The Wedding That Started it All

My brother, Alexander, and I sat in the woods huddling close together for warmth. We watched the sun rise with all its colorful glory in silence, knowing that we might not see each other for a long time afterwards.

Alex and I knew that the time was drawing nearer, and he would have to go soon, but still we sat, hugging each other not wanting to let go. I could tell he was stressed, by the tension and tightness in which he was moving.

“What’s wrong, Elsie?” He looked at me with concerned eyes. That was his nickname for me.

“Nothing”, I said, because that was my automatic answer. “Well, there is one thing…”

“You can tell me, you’re my sister!”

“Okay, fine. You know how I’m 17, and you’re 21?”

“Yeah, why?”

“Well, since you’re getting married today, I won’t see you anymore.” I tried to wipe the tears off my face.

“I’ll come visit, don’t you worry sis.”

“Promise me you’ll visit at least every month!”

“Of course! In fact, I’ll try to come every week!” His optimistic smile beamed at me, and I couldn’t do anything but return it.

___________________________________________

As our family arrived at the chapel, I looked around at everything, trying to take it all in just in case something happens. On my second glance around the room, I saw a stray dog munching on a piece of bread. When I looked closer, it seemed to be a mix between a German Wire-Hair Pointer and a Black lab. I turned towards it, wanting to reach out an stroke its scruffy head, when my mom called out to me.

“Elsie! Now is not the time for refreshments!”

I realized that I had strayed far from the group, and would lose my seat if I didn’t hurry back. Once I was seated, I searched for the dog again, but it was nowhere to be seen. It must’ve been a trick of the light or something. But before I could keep looking, the procession started. As my brother and his wife, Adelta, walked down the aisle, I felt a prickling at the small of my back. I ignored it, and tried to focus on my brother, and was it my imagination, or did one of the flower petals just catch fire? I squinted, and it was gone, the petal half burnt, and no one else noticed. The tingling had also disappeared, and I wondered, what was going on?

That was when I saw the dog again. It was licking someone’s plate, and they didn’t even notice that it had eaten all of the food on the plate. I considered telling them, but I didn’t think it would’ve changed anything. Then the dog shrunk into a bug and flew away.

I blinked. Did that really just happen? I wondered. I must be hallucinating. It was probably the stress of the wedding and my brother. I tried to ignore the confusion and feel happy for Alexander. This was a wedding, after all.

After the “I do” speeches, everyone watched my brother and Adelta shove cake into each other’s mouths. They also poured champagne, and even I was allowed to have some. Then came the part where EVERYONE got cake, and the little children who were running around started chanting, “Cake! Cake! Cake! Don’t forget my ice cream!”

Everyone was cheerful and talkative as everyone stood in groups and talked about the newly-wed couple, as my brother proudly (and handsomely) walked around with Adelta on his arm. They definitely went together like birds of a feather. They knew each other’s limits and boundaries, and I would say they were soulmates by definition.

While I was thinking this over, the tingling sensation returned to haunt me. My knees wobbled as I stumbled to the restrooms.

“What’s wrong, Elsie?” My brother caught me before I fell a fourth time.

“I think the champagne is messing with me,” I joked.

“No, really, what’s wrong?”

“I’m just not feeling well right now, ok? Just give me a sec.”

Just then, water started leaking out of the bathroom door at an alarming rate. Everyone started running either outside or to get paper towels. I was the only one not doing anything. I was afraid of water, and it was up to my ankles now, swirling faster and faster. Soon, it was up to my knees, and it seemed to be flowing as fast as my heartbeat. Then someone started dragging me towards the door, where everyone had lugged the tables, food, and beverages. I looked back inside, and I thought I saw a koi fish, but not before the water receded.

All I needed right then was a nap, because things just went downhill from there.

After everyone had gone home to change into dry clothes, they met up at our house, and we partied there. I was trying to mingle and talk to a lot of people, but I felt exhausted. I eventually excused myself and went to sit on the front porch. I was dozing off when I heard a rustling in the bushes. A teenager about my age popped her head up and looked at me.

“Hi! My name is Oluwashindara. Call me Ollie for short though. I’ve been waiting to meet you for a week now, but I had to wait for the perfect time…” She kept on ranting about how certain days of the week weren’t the right time.

“What do you want? We have lemonade, champagne, and snacks if you want. Are you part of Adelta’s family?” I asked, curious.

She stared at me blankly. “Who’s Adella?”

“Her name is Adelta, and she’s my new half-sister. But if you’re not part of the family, why are you here?”

“For you, of course!” She rolled her eyes as she spoke.

I was really confused because there was nothing special about me. I got average grades in school, wasn’t a popular kid, and stuck with my own small friend group. There was no reason anyone would want me specifically, and I didn’t want that to change.

“Aren’t you coming?” Shouted Ollie. She was already halfway across the street. She was heading towards the one house in our neighborhood that no one bothered to live in, or even acknowledge. It was practically abandoned.

I followed her with only a quick glance over my shoulder, and once I was inside, I sneezed. I could tell that there had been a lot of different animals living in here, with the hairs on the floor. Some were cats, others dog, and some, even sheep.

As I looked around, Ollie studied me.

“I see that I have a lot of work to do.”

She led me into one of the closed off rooms. There was only a torch lit on the wall to illuminate the room, but the water buckets that were sitting around reflected the light, and lit every corner. She proceeded to draw a circle on the floor with chalk and told me to sit on it. I hesitated for a few moments.

