Genre: Fantasy
December 2012

Previous part is on Klexos, entitled Flash Fiction: Nella Neva

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The weather got colder on the last day of December. The dim sunlight did not make it any warmer. Yet, it did not block Neva's way. She had big plan for today. She planned to turn things the way they were before. She would bring back the sweetness and warmth in her family that she missed badly. She would start by returning old habits. Therefore, on this cold afternoon, she went to the groceries store. She bought eggs, flour, sugar, milk, butter, and everything else needed to make cake. Today was her seventeenth birthday and she would make her own birthday cake for the whole family. She had never made one before, but first trial was worth a try.

Neva went home anxiously. She imagined how her parents and sisters will react... What expression would be stamped on their faces? Hopefully the surprised one, in a good way of course, she added.

As soon as Neva arrived home, she went to the kitchen without taking her shoes off and put the groceries on kitchen's table. She prepared the ingredients and tools. Everybody was at home now. No one had congratulated her until this very second, but they eventually would as soon as the cake was ready, thought Neva. After that, they would be eating the cake with joy. That was why she wanted to serve it as fast as she could. If only she could cook roasted chicken too; it would have been better... Neva stared at the wall behind her to check time. The shorter pointer of the clock in the kitchen's wall pointed at three. She got to be quick!

Neva looked at the recipe paper and read it seriously. Neva was almost pouring the flour into the bowl when she heard some steps outside the room. They were coming from stairs right to the living room, which was located next to the kitchen. Neva went to living room and saw her mother standing there. She wore thick outerwear, coat, and boots; ready to go.

"Where are you going?" asked Neva.

"Oh, you shocked me!" said her mother. "My office is holding new year's party."

"So you're not going to stay?"

"I'll be home tomorrow morning. I already put dinner in the fridge. You can heat it when you want to eat."

Just as her mother said those words, Autumn --Neva's younger sister-- rushed from the coat room upstairs down into the living room. Same as her mother, she wore thick outfit.

She said, "I'm going to meet my friends up downtown."

"You are going too?" replied Neva.

"Yeah. It's new year's eve, anyway. Who the hell is not celebrating?"

Neva asked again, "Where's Summer?"

"She already left some minutes ago. Okay, I have to go now," her mom said.

"Wait, don't tell me everybody's going."

"Your dad is home. He's watching TV."

Neva heard his father's voice from his room. He was yelling by himself. Neva bet he was watching TV while drinking beer now. And it did not make the situation any better.

"Please don't go," Neva finally begged.

"Gosh! I have my own life. Just because you don't have friend, it doesn't mean you can get me involved." Autumn was wearing her boots...

Her mother sighed, "Stop being childish, Neva. I'm tired of it and I really need to go." She was walking to the door...

It was too much. All was too much for Neva. All the frustration, anger, misery, and desperation. She could not take them anymore...

"ENOUGH!" Neva screamed. Her mother and Autumn stared at her. Without considering to look them back in the eyes, she ran before her mother and sister, banged the door and slammed it, then ran away.

Neva ran and ran without direction. Wherever was okay. Wherever was good except her house. No, maybe it was not her house anymore. There was no more good left for her in that place anyway.

Suddenly, those voices came again uninvited. Was she only dreaming all this time? How could they appear again? No matter how many times she tried to bury them, they still had not gone completely. They were scary because they were real. They really happened. They were actually said, whether weeks, months, or years ago...

"Freak..."

"You think he will like you? Pfft, don't make us laugh."

"...weirdo."

"...don't go near her..."

Those ones... the girls in her school...

It's Nick's now...

"Sorry, I don't feel the same towards you..."

...her sisters...

"...I don't care at all, just do your own business..."

"Can't you grow up, silly?"

Her dad...

"Where's my beer? Where are you hiding it?!"

....next is her mom...

"Shut up! Don't you understand? I've had enough! You're just a pain, a burden!"

Neva's head turned dizzy. She held her head strongly as if it could fall anytime. The voices kept repeating like a broken tape recorder. Neva ran faster. She ran, ran, and ran from the streets to the park. She ran through the leafless trees and snow-capped pavements before she finally stopped. The voices had gone. Yes, they were gone in flash. Neva was relieved. She began to walk slowly.

She had to forget everything. She could not let those voices control her again...

Neva looked up at the pale blue sky above her. Trying to gain more conciousness, she took breath deeply and exhaled it more deeply. What a fresh cold winter breeze. She realized now that she did not wear her coat. She only wore loose shirt, cardigan, and jeans. But she did not want to go back home. Neva tried to ignore the coldness. She warmed her cold hands by fiddling them and put them close to her mouth.

Still looking at the sky, Neva recalled her last conversation with Timmy --the kid she often played with at the orphanage. Wonderland... if only such a world exists... please take me away from here...

The snow fell again from the sky. They fell softly and gently; like whispering a friendly hello. They made Neva feel calmer before she suddenly heard a voice.

"Ugh. I hate snow flurries."

Neva looked around her. Nothing was there. Where did the voice come from?

"I should have worn my wool scarf."

