Fragments of my Imagination

It was the beginning of an amazing Children’s Day. For the first time ever, ice cream trucks decided to gather in one square in Essex and gift children with whatever flavor they wanted.

“Here, one mint with chocolate chips for you,” the vendor smiled kindly at the child in front of him.

The girl took it with bright eager eyes, to her mother’s enjoyment.

“What do you say, Zoe?” the elder woman asked, placing a warm hand over the girl’s back.

Zoe stared for a bit at the ice cream, watching it melt on a corner. The light push from her mother urged her to look up at the vendor and mumble a faint thank you.

As they walked away from the truck and towards a bench for the girl to eat her dessert, Zoe caught glimpse of another child crying. He wasn’t very far thus Zoe could see it was a boy about her age that had a bowl cut hairstyle. He was dressed in a red t-shirt, yellow pants and no shoes, which drew her attention immediately.

“Mummy, why is that boy crying? Did he lose his mum?”

Zoe’s mother frowned before she looked in the direction Zoe pointed.

“Pumpkin, there’s no one there.” The woman told her daughter, bending to her short size, “Maybe he already found his parents and left.”

But Zoe shook her head and kept pointing at the boy.

“He’s there, I can see him. He’s still crying. Maybe his mummy is around. We should tell the cops.” Young Zoe stated firmly, ice cream melting down her fingers as her attention shifted on something else.

Mrs. Lestrade’s frown deepened as she realized they were still close to the ice cream truck and other parents were watching. It was embarrassing more than anything and Mrs. Lestrade hated attention.

“Zoe, look at me. There is no boy crying. Maybe it’s your imaginary friend, dear.” She tried to alter it so that they could at least walk to a place where no one could see or hear them.

Zoe pouted and turned back to the boy but no one was there, just like her mother said. Even if she was three months away from turning six years old, she was sure that the boy was not an imaginary friend. Zoe had already one and it was a white stallion that could talk not another child.

Since the problem got solved, Zoe followed her mother towards the bench and sat down, a bit disappointed. On the other side, her ice cream was dripping down both sides, some of it falling on her shirt.

“Zoe~ you should be careful not to stain your clothes.”

Her mother sighed and searched her purse for a handkerchief. While the woman was busy wiping Zoe’s hands and shirt, muttering how she had to be more careful, Zoe caught a glimpse of the crying boy once again. She jerked slightly when she saw him sitting on the bench next to her, staring ahead with his hands placed on each side as if he wanted to jump off.

Unlike before, it was a bit strange to stare so closely at the boy. But he didn’t seem to mind and even turned his face to her, shocking her with his white eyes. It happened incredibly fast but the boy cried out so loudly that Zoe threw the ice cream cone at him, watching as it went right through his form and fell on the ground.

“Zoe…” Her mother was startled by the sudden action and glanced around, afraid that someone else saw it too.

Zoe’s ears were ringing with that awful noise, closing her eyes tightly and covering her ears in the hope it will stop or decrease but it didn’t. It amplified to the point she cried out in pain and felt her eyes sting.

“Zoe! Zoe, what's wrong?!”

Zoe could hear her mother yell and felt her mother’s hands around her small back but that was not all. She could hear more than that, voices that did not sound friendly or clear. When Zoe opened her eyes, he saw everything as it was before but somehow it didn’t feel like before.

“Is it going to rain?” she asked innocently, turning to her mother with teary eyes.

“No. Dear, are you alright? Should we go to a hospital? Zoe-“

No, it was not going to rain. The sun was not as bright as she remembered and the sky was not blue anymore; it was a constant grey sight and the ground was covered in a thin layer of mist. One woman turned to Zoe, her long black hair swinging over her shoulder, and she literally zoomed towards the child.

“You can see me,” the woman whispered in astonishment, “You can see all of us,” she added seeing how Zoe’s eyes flickered to other men and women that looked as colourless as the woman in front of her.

“Happy birthday, Zoe!”

On her tenth birthday, Zoe’s house was filled with her friends, family and strangers. Everyone was singing for her, everyone was having a good time, everyone was happy except the birthday girl.

“Little girl, you’re going to help me aren’t you?”

“I really need to find my son. Can you ask your parents to look for him?”

“Can you cut me some cake too?”

Zoe could not even focus on the people that were invited to her party because the ones uninvited were distracting. There was so much noise and so many voices talking at once, most of them asking for favors as if Zoe had nothing else to do.

“I want you to leave me alone,” she mumbled, knowing they could hear her, “Please, leave me alone,” she added, her blue eyes tearing up at the amount of pressure thrown at her.

