The Girl Behind the Broken Glass Read online

The weak girl attempted to get up and run, still traumatized from almost dying. Her first instinct was of danger. But as soon as her short legs hit the ground she fell right over, not being able to balance herself.

  “Careful, careful. That was pretty tough what you just went through. Relax, I’m here to help you”, the same voice spoke again. It only took a good look to figure out who the voice belonged to.

  There was a tall woman that was standing right behind her. She looked like she was born and raised on this beach because her looks matched it perfectly. Her hair matched perfectly with the light sand they were currently both on, and her eyes could’ve been made from the ocean itself. Not to mention the fact that she looked like she took showers with actual rays from the sun.

  “Are you some kind of goddess who saved me from my doom? Or maybe like a siren?”, the frightened girl allowed herself to ask.

  “No! Of course not. I wish! I’m just a girl who happened to see you drowning and was able to get to you in time”, the sandy-haired girl giggled at the sweet innocence of the younger girl.

  “Well, thank you. You saved my life. If I may ask, where are we?”

  The older girl gulped, not knowing how to answer her question. How could she break it to the young sweet girl? How could she possibly tell her all that she knew? For some unknown reason, she felt like she needed to protect this poor girl that almost drowned. The young girl looked shaken, her cheeks flushed pink and her eyes were sweet yet frantic. There was no way she could tell her the whole truth. She wouldn’t be able to handle it.

  “I don’t know a lot, but I will tell you what I know. Bad the way, you can call me Rie”.

  II

  Rie had told the young girl everything she could.

  Rie told her about the island. How she had woken up a couple of days ago with no memories and a pounding headache. How she’s walked through most of the island and so far, she hadn’t seen any way out of it. How stunning everything was.

  “Really? There’s a waterfall?”, the girl was awestruck. The island sounded so beautiful.

  “Yes, you have to walk this really long hike to see it. But once you get up there it’s so worth it. It’s amazing”, Rie told her.

  And for a while, it went on like this. Rie told her about the beautiful things she had seen on the island while the younger curly haired girl listened. Rie loved it, it felt as if she was telling a bedtime story to a child.

  Rie made the island sound as if it was a paradise, which in a way it was, but there was something that terrified her about it. She couldn’t put her finger on what. But it just seemed too good to be true. Up to that point, Rie had been alone and wondered around everywhere by herself. She was so thankful that she happened to be walking near the shore when she saw something odd happening in the water. If she would’ve had any hesitation, then the girl she’s been talking with over an hour wouldn’t even be here.

  “So, do you remember anything about yourself? About your life or how you got here?”, Rie asked. Only after she realized that she had just spent a full hour talking just about herself.

  “Honestly, no. All I remember is drowning and then meeting you”, the girl sweetly smiled at her. She seemed to carry around this child-like innocence that Rie admired.

  “Not even your name?”

  All the girl did was shake her head, of course, she didn’t remember her name.

  “Well, what about I give you a temporary name? Just until you remember your real one?”, Rie knew the girl would love this idea.

  “I’d love that! Make it something pretty”, her eyes brightened, and the biggest smile spread across her lips.

  “Well, do you like Ella? You seem like an Ella”, Rie started.

  “Or it could be something like-”, but before Rie could finish, she saw the girl approach her.

  She gave Rie a hug.

  It honestly took her by surprise because she wasn’t expecting that kind of reaction.

  “I love it. I love Ella. Thank you”, Ella whispered as she hugged Rie.

  Ella and Rie spend the rest of the day near the ocean. Even though Ella was eager to go look around the island, Rie recommended they would get to that tomorrow. It was getting late and they wouldn’t want to get lost as nightfall approached. Ella unknowing to anything else agreed happily.

  “So, did you remember your name when you woke up?” Ella chewed as she asked Rie. They were currently sitting on a blanket near the shore, enjoying the sound the waves made. Rie had claimed to found supplies on her days of adventuring. Such as blankets, pillows and other household objects. And of course, Ella with her naive nature believed her. They were currently eating fruits, which Rie had just magically come upon too.

  “No, I didn’t actually. I still don’t. For some reason, my full name won’t come to me. I just remember the last three letters. R-I-E”, Rie explained.

  “How do you know it’s the last letters?”, Ella took another mouthful of fruit. Rie was going to have to teach her some table matters.

  “Wishful thinking. I can’t think of any name that starts with Rie. Except if my name is just Rie- oh, that would be terrible”, both girls laughed at the thought of it.

  Pretty soon, the sky started to melt into pinks and oranges. And the sun slowly but patiently came down. Ella and Rie were left in darkness with nothing but the moon to shed some light.

  “You know, it’s so beautiful how the moon’s light reflects on the ocean. The ocean is truly such a wonder”, Ella mentioned.

  “You almost drowned in it today”, Rie said it so flatly that there was something about the way she said it that made Ella burst into laughter.

  “I know! I know I almost did! But I still think it’s beautiful”, Ella defended herself in between fits of laughter.

  “Beautiful yet deadly. That’s very poetic”, Rie added.

