Atlantis (4 page)

“
Yesterday I happened to find the answer to a question I didn’t even know I was looking for. It threw me for a loop, that’s all.” My eyes shot to his. “Sorry I acted so strange,” I added.

His eyes penetrated mine. “There’s more...”

I sighed in defeat. “Yes.”

“
Can I hear it?” His honey voice tried to coax my secret out. “Please.”

“
How do I word this...” I thought aloud.

“
You could start with the answer, or the question.” Elliott suggested. His eyes were intense. He was oddly excited to what I was about to say.

I gave in and began, “The question came after the answer, so I’ll start with the answer.” I looked at Elliott. His whole body was paying attention, memorizing my every word. How odd. I couldn’t understand why. It made me a little self conscious. I fidgeted and had to look away in order to put my words together.

“
I have a photographic memory, well semi-photographic. I can’t just glance at something and remember it forever, but if I really look at it, I will. And something set my mind off yesterday,” I looked at him accusingly, “or
on
rather, an esoteric phrase. I can’t pinpoint where it came from, but it woke something within me.”

“
I shut my eyes in order to see?” he whispered.

“
Yes. As you saw, I did what I said. I shut my eyes, and you can’t imagine what I saw. What I realized.” I paused, remembering.

“
Please tell me.” Elliott pleaded.

“
I don’t know if I can put it into words.”

“
Will you try?”

“
Well, my little epiphany was that I think it’s possible to open up our minds; to utilize more than the puny amount we currently use. So, the initial question that I was inadvertently searching for was,
is there more
? And now the current puzzle is
how to do it
?”

“
How to use more of your brain?” Elliott questioned in an understanding tone, a strange smile spread across his face.

I had lost myself in my thoughts. His voice brought me back to the moonlight and the meadow, and Elliott. I appraised his mood, his eyes. Surprisingly, Elliott didn’t look as though he thought I was a nut. I sighed in relief. He hadn’t left running.

“
Your turn,” I challenged.

Now it was his turn to sigh. I could tell that Elliott had hoped I had forgotten our deal. I answer his question, he answers mine.

Elliott gently took my hand in his. Again, he felt electric. An invisible energy flowed through me. I had to shake my head to regain focus.

Elliott hid a laugh behind his smile at my reaction. “This ring,” he said, as his fingers gently caressed the stone, “I gave to you a very long time ago.”

My face, drawn in utter disbelief, stared at Elliott as I let his words penetrate my mind.

“
Talk about brain power,
Miele,” he continued. “That’s why I’m here.” Elliott laughed to himself. He was hiding something.

I noticed an odd maturity in his voice. “How old are you,” I asked, as I again surveyed his appearance. From what I could tell he couldn’t be much older than me. Twenty tops.

“
Nineteen,” he answered, a little too quickly.

“
Then how...” my voice escaped me. Trailing off into the darkness.

“
We knew each other from before,” Elliott said suggestively.

Elliott eyed me. Reevaluating how I was digesting the words he was feeding me. I made myself smile.

“
You didn’t really answer me. Well, at least tell me what you meant by the whole
early
comment.”

Elliott laid back completely, resting on the blanket of flowers. I mirrored him and waited.

I lay there gazing up at the twinkling canvas painted by the gods. The stars were utterly beautiful. The blue, black, white, and red colors of the night sky were a pleasant distraction from Elliott’s silence. I kept waiting. It felt like ten minutes before either of us spoke.

Elliott took my hand in his and squeezed it as he whispered into the night, “I am so happy to be with you again. I have missed you so. I have been searching for you for a while now.” Our faces turned towards each other. His hazel eyes penetrated all the way down to my soul. I felt totally exposed, yet completely protected at the same time.

Elliott looked as if he were about to speak. His secret so close to exposure. Just then he shied away from me. A worried look crossed his face as though he had said too much. Elliott got up and started to walk towards the trees. To walk away.

I frantically hurried to my feet. I ran to catch up to his unnaturally fast pace, but he was already entering the shadows. I reached the cover of the trees not five seconds after him, but I couldn’t see him anywhere. He was gone.

