Chapter 4

 

The funeral for Maeve was an official event marking the beginning of the rest of her life as Dawn. Father and the police never found Dawn’s body, even though they had searched everywhere. Nonetheless they had to move on with their lives as “Maeve” was clearly never going return.

 But for Maeve life only got better. As she was the only child

now, all attention was on her, and Maeve was treated like

a princess, and they even moved house to help get over the

memory of “Maeve”. She received everything she asked for,

and at school the teachers went easy on her due to her

loss, but Maeve didn’t feel like she had lost anything.

Instead, it was quite the opposite. Ever since Dawn drowned

in the river, Maeve gained more than she’d ever had in her

entire life, so life was perfect.

But no matter how many material possessions she had,

there was a Dawn-shaped emptiness inside of her that

yearned for her sister.

One morning, as Maeve was walking to school, she spotted a fox rummaging in one of those charity bins, and came out with a bag of clothes in its teeth. Maeve watched the fox scamper away in the direction of the woods in wonder.

What would a fox want with a bag of clothes?

                                                            🌓

Dawn spent the next five years in the forest with the fox, sleeping in the tree hollow at night, and climbing trees and playing with Amber by day. No one ever came to look for her as she had hoped, but Dawn soon forgot about that for Amber became her only friend, bringing her food and clothes from an unknown location each morning and looking after Dawn throughout the seasons. Dawn attempted to follow Amber to wherever it went but always lost track of Amber, who was too clever and quick for her to track.

During the times when Dawn was isolated up on a tree, she’d close her eyes and memories would flash through her mind, tiny reminders of the past hidden deep in her head. Sometimes, she’d see a woman with the same hazel eyes as her, or a man with the same brown hair, and a shiver of recognition would tingle down her spine. Did these faces belong to her parents?

Other times, the memory was just a simple feeling that filled her with a sense of warmth and love, or it would be a taste of sweetness on her tongue, or an echo of voices that haunted her silence. Dawn relished these moments when she’d remember, but they would often slip away from her, like a kite into the open blue sky.

One day, while Amber was off hunting, Dawn climbed up the closet tree, which was the oldest tree in the forest. From way up there, she could see a whole town which she never knew existed. For five years Dawn had wandered the woods in search for an escape, but the woods were so vast Dawn simply thought nothing else could exist beyond it.

But as Dawn gazed over the rows of red-roofed houses she felt a spark of hope in her heart. Somewhere in that town could be a family that she once belonged to, an empty place for her to refill, if only she knew exactly where.

Something caught Dawn’s eye in the distance, two specks growing bigger as they approached the forest. Dawn wondered who these people could be, and if they were coming to take her home, so she clambered down the tree, springing from branch to branch with the dexterity of a monkey, eager to discover who these people were.

            There was a sudden shriek, and the sound of Amber’s warning call, disturbing the flocks of birds perched in the treetops. Dawn knew immediately that her fox friend was in trouble, so she sped through the woods in the direction of potential danger.

Dawn arrived at the scene beside the river, where two girls on bicycles froze in fear as Amber growled at them. One of them looked strangely familiar, as if Dawn had seen her every day, and something stirred deep within Dawn’s memory.

Amber didn’t notice Dawn’s presence, and just as the strangely familiar girl locked eyes with Dawn, Amber lashed out, sinking her teeth into the front tyre of a bicycle, the air hissing out like a long sigh.

“Stop!” Dawn yelled. Amber turned, her glaring eyes softening with recognition, and Dawn found this expression change to be almost human-like. Dawn gestured for Amber to join her side, and the fox obeyed, eyeing the girls suspiciously.

The two girls gaped at her. “Who are you?” the unknown girl with a mahogany ponytail asked, scrutinizing Dawn’s wild hair and dirt-smudged appearance. But then the girl’s eyes widened. “Hey, you look a lot like Dawn!”

Dawn was immediately confused, and glanced at the familiar girl, who reminded her of…herself. She had the exact same murky eyes, exact same shade of hair scraped back into a ponytail, identical slim nose and curved rosy lips. Everything about her was a reflection of Dawn, but Dawn was puzzled as to why the other girl had referred to her as Dawn. I thought Dawn was my name, Dawn thought.

The girl’s gaze once again met Dawn’s, and her jaw dropped as the blood drained from her face. “Dawn, you look as if you’ve just seen a ghost!” the dark-haired girl remarked.

“I-I think I just h-have,” the identical girl stammered.

“What do you mean?” her friend asked, glancing from Dawn to the girl in perplexity. “Geez, I swear, you guys could be twins.”

It was as if a door had been flung open in the back of her brain, and a flurry of images overwhelmed Dawn like a tidal wave. Dawn fell to her knees, and Amber scampered to her side in concern as the memories flowed through her, and she remembered everything.

A glint of gold caught her eye in the grass below her, and Dawn made out the letter M attached to a gold chain, which sparked a name.

“Maeve,” Dawn uttered, and then the world went black.