“Zoe? Zoe, are you feeling alright?”

Her mother’s concern was like the peak of an iceberg and Zoe did not need it at the moment. She was cornered by dead entities and living human beings and they were suffocating her with questions and these worried looks that she really hated. She was ten years old now and could take care of herself up to some point. The room seemed to shrink around her, the air thickened and her heartbeats quickened; she was having a panic attack.

It was horrible and for the first time in her life, Zoe felt like she was going to die. It was intense and overwhelming and she stumbled on her feet, feeling like she was going to fall.

Dunno if you guys know, but this is a story that I am personally very proud of. That’s why I want to share it with the Tumblr community :)

Traveling was never easy, especially on a boat and especially if you were sea sick. The wood smelled like fish and so did the people on it. It was also tiring from a mental point of view because there was nothing to do except read and watch the passing scenery (which was always the same). Taking a peek over the board, the waves were mesmerizing and making her head dizzy.

“Are you going to vomit again?” Another passenger asked as he approached the sick woman.

“I hate boats,” she answered grumpily. “I just want to dock somewhere and have a long nap.”

“Too bad, we are still weeks away from our stop.” He added with pity. She looked like she was about to melt into the ship with the way she was standing all spread out as if she was ready to jump. “Why don’t you learn the language? We’ll need a translator if we want to do good business.”

She glanced at him and then at the scrolls he held. They didn’t seem to be heavy or thick so she agreed. Unfortunately, after genuinely taking a closer look at this new language, she started to doubt herself.

“How’s it going?” The same man approached her a few days later.

“Why do they use signs? Where are the letters? I haven’t used signs since the fall of the last pharaoh,” she moaned as she fell on her back. “This is hard...what is this?”

“Hangul. Come on, I’m sure you can get it. You’re a scholar, aren’t you? Merchants like us need someone smart like you.” He tried to use sweet praises knowing that she enjoyed them.

“Whatever,”

And yet she never gave up. Having known so many languages already, she wasn’t sure she will translate correctly but at least it was better than concentrating on her stomach.

Days and nights she spent learning the little information they had on this new land. She also took out her own journal and wrote down her personal thoughts. This land that they sailed to was in the east. She had been all over the west so she was very curious how the eastern populations lived, what they ate, how they spoke and what type of faith they had. It wasn’t that she was a religious person, because if anything she was just a folk tale. What she did in her life was nobody’s business and everything she promised, she delivered. So now that she had a bit of freedom, she wanted to explore the world.

A month later and she was pretty sure she could speak hangul to a native. When their ship docked, she was given traditional clothing and the men were given some type of hats.

“You look funny, Johan,” she commented from the side as the young merchant glared at her.

“Well, at least it’s good for when it rains.” He mumbled as he tried to put it on properly. “Father, why do we have to do this? We are here in order to show them our culture.”

Johan’s father was an educated man, especially after traveling everywhere in order to do his job. He was a wise man and he was the one to agree to have a stranger come with them.

“For them to understand us, first we have to show that we respect their culture. We are on their land now.” He answered with a smile. His bushy eyebrows and thick moustache made him look like a warm old man but he could be ruthless during trades.

“Are they even going to allow us to meet the king?” Another merchant asked, his age closer to Johan’s father.

“If people will like our trades, they will. I already sent a letter to the king and he will hopefully answer positively. But until then we have to show off our products.”

“Papa Kurm, always one step ahead.”

While they were walking off the ship and onto the land, they could see the difference in culture right away. It was so obvious in everything that it made them feel half giddy and half scared.

“Women here don’t dress like they do at home,” Johan whispered to his father.

“Whatever clothes they wear, they still have to use fabric to make them.” His father replied instead. He glanced at the scholar whose eyes were glistening with curiosity and he slowed down so that he could walk next to her. “Fei, you’re not going to cause trouble right?”

Fei glanced at the old man and for a moment she saw regret in his eyes. It was just for a moment but it was risky to have a total stranger come along during a business trip.

“I’m not.”

The old man watched her for a bit longer before he smiled, realizing that even if something did happen it couldn’t endanger them.

"This hotel has everything for everyone; not many children come because it's seen as a place to escape the tumultuous family or business life. Overall, it is a place to escape reality." Evan added a few minutes later before gulping down his second cup of coffee. "Women and men come here for affairs sometimes. Granted to the location on a hill, it doesn't draw attention. The domain is large and most of the time people pass without seeing it."