Bewilderment overcame me, and I started to sob. I wasn’t used to the roller coaster ride my emotions were on. A warm, comforting breeze flew through the trees and surrounded me. And I could have sworn I heard a voice in the wind say, “I’ll see you soon.”

Chapter 3. Waking Up

I woke the following morning, in my bed, with a strange feeling. The warm midday sun shone bright through my window. I blinked my eyes, and tried to wake up.

My mind was still trying to pinpoint the difference I felt. The feeling was saturating me completely.
What was it?

It hit me.

I felt rested. Really rested. Energized even. Energy? My mind, quicker than usual, due to sleep, instantly thought of Elliott. And my dream.

It all seemed so surreal. I racked my brain for an answer. What was real? Did any of my memories of the last twenty-four hours actually happen?

I looked down, evaluating my clothes - pajamas. But, I couldn’t remember changing. I sat up, scrunching my periwinkle blue pajama bottoms in my hands. A glittering on my left hand caught my eye.

The ring.

Bewildered, I examined it closer. Yep, it was the one from the dream. The one I remembered. How
could
I forget something so beautiful? The entrapped rainbow of colors mesmerized me. I found myself staring deep into the ocean of sparkling blues, the orchard of amethyst purples, the forest of greens that were accented with apricot orange and mulberry red. How could so many colors occupy one little bean-sized area?

A sudden banging on my door made me jump.

“
Wake up fishy! Wake up!” My little sister Sophie yelled through the door.

“
Ugh,” I rolled my eyes. I guess I am officially awake. “I’m up Soph. Go away!” I yelled back as I got out of bed.

I showered mechanically. My mind wandered to someplace far away. To another world. I could almost make it out, except the steam was clouding my vision.

“
I’m going nuts,” I muttered to myself, shaking my head back to the here and now. I let the warm shower pour over my body completely, as if I were standing beneath a tropical waterfall, before I turned the handle off and stepped onto the cool tile.

For some reason everything seemed different today. Sleep couldn’t have changed so much,
could it?
I dried off and dressed in my usual tank top and jeans. I looked in the bathroom mirror. I hadn’t looked at myself in awhile. Insomnia dulls the senses.

Re-energized by sleep, I decided to actually do my hair. The lid on the jar of hair gel was difficult to
open
since it had sat so long unused. The glue stickiness pulled at my hair as I tangled my pasted fingers through my short locks until it was a perfect array of spikes. Not having done my hair for awhile, I decided to be creative and swept my bangs across my face, accenting my eyes.

I permitted myself one last quick look at my hard work in the steamy mirror as I went to leave. Another face was starring back at me from over my shoulder in the reflection. I was scared stiff. I couldn’t make a sound. All of the color drained from my already pale face. I wasn’t sure what to do. My eyes were glued to the green eyes staring back at me. It was too steamy to make out the face, but there was something very familiar about the eyes.

Adrenaline pulsed through my veins as I decided to turn around and face whomever was behind me. I took a deep breath and turned to face... nothing.

No one was there.

I could have been mistaken for a spinning top for the number of times I rotated around from mirror to wall to mirror again. Searching for some evidence that what I had just witnessed was real. The alternative was that it wasn’t real. That I was crazy. And I didn’t want to come to that conclusion.

Paranoid now, I tiptoed to my room, trying to make as little noise as possible. All I wanted to do was figure out what was happening to me. I had always figured sleep to be a good thing. Why was I having such a hard time distinguishing reality from the mysteries of my imagination? I needed to be alone.

I carefully turned the handle on my door, and backed into my room. A giggle from behind caught me off guard and made me jump. Charlotte was playing with Theory on my bed.

“
What are you doing?” Charlotte said looking up, appraising my stealth mode.

“
I really don’t know anymore,” I shrugged, and closed the door.

Charlottes evaluated my appearance. “Hey Lil, you look cute. What’s the occasion?” she said with an obvious underlying meaning in it. “Going to visit your new neighbor again?” Her eyebrows raised.

I rolled my eyes.

She continued, “you really should introduce me. I want proof that this
Elliott
isn’t a figment of your imagination.”