C10 My little fox

Mia could now go in and out of the barrier with ease. Nothing bad or strange had happened yet, so she had decided to explore the area a little further. Her appetite too seemed to have increased exceptionally. She was feeling hungry most of the time and everytime she had to look for a specific type of fruit that she dreamt of.

"Is it you who keeps showing me these strange fruits? Or is my imagination running wild" She was talking with her baby bump yet again.

What was stranger was she did found those weird fruits as she strolled around the ridge and the adjacent valley. And every time she would think " I sure am lucky. I would die of starvation if I hadn't found it" . She would then gobble away with pleasure as if no one was watching. But everytime she ate those fruits, a pair of tiny eyes did spy on her from afar. Yet she was completely unaware of that.

That day too as she strolled further away from her safe spot inside the barrier, she felt a sense of joy. It felt like freedom. Though she knew that it was for her own good that the barrier was there, the loneliness was eating her away from inside.

"We will take a little detour today after we find our fruit. Alright? " She was again talking with her baby bump.

She looked around as she walked. Suddenly her feet fell on something very slippery and she went down with a thud and slid for what seemed like a few miles. As soon as she stopped she was panting heavily to catch her breath and wondering where on earth did she land herself.

As she looked around she found several reflections of herself all around. But they weren't actual reflections. They were more like moments from Mia's life being played all around. Each frame was from a different time in her life. She stood up slowly, brushed off the dirt as she marveled at those sights. There was an entire Hall way of those. When she peered infront to check, she couldn't find an ending. She kept gazing at those and moving forward without once looking back. She didn't realise that as she walked ahead the level of the slippery translucent liquid beneath her feet kept slowly increasing. Soon enough after moving forward for what seemed like half an hour, she realised that she was submerged till her waist in that liquid. As soon as realisation struck, she looked back, hoping to find a way out. But as soon as she looked back, the liquid rushed forward to completely engulf her . She tried shouting loud for help but nothing came out of her voice. It was as if she was muted. The liquid reacted like quick sand. The more she struggled to get out the quicker it was to submerge her. Soon enough it rose beyond her height . She felt as if a cool breeze swept across her forehead as she went into a blissful slumber. Her struggle gave way to tranquility and her anxiety became peace.

In her sleep she saw all her memories, her life being played backwards. It went upto the time she came out of her mother's womb and then everything around her went blank. While her life was being played, she saw a glimpse of her biological father, the wolf king, for the first time. She instantly knew it was him as she resembled him completely from head to toe. She saw him washing his face in a wild fountain. She had come upto him as he had seen her peeking from behind a tree. He had called her to him. He had taken a natural liking towards her instantly. They had chatted about random things and the wolf king seemed very unlike his reputation infront of her. He was gentle, laughed with her and even caressed her. But he had to leave as his soldiers came to call him. She saw how her mother had panicked. She had forbidden her from talking with him if they ever met again. Mia didn't understand the reason then, but it made sense now. Her mother had even moved out of that town the very next day. She had never met him ever again. In fact she had forgotten about this little encounter of theirs' with time. Only now that she saw the vision that she got reminded of it all over again. It was really a happy one. She remembered how her mother had apologized in her death bed about keeping her father's and her family's identity away from her. She had said that it was to keep her alive. If anyone from the wolf Clan, specifically the chief Queen knew about her, it would pose a threat to her life. Her mother assured her that whatever she did was to protect her. Mia believed her even though she missed the feeling of home, family, she was very happy with her mother. She had worked really hard to bring her up single handedly. But now she was worried about herself. She couldn't help the thought that she might face the similar fate of being abandoned. Even worse than abandoned, she and her child, might not even have a future at all. She might never be able to see her Lin any more. With all these still going on inside her little head, she fell into a pleasant sleep. The one that erased all. Every trouble, every doubt. Her mind was now the likes of that of a blank canvas.