  It went on for a while, their witty banter, and comical comments until their eyes could barely stay open. These two girls might be getting along but at the end of the day, they were strangers. And you never know what’s inside of a stranger’s heart.

  But sweet Ella was incapable of being malicious. She had made a friend. And even though they were alone in that island, at least she had company. So, her mind was at peace as she drifted to sleep on the itchy blanket.

  She couldn’t wait for the adventures of the next day. She was going to see the island and all its beauties. She was going to hike, even if her feet felt like they were going to fall off, just so she could see the waterfalls. And she was going to taste a pomegranate for the first time. Or the first time that she remembers, at least. Rie had told her that they grew on this shrub she had found and that they were the most delicious thing she could ever taste. Ella’s mouth watered at just the thought of it.

  She guessed the excitement was too much because she couldn’t keep still. She couldn’t sleep and kept turning from side to side.

  “Ella, sleep. Now. Please”, Rie grumpily mumbled.

  “Sorry”, Ella whispered. Not that it stopped her from moving around for most of the night. When she finally did fall asleep, all she could dream about was a pomegranate eating her.

  III

  The next time Ella opened her eyes she knew something was wrong.

  She couldn’t exactly put her finger on it but knew something was off. She didn’t feel the breeze that cooled her down last night. And she couldn’t see the moon reflecting on the ocean waves like she had seen last night. She didn’t even see the moon or the ocean. Everything was pitch black, so she had no way of knowing where she was.

  “Rie? Are you here?”, Ella gulped. There was no answer.

  “Rie, please”, Ella begged, a little more loudly this time. But there was still no answer.

  Rie wasn’t there.

  She didn’t know what had happened. Last night, everything seemed fine. They were talking about the island, about how they wished to remember more about themselves and they were even making jokes. Trying to laugh at the scary situation. It was all lighth
earted and Rie promised that they would get through this together. She promised.

  Yet she wasn’t here.

  Maybe she left to get more supplies. But why wouldn’t she wake Ella up? Just to give her a heads up. Maybe something happened to her. Ella grew worried that her new friend might be in danger. But what could Ella do? She hasn’t even seen the island yet; all she has seen is the beach. It’s not like she could go look for her, mostly not in the darkness.

  Even though she couldn’t see, she could tell she wasn’t on the beach anymore. Instead of feeling the itchy sand, she felt damp scrubby leaves. Well maybe not leaves, they were too thin to be leaves. This was probably grass. She felt around with her hands and she was able to find objects that felt like wooden sticks. Almost like little branches. She shrieked when she felt something that felt like an insect and instantly scooted away from it.

  There were insects, sticks, and grass. She was either in some kind of rainforest or the island. Or both. She could be in a rainforest on the island. But wouldn’t Rie have mentioned a rainforest or anything of sorts? That would’ve been a pretty good thing to mention.

  At this exact moment, Ella realized that she asked no good questions. They only talked about waterfalls, fruits and everything beautiful about the island. She never thought to ask about any dangers. She didn’t even ask if Rie had seen any animals. Which right now she wished she had asked.

  Ella didn’t have a problem with wild bunnies or crazy piglets. Because she knew that there would be certain animals that wouldn’t harm her. What she was terrified of were jaguars, lions, panthers, and even elephants. Elephants are adorable but with those huge feet, they could squish you like you are mashed potatoes. The worst thing was, that if any of those animals were around Ella wouldn’t even see them. They could attack her before Ella even got a chance to move. She felt vulnerable.

  Probably not as vulnerable as Rie felt right now. If something had happened to her, she could be in real danger. But there was nothing Ella could do right now to help her. So, she decided to lay down on the damp grass and try to sleep. At least until the sun started to rise and she could see where she was.

  After a couple of hours had passed, Ella was both excited and terrified to see where she was. She had been awake for a while. When she first woke up and opened her eyes the sun blinded her. She immediately closed her eyes and hasn’t opened them since. She didn’t dare look.

  I mean, curiosity killed the cat. And Ella didn’t want to be the poor cat.

  But she also couldn’t just lay there with her eyes closed all day. Rie could be in trouble. That motivated her enough to sit down in the spot where she was, with her eyes still closed.

  “Ella you can do this, you can do this. You’re a brave girl- I think”, she whispered to herself.

  “No, you can’t. Okay just count to three”, Ella thought.

  “One…. Two…. Three”, Ella shouted out, a little too loudly. She opened her eyes quickly. As if she was ripping off a bandage. She was in a rainforest, but it didn’t look like a rainforest. If that makes any sense.

  She had always imagined rainforests to have all these trees and be filled with animals. But this wasn’t her typical rainforest. There were trees and they were beautifully vivid. Thankfully, there were no animals around. The most stunning thing was that she could see mountains in the far distance. Everything looked overwhelmingly green. Maybe it wasn’t a rainforest, just a normal forest.

  She wasn’t sure. She didn’t remember much about science. Or at least that aspect of science.

  A forest inside of the island. Cool.

  Ella needed a game plan. She couldn’t just wander around the island and hope to stumble across Rie. If she wanted any chance of surviving the day, she would need to have some sort of strategy. So, she made a mental list of what she would have to do.

