Chapter 4
Repercussions
Somewhere on a porch, two little girls were sitting on the deck while talking to an elderly lady. The lady was sitting on a porch chair while the girls were playing with one another.
"Grandma, do mermaids exist?"
"Why do you ask?"
"Jenny says that her mommy told her that there is no such thing as mermaids. Also, Mia's daddy said that too."
"I see."
"There are no mermaids right, Grammy?" The other little girl, who happened to be little Amelia at the time, spoke up.
"Some believe there are, some believe there aren't, and some don't want to believe."
"What do you mean, don't?" Amelia asked once more.
"Some believe that they are creatures that perform in witchcraft or are some sort of symbol of doing the devil's work."
"Do they?" The other girl asked.
"If no one believes there aren't any, then how can they do such great evil?"
Both girls looked at the lady looking confused at what she meant by what she said previously. They still look at her still not sure at what she is getting at.
"The point I'm trying to make here, girls, is this. Don't let anyone lead you astray from the truth. Whether if something or someone doesn't exist."
"Like Jesus?" Amelia mentioned.
"Exactly what I mean, Amelia. Now close your eyes and hold out your hands, girls. I have a surprise for both of you."
Both girls did what they were told. They closed their eyes and held out their hands waiting in anticipation on what she had in store for them. They felt something on their hands and were waiting for further instructions on if it is okay to look now.
"Now open." The lady instructed.
Both girls looked surprised at what was in each of their hands.
"Necklaces!" Both girls shouted.
"Not just any necklaces, Lynae. These are handed down from my mother, from her father, and her father's father, and many generations back. I want you girls to take good care of them. They resemble our family heritage, something that makes us stand from other families."
"We promise." Both Lynae and Amelia said in unison.
"Good, now let's go see what your mothers are up to." Their grandmother said with joy as she led them inside the house.
Meanwhile, in the present, everyone except the teens were at the hospital with Amelia's parents surrounding her bedside.
"I don't understand, I saw her taking her medicine this morning. She seemed okay when I last saw her."
"Don't blame yourself, Ash, it could have happened to anyone."
"Hank's right, Ash, but what I like to know is what happened and how it happened." Bill was wondering and wanting to get the bottom of how Amelia had these seizures.
"Lyn said she was having migraines when they were swimming so they swam back. Luckily they made it to shore before... you know." Hank explained what Lynae told him.
"Maybe coming here was a mistake. I thought that this one trip she could go without an incident, but I was wrong." Bill started to have some regrets.
"And what? Keep her in a closet or a hospital room for the rest of her life? That's not fair to her!"
"And what is? Being near on the brink of death?! It was a miracle that God gave her to us healthy and without any complications for the first few years of her life!"
"You think I don't know that? I know the struggle you guys were having conceiving a child and yes, Amelia is a miracle child, but keeping her sheltered is not going to help her or anybody in this situation! Think of your boys!!"
"Don't bring them into this. You don't know the constant struggle of making sure your daughter is breathing at night, playing safely on the playground, making her take her medicine, frequent hospital visits, being able to go to a regular school, or being able to drive for that matter!"
"Guys, please, now is not the time to fight." Brie tried to break up the tension between Bill and Hank.
"I'm going for a walk." Hank said under his breath with his temper flaring as he left the hospital room. After he left, Ashlynn spoke up.
"Hank has a point, dear."
"Don't you start!"
"Bill, she's nineteen, one of these days she's going to get married and have kids of her own. She needs this vacation just as much as we need it. I've realized that we can't prevent all of her incidents, and today just shows how true that really is."
"I'm just afraid of losing our little girl, Ash."
"I know you are, darling, I know." Ashlynn comforted her husband while holding him in her arms.
Later on that day, Lynae came to the hospital room and spoke up.
"Uncle Bill, Aunt Ash, if it's okay with you, can I stay with Amelia tonight?"
"Lynae, you don't have to..."
"It's my fault she was having those migraines. I wanted to show her an underwater cave I liked going to. I pushed her." Lynae started talking while on the verge of tears.
"Lynae, the doctor said that the swimming didn't cause her seizure or the migraine. He's thinking it could be something deeper." Ashlynn explained.
"Still I think it's my fault..."
"It's not, sweetie. Don't ever think that. Amelia loves going swimming back home. You didn't push her, and I'm sure if Amelia were awake, she'd tell you the same." Bill tried to reassure her.
While the two were conversing with one another, Amelia started to shuffle a little to wake up.
"Amelia?"
"I'll go get the doctor!" Ashlynn rushed out of the room.
"Amelia, hon, can you hear me? Amelia? Do you hear me?"
"D-dad?"
"Thank God..." Bill sighed with relief.
Back at Hank's house, Hank, Brie, and the rest of the children were sitting in silence waiting to hear back from Bill or Ashlynn on Amelia's status. The boys sat there composed while Meredith was worried waiting to hear back from the hospital. Meredith didn't know was how often Amelia had these episodes. But to the boys, it was serious, but it was nothing they hadn't faced before. Suddenly, the phone rang, and Brie picked it up.
"Okay, okay, thanks for the update, I'll tell him."
She hung up the phone with Ashlynn after getting some news and then turned to the family.
"Well? How is she?" Hank asked nervously.
"She's awake, she's still weak, but doctors are saying she'll be okay for the most part."
"Is Lyn still over there?"
"Yeah, she's still feeling guilty over the incident."
"I don't blame her. I would be too if I were in her shoes."
"Still, it's nice that Amelia and Lyn are bonding again when they were little. I was a bit skeptical that they wouldn't thinking that they have changed too much for each other."
"They did change, Brie. Not exactly for the better I may add."
"You're right, we should tell they boys and Meredith the good news."
At the hospital, the doctor came in and re-examined Amelia. Then he started asking some questions in regards to the incident to possibly get at least a cause.
"So, you don't recollect anything that has happened at the beach. Did anything trigger you in particular?"
"No." Amelia said blankly.
"Do you get these migraines before a seizure occurs?" The doctor asked while writing down on his notes.
"Not always. Usually I just feel dizzy but that's about it."
"Did you feel dizzy?"
"I don't remember."
"Did you take your medicine as prescribed by your doctor back home?"
"She did, I saw her taking it." Ashlynn chimed in stating that she did see Amelia taking it that morning.
"Anything unusual like hallucinations, not knowing where you're at, or hearing voices at the time?"
"No, I don't think so."
"Okay, I'll leave you be, and I will need to speak to your parents in the hallway."
Bill and Ashlynn left the room anxiously as they left Amelia there alone with Lynae. Lyn was about to follow suit until Amelia spoke up to stop her.
"Lyn, wait, there's something I need to tell you."
"You don't have to, I was already comforted by your parents saying it wasn't my fault for at least a hundred times."
"No, listen, it's about the beach. About what happened at least what I remember."
"Wait, why are you telling me this instead of the doctor?"
"If I did, I'd be in a psych ward by now – you've got to listen to me." Amelia pleaded for some support.
"I'm listening." Lynae said in a distasteful tone.
"Back at the cave when I saw some really faded markings on the walls, I had a vision."
"Like the future or something?"
"I don't think so. In my vision, there was a mermaid that had pale skin and a silky, pearly tail."
"Again, why me of all people?"
"I have no one else to tell. I need someone who was there to hear me out. Anyway, there was moaning going on like someone was in pain or someone was tormenting them but it didn't look that way in my vision."
"Go on..."
"And the necklaces that grandma gave us they.... AGH!"
Amelia was interrupted by the piercing pain in her head once more and started to have those "visions" again – only this time it was more