Walking back to the house, I couldn’t shake the deep feeling of sadness from leaving the amazing garden.

As I opened the door to the basement living area, another gush of wind pushed the wooden door shut, and the sadness inside me vanished. The feeling was disorienting.

It came and went like nothing, but it made me wonder why it happened, but I soon felt as if I was being watched in a way. The feeling stayed there, even when I was in my bedroom that overlooked the front yard. I still had the distinct feeling that there was some one in the trees watching me as I unpacked.

“Hun, I made you a sandwich!” my mother called as she knocked on my opened door. It startled me as I dropped the pile of clothing that I was about to put away. Placing down the tray with my lunch, my mother happily picked up my clothes and stowed them away for me. 

“Thanks mom…” I thanked her as I took my seat at my desk to dig into to small meal that she made for me. 

“How do you like the garden?” She asked, reminding me of the wondering eyes outside that continues to observe, “Your father thought that it would help you through the sudden move.”

I took a bite of the sandwich and downed it with the water that she brought up.

Once I was sure my food was down I responded, happily, “This sandwich could have been the thing that would have helped!”
My mother’s sweet laugh filled the room and hallway. Her laugh has always made my day even better. She brought the warmth out of anyone that was cold to the heart, which I admire her for it. She sat on my bed, tracing the embroidery of my discomfiture as I continued to eat. 

“Your father and I wanted you to know that the move was more for your own good,” she announced, “We want you to be happy as you start over.” She paused unsure of her own words but once she found them she continued, “I know you’ll make it through this with more friends than the last. You’ve always had–“

“Mom… You know that I respect the decision that you and dad make. It’s not my first rodeo!” I told her with a grin on my face, “I’ll be fine.”
My mother stood up and gave me a long kiss on my forehead. She took the remains of my lunch, heading out of my room. Before she was in the hallway I called out to her, “I love the garden by the way!” She didn’t respond, but I didn’t expect one either way, and began to finish unpacking.

Dinner was served later than usual, but my father and I didn’t mind as we were busy decorating parts of the room of our bedrooms and his office. We talked about the school that I would be entering on Monday.
Senior years was about to start, which excited me, but the sudden move on the last days of summer, made me unsure of the final year as a high school student.

To distract me from all of my worries, we had a conversation of my findings in the garden, which they were, surprised to know about it. My father also enlightened us on the ideas that he has thought about his next series, which was the cause of the move in the first place.

We stayed at the table until everyone finished their meal and moved the conversation to the Kitchen where we washed the dishes together. It was a usual routine that my family did even when he had people over.

Once the dishes are done and there is nothing to talk about, we would go our separate ways. My father to his office, my mother to the bedroom or living room, and I would head to my bedroom.

Once in my room, I would go online to catch up with friends, read, or watch the television, but something was wrong in my room. The window by my bed was open wide that caused some of my old homework, that I piled up on my desk, to fly to the floor.

I quickly made my way to the window to stop the disaster, that was on my room floor, to become even worse. Locking the window up, I turned around to see a single yellow sheet of paper folded up neatly on top of the scattered paper.

Picking everything, along with the folded paper, I placed them on top of my desk again. Returning to my bed so I can lay on it, forgetting about the note all together.

After a heavy sigh, I began to hear my name being called from the direction of my desk. Looking over there, I remembered the yellow folded paper. Reaching over to the desk and took the note. I turned it, here and there, to examine it. One side had a simple leaf symbol on the face, and on the other was the opening of the folded paper.
I carefully opened it, cautious of it ripping. Successfully, I had it opened to reveal a note. The note held a well written note that read, Hello Reina. We haven’t met yet, but my name is Oracle. I have been waiting for your arrival. Your journey is about to begin. I hope you’re ready.

Reading it over again, a bad feeling in the pit of my stomach began to form. It was a creepy note in itself, but then again it could have been an old note that a friend gave me as joke before I left. Dismissing the note in total, the feeling of being watched return, making my blood run cold.

Whoever did this, isn’t someone I want to meet. I quickly close my curtain, trying to shake off the feeling, but nothing changed.

The next morning, I decided to go back into the garden before breakfast. I was relieved to know that the feeling from yesterday was gone now. Even when I entered the garden. Nothing. No welcoming feeling or no eyes that seemed to follow me even though closed off rooms.

As I headed toward the fountain, I found yesterday’s colorful flowers on the arch were gone, leaving only green vines. As I observed the unfamiliar arch, I noticed the spot where the fountain was supposed to be, was different. The dragon was nowhere to be seen. It was replaced by a regular looking fountain.
I ran up to it to see that the dragon wasn’t the only thing that was missing. The other statues were gone as well. “What the hell?” I called out. I grow frantic as I ran through the left entrance to the hedge maze. I followed the markers that were placed for people that get lost, but when I exited the maze on the right side, I was in front of the fountain again. “What is going on, here?” I whispered. I sat on the fountain, contemplating on the possibility that my father had them removed when I was unpacking in my room.
I was suddenly brought back to reality when I hear my mother calling for me, and made my way back to the house. Once I made it to the door, a gust of wind like yesterday hit me, pushing me back toward the arch way, again. Once I was under the arch, the wind stopped. Something bright hit my eyes, causing me to squint. It seemed to be coming from behind the fountain.