“Don’t you want to learn about what happened today?”

So someone had noticed the strange occurrences that took place that day. I sat down and got ready, wondering what was coming.

“Take a few deep breaths and calm yourself. Then we will proceed.”

I breathed slowly. In, out, in, out. Steady. Then I felt the tingle coming back again, this time double the feeling of what it was before. I started to panic. I looked over at Ollie, but she wasn’t there, there was only a cat, licking its paw. Then the water from the buckets started overflowing. It snaked towards me, more and more. I tried to get up, but I was paralyzed from fear of what might happen. Then I passed out.

____________________________________________________

I woke to Ollie reclining on a rickety wooden chair, and I rubbed my head, trying to subdue the oncoming headache. Then I looked down at my feet, which at first, I had thought were warming by the fireplace, but they were actually in the flames. I pulled my feet out quickly and scooted away, checking to make sure that they were still there. All my toes were accounted for, and they weren’t even blackened. There were only soot marks from the coals.

I looked at Ollie for an explanation, but instead I found the dog from earlier laying its head on the chair. I started calling for Ollie, but stopped when the dog gave an almost human sigh that sounded slightly annoyed. Then, before my eyes, its hair receded, and its form morphed into the shape of Ollie.

“I know, impressive, right?” She gave me a sarcastic, witty smile.

“What-” My voice cut off, with me not knowing what to say. Too many things had happened today.

“Can I go home now?” I asked, needing a sense of familiarity.

“No, it would be dangerous for your family. It would also not be good for their sanity just yet.”

I looked out a nearby boarded-up window, and I saw my brother’s car pull out of the driveway. It had all of his suitcases on it, and Adelta was there too.

“He was supposed to leave two days after the wedding, not the day of….” I mused.

“It has been two days, you realize that? Either way, your family thinks that you are on a camping trip for a few weeks with your friends, so don’t worry, you’re covered.”

I stared at her in shock. She was going to keep me for weeks? My brother was sure to come back before that. Ollie must be kidding. I looked over at her, and she looked more serious than she had since I met her. I looked up at the ceiling. Why me?

I spent the next 2 weeks at the abandoned house with Ollie. She showed me that she could shape-shift into anything, and told me that she was at the wedding.

This was the schedule of each day:

1. Wake up at 5:30
2. Eat breakfast
3. Lessons
4. Lunch
5. More lessons
6. Go to bed at 7:45

The lessons were the most interesting part of everyday. They weren’t actually classes, more like training sessions. The first day of the schedule, I learned what they were.

Ollie led me into the room that I had passed out in on the first day. The water was cleaned up, and the torch was relit and hung closer to the floor. I had to focus, like before, but when the water flooded-again, Ollie told me to think about what I wanted the water to do. All I was thinking was that I didn’t want to be touched by the water. I closed my eyes and mentally chanted, don’t touch me, don’t touch me please. I repeated this over and over, and after a few minutes I cracked one of my eyes open, and the water was swirling in a loop around me, but none of it touched me.

“Now try putting it back into the buckets. I don’t want to clean it up again.”

I concentrated on the water again, and I willed it to move into the big empty bin in the middle of the room. When I opened my eyes again, I was panting from fear and exhaustion, and Ollie looked slightly impressed.

“Now focus on the torch. Like you saw with your feet, it won’t hurt you. Try to bring it over to you.”

I concentrated, and held out my hands. When it didn’t come, I squinted until I got a headache, and it took all of my willpower to bring the fire to my hands. Once it touched my hands, it seemed to settle comfortably , then vanished.

“Pretty good for your first day. You got farther than most people who try.” That startled me out of my trance.

I looked up, and Ollie was drinking water from a cup.

“Lunch time!” Ollie then left the room to go make sandwiches, what we always had for lunch.

After lunch, we had another lesson, and so on and so forth. We repeated this process for two weeks, when one morning, I woke up at 6 to find Ollie sitting on her cot with her head in her hands. I could tell something was wrong.

I walked into the room and sat next to her. She looked up, and said, “He’s gone.”

I knew who she was talking about. My brother was dead.

“How?”

“An accident. Their car fell off the bridge last night, and they fell into the river. His wife got out, but your brother drowned before she could get to him.”

I could see tears in Ollie’s eyes. She knew how much Alex meant to me. I hugged her, and we started crying.

After an hour, I got up and made brunch for us, even though we were both too sad to have an appetite. We sat in silence for a while and eventually got dressed for his funeral. As we headed for the church near my house, Ollie spoke for the first time that day.

“I am going to let you go home now. Your control is almost perfect, and you need some family time.”

I was grateful, and I couldn’t wait to see my family again, and tell them what happened.

“Just don’t tell your parents what happened. Make something up. Tell them you made a new friend or something. You can come visit me whenever, too.”

“I will.”

We held hands as we walked into the church, and during the funeral, I knew that I would not be lonely as long as I had Ollie.

Afterwards, I told my parents that I was going to the lake, and I wouldn’t be back until tomorrow. They looked a little confused, but they let me go.

I sat at the lake, and practiced like Ollie had told me to. I even learned that I could walk on the water and launch myself if I moved it right. Now the fire, Ollie told me to save for at her house.

After I got tired, I sat on the dock with my toes in the water, and watched the moon rise and felt peace within myself, knowing that no matter what, I would never be lonely again.

“Elsie, is that you?” Shouted a familiar voice.

“Coming Ollie!” I smiled up at the moon, then ran to shore to greet my friend.