  Figure out a way out of this forest without being eaten alive.

  Find something to eat because it’s breakfast time, duh

  Find Rie.

  Not really the list with the most potential but it was a work in progress. Okay, well if she looked at her situation logically, she couldn’t be far from the beach. Whoever kidnapped her and threw her in this forest, or however she ended up there, couldn’t have traveled too long of a distance. She would have woken up, right?

  She started to aimlessly walk around the forest but there was no point. She just came upon the same surroundings. Trees, more trees, muddy grass and beautiful mountains in the background. She had never seen mountains before, and they memorized her. They were the most mystical, magical things. Maybe she had seen them in her previous life because she remembered their name and that they were supposed to look like that.

  She really didn’t want to get deconcentrated or stop her quest, but she couldn't help it. She would just go a little more near the mountains. Just to get a better look and then she would look for Rie.

  She walked a far enough distance to be close enough to the mountains. They were incredible. They were so tall that they reached the clouds. Or was that fog? Ella couldn’t tell but it was beautiful either way. Ella closed her eyes just to enjoy the peace of the moment.

  That was something Ella loved to do. Just to close her eyes and enjoy the moment.

  But there was something new Ella noticed when she closed her eyes. It was as if another one of her senses would have heightened. She could hear a slight sound of rushing water. And not just a small amount of water. But what something big would sound like. She immediately knew what it was.

  It was the waterfall.

  The hike that Rie was talking about wasn’t just a hike- she had to climb the mountains to get to the waterfall. But how could that be possible? How can you climb a mountain and how could there be a waterfall up there?

  Ella had to get up there.

  Not only because she wanted to see the waterfall but because it would help her find Rie. Rie kept talking about how you could see the whole island from the waterfalls. How they had the most magnificent view.

  Ella would get up there and see the island. She could get a better idea of where Rie could be.

  She had to do it.

  IV

  Ella followed the sound of rushing water.

  She found out that the more she went to the left, the louder the noise got. She eventually found a little pathway. Which made a lot more sense, she probably followed that pathway until she got to the waterfall. That was a lot easier than what she thought she was going to have to do. She thought she would just have to climb the mountain with her bare hands,

  Ella wished she had better shoes. When she had gotten to the island she was already clothed. She was wearing some shorts and a t-shirt. Rie was wearing something similar so Ella hadn’t thought too much about it. Fashion wasn’t their biggest problem at that moment. But now, as she was walking through the muddy pathway, she wished she wasn’t wearing sandals. Her feet were completely covered in mud and the feeling of mud getting in between her toes sickened her.

  At first, the hike wasn’t so bad. She didn’t know why Rie had warned her so much and told her that her feet would threaten to come off. Rie was totally exaggerating.

  But after around two hours of endless walking, she realized that this path seemed never-ending. Her feet were already dead tired and desperately needed a break. But there was nowhere to sit. Just trees and muddy ground. And there was no way she would get herself all muddy.

  Her pride only lasted about one more hour, though. Her feet couldn’t take it anymore. She threw herself to the ground and didn’t even care that her body got covered in mud. She let herself rest in the muddy mess for a while until she got the strength to continue.

  Not physical strength, because she had none of that left. More like mental strength.

  But it couldn’t be too far away. She heard the sound of water rushing getting louder and louder. It was close, really close. She could feel it.

  After only a little bit more walking, she started to feel a fresh breeze. It m
ust be from the waterfall. That made her pick up her speed. And she was correct, the breeze started to bring little particles of water. The pathway ended and there was a stack of huge rocks waiting for Ella to climb them. Ella tried her best to climb the rocks and she was successful, but she did get a nasty cut from falling.

  And there it was, the waterfall. It was even more beautiful than Rie had described it to be. Ella excitedly ran to get more near it. It wasn’t too big of a waterfall, so it was easy for Ella to slowly walk through the slippery rock behind the water. She was able to see how the water rushed down from inside the waterfall and was even able to clean off the dirt all over her body.

  After Ella enjoyed her time in the waterfall, it was time to get to work. She carefully exited the inside of the waterfall and made her way to the rocks again. It took her a while to find the view Rie was talking about. There was all this tall bamboo covering the view. Like if someone was trying to hide it. Ella quickly walked through the bamboo, only to make a halting stop.

  She was on a cliff, the bamboo led to a cliff. If she would’ve walked a couple of more steps she would have fallen off and died.

  But that wasn’t the most terrifying part.

  When she looked up, she was able to see the view. The view that Rie had talked about so much. But it wasn’t beautiful or magical like Rie had described it.

  It was a dump.

  She was serious! It looked terrible. It looked like some sort of junkyard. There were objects thrown around everywhere. And when I say everywhere, I mean everywhere.

  She couldn’t see much of anything else. It just looked like there were huge mountains of trash everywhere. It was quite far away so she couldn’t notice many other details. She was able to see that there were little bodies of water, maybe lakes, that weren’t polluted with the trash. But where was the beauty? This looked nothing like Rie said it would. Ella looked everywhere, desperately trying to see if there was another view she was missing. But no, that was the only one.