I slowly made my way up to the center and there it was, a mirror just sitting there. As I came closer to it, I noticed my reflection was different from what I saw back in the mirror in my bathroom.
From what I could recall, I had my deep red hair combed down, my tank top showed my favorite band, and my eyes were their usual dark green shade. Now, looking into this mirror, my straight red hair was now wavy and brighter; my eyes were lighter and almost the color of freshly cut grass, but the tank top was the thing that was missing.

Instead of my tank top, I was wearing what I would presume would be a dress, but the mirror only showed my torso, up. I looked down to double check that I was still wearing my tank top, and there it was. Something was wrong, but I didn’t know what it was that was making this whole thing twisted in my head.
My mother called out again, and I didn’t hesitate to leave. The mirror is damaged because it wasn’t showing the right image. Maybe it was just my imagination… I saw my reflection move with me as I examined myself. That has to show that I’m not going crazy!

I came out of the garden to see my mother on the balcony waving me to hurry up. I waved back to signal that I’m on my way. I successfully closed the door, ignoring the wind that was protesting my actions.
In the kitchen, my mother and father were sitting in the breakfast nook that overlooks the backyard. I made sure to sit one end of the table to have access to a view of the mysterious garden door. My father was reading his novel as he picked at his half eaten eggs. My mother brought me my plate and kissed my forehead. I began to eat as my mother sat next to my father as they picked up a conversation.
“I don’t get this guy…” announced my father as he closed his book.
“Well don’t read the book,” my mother retorted.
“So what’s it about, dad?” I asked him.
My father finally took a fork full of his breakfast and answered me, “It’s about this author’s adventure in his writing process…”
“Sound like your kind of reading material…” I told him as we continued to eat.
The rest of the time my father ranted on about the book and how the author is just a narcissistic person for his way of showing off. My mother and I let him vent as he usually would let us vent. It was a fair trade as he didn’t care if any of us didn’t pay attention to him in the end. I think my mother told me that it’s a good psychological method of getting your feelings out without anyone to judge you about it.
As we went to clean our plates, I remember the garden and the missing statues so I brought up the topic. “Mom, Dad? Did you guys remove the statues from the garden?”
“What statues?” my mother asked, “There wasn’t any statues when I watered the garden this morning?”
“What about the mirror that’s in the garden?”I asked again.
“Mirror?” my mother answered.
“You mean you didn’t see them?” I exclaimed.
Both my parents shook their head as they finished up the dishes. They apologized and headed out of the kitchen to do their work. My father most likely would be in his office, writing. My mother would be finishing up reports on her clients from back home so she can send them off to their new therapist. I was left in the kitchen, watching the black door. I wanted to see if it would open by itself, but that would have been too much to ask. Something inside of me wanted to lock the garden, but then something wanted me to go back inside.

After changing out of my pajamas, I found myself in front of the large black wooden door. I just stood there, debating if I should open the door or not. I caved, and opened the door. There was no gust of wind that helped, or was it there to push me around. It was still. Quiet. I entered the garden, closing the door behind me. Still, it was silent. I made my way to where the mirror was last, just to make sure I wasn’t fooling myself.
I hesitated when I was under the arch way. The sunlight was hitting the mirror. I wasn’t crazy. As I came closer, I didn’t find myself in the reflection. Instead a young man was staring back at me. We locked eyes, but the guy was to quick that he vanished before my eyes. I came up to the mirror, as I see him run away in the vast forest. I touched to the mirror to examine it closer, but the only thing I got out of it was a blinding white light that blinded me.
The sound of my body hitting water, filled the air. For a moment, I thought I fell into the fountain, but once I regained my vision, I was in a large body of water. I stood up, as my clothes rejected the water that had invaded it. Once on my feet, the water reached up to my mid thigh.

I pushed myself out of the water to the tree line. Looking back, I could see that I fell into a shallow lake. A river went through it, allowing the water to be heard peacefully. I took a huge breath of the nature that surrounded me. Where am I? Wherever I am, it sure is pretty…

As I continued to look around for any signs of where I was, I noticed the light fading away. I hadn’t noticed that the sky was a beautiful orange color. The sun was setting. Wait, it was just morning a few moments ago… I try to look at my wrist watch, but the watch was destroyed in the water. I let my arm drop back down and let out a frustrated sigh.

I looked into the forest for a clear opening out, but as the sun set, it became harder to see inside the darkening forest. I entered the forest taking the chances to find civilization if I just went straight through it. I ducked under low branches. Hopped over fallen trees. Tripped here and there, but I still ended up back where I started.

I huffed, giving up on my search. The sun was long gone, leaving me in the dark. I had no other choice but to take a seat by the trees. I hugged my knees as I took in the darkened surroundings.

Dark figures filled my vision, but a faint light lit up over the lake. I looked at it as it hovered in place. I stood up quickly not wanting it to fly away if it was a firefly. Once I was on my feet the light made its way towards me.

I thought it was going to stop in front of me, but it fly right by me and into the dark forest. When I turned to see where it went off to, I noticed other little lights come to life. They danced in the forest as I looked in awe. The dark forest lit up to the point I could see inside of it.

In the lit forest, I found moss on some trees and large leafs on the floor. I never likes the camping trips I went on with my father. He would make us sleep out in the cold. Not one of my fond memories. So after long researches, I found ways to keep warm and sleep comfortable.

Thanks to the lights and took moss and leafs out of the forest and set up my bed for the night by the water. As I laid in my makeshift bed, the lights began to fade as I drifted to sleep.