It came from somewhere below her. Neva searched her surrounding. She was shocked to see a rabbit standing behind a tree next to her. With clothes! The rabbit, which wore a white shirt, brown jacket, and black pants, snuggled. His fur was white. The size of that rabbit was bigger –perhaps as big as a golden retriever-- than normal and he was grumbling.

"Just because I look like a character in human's fairy tale, he put me in such a duty." He grumbled more loudly. "What a shame... Ah, my lady! There you are. As we were expecting."

Neva jumped up in shock.

"I... I guessed you've heard what I was talking. Forgive me for my rudeness." The rabbit bowed deeply.

Neva was silent still. She could not believe of what she was looking at. A talking rabbit? And he was talking to her?! Was she still hallucinating? However, if this was an illusion, he seemed too real!

"No need to be afraid, my lady, and you're not dreaming. I'm real," told the rabbit as if he could read Neva's mind.

"Who...who are you?" Neva tried to overcome her shock. She came closer to the rabbit. She knelt and touched the rabbit carefully. He was real! Neva could feel his shaggy fur beneath her hand.

"Just a humble messenger called Hober," he anwered and bowed once again. "Please follow me, my lady, Miss Neva Irena Foster. The time has came."

"How do you know my name? And what do you mean by 'the time'?" Neva lost in confusion. Hober shook his head.

"Not my part to explain. This way, my lady. Let's go!"

Hober hopped away to the further and deeper part of the park. Neva's body automatially followed him. Her instinct told her that she should go with the rabbit. She had no hesitancy although she had just met this talking rabbit some minutes ago. More importantly, she was extremely curious. She had dreamt of having adventures --a getaway-- her whole life and perhaps this was her chance. She would not let this one go.

Meanwhile, she asked herself while running behind the rabbit. Who is he? Why can he talk? What did he mean by 'as we were expecting'?  This was exactly like Alice in Wonderland, she thought. But what would she face by following the rabbit? Could it be a wonderland? Whatever it was, Neva thought it might be fine. Anywhere except here was okay, was not it?

The end of the park was bordered by hedgerow. Behind it, there was a forest which bounded this town to another town. There was a small hole on the bottom part of the hedgerow. Hober sneaked in the hole easily. Neva stopped for a while.

"Come on in," told Hober.

Am I doing right? She asked herself. For unclear reason, Neva had strong feeling that once she slipped into that hole, she could not turn back. Nevertheless, eagered by the will to find her own hope, she stepped forward and sneaked in the hole.

After sliding through the hole carefully, Neva got up and saw the view of the forest in front of her. It was a large sleazy forest with boring gloomy trees. Hober already hopped pretty far from Neva. She immediately ran to catch up. However, Hober seemed to have increased his speed. He hopped fast and easily among the trees. Neva found difficulty in following him though she still could see his back.

"Hober, wait!" Neva shouted.

Hober was still jumping fast into the inner side of the forest. Neva focused her attention to his back in order not to get lost. It began to be foggy there. When she saw --just few steps ahead from her-- the thick fog, she lost the rabbit. Hober jumped into the fog and gone. Neva stopped. There was no Hober's trace on the snowy ground.

Neva called him, "Where are you, Hober?"

There was no answer. Slowly, Neva walked through the fog. She could see nothing but the thick fog for a moment. She continued walking until she finally could see the view clearly.

Is it the end? Neva whispered in silence.

A voice from somewhere inside her mind replied, and it knew best.

No, it is only the beginning.

***

In a blink of eyes, Neva was amazingly surprised. She was standing in a land. There was no snow-capped ground beneath her. Instead there was fresh green grass all over the place. The leafless tress was gone; replaced by the dense trees with light red petals on most part of them. The petals were falling. Strangely, this place felt so familiar to her. Neva looked back. The fog was already gone, but she did not find the view of the forest behind her. The pink trees and the grassy ground now surrounded her. Neva searched for something in a rush. Had been running for a while, she finally found it. One big tree shaped like an old man.

Neva was trembling. She knew her intuition was right. It was the same land as one in her dream! In a flash, Neva felt joy blasting from herself. The longing took control of her. She whipped in circle, sometimes did little pirouette, to ensure the whole scenery. She caught the falling petals by her hands. They were soft and very beautiful. For a long time, she had never felt this kind of excitement. Her long lost dream now appeared and swallowed her. Thanks to the rabbit!

The rabbit! Neva was completely distracted and forgot him before. Since she went across the fog, there was no sign of Hober.

Neva called, "Hober! Where are you?"

There was no response. Perhaps he was hiding behind one of these trees, Neva thought. Neva looked for Hober tree by tree. In the middle of the seeking, a gentle voice called over her.

"Long time no see, Neva."

Neva turned her head to where the voice came from. There, standing between two pink flowered trees across her, a man wearing black suite looked back at Neva. Suddenly she felt like her body was frozen. Though several years had passed, Neva still remembered that dark-haired man precisely.

It was him: the man on Neva's winter dream. He came again to meet Neva. Only this time, it was for real.