noise came from the ceiling.

 Bang!

But how could that be. It didn’t make any sense. I wasn’t seeing anything on the ceiling.

Meaw!

“Owch…! Hey!”

That’s when the cat bit me. It leaped onto the ground, walked towards the door, and waited. As if to say ‘follow me’. So, I followed.

Bang!

The noise got louder outside the bedroom. It got louder and louder until

BANG!

It was loudest under the ladder to the attic. And before I knew it,  my body was already in the attic. I could tell that the source of the noise was right in front of me. I was starting to get scared.

…

The noise stopped. I felt a cold wind hitting my face. Just as my eyes adjusted to the dim attic light, I saw a figure. Someone who looks a lot like…

“Vetur!”

I shouted in delight. All my fears were washed away as the word Vetur left my lips.

“Vetur?”

But something was wrong with Vetur. He was smiling but everything was so cold.

Meaw

The cat gave a small yet familiar cry. My head ached. Vetur’s figure distorted. From it, a being 2 meters in height, with such little fat that the skin leather was stuck to its bones emerged. Its head was a deer skull with glowing white eyes.

“! l<nEvv… I sh0u;d h@v? go))en r!d 6f th@t ca).”

Its voice itself seemed to be distorted, I could barely make it out.

“V..Ve….”

I completely froze. Unable to move. Just as five long, cold fingers were about to grasp my neck,

Meaw!

Poppy jumped in between. The five lond, cold fingers grasped Poppy.

*Pop!

And that’s the last time I saw Poppy. Everything from my locs to my shoes were coated in a deep dark red. And finally, something clicked. This isn’t my first time. Is it?

…

What time was it? I don’t know. But it was enough for a new twilight. I grew in height as a boy lay motionless on the floor. Time started to turn again. It was fall. Time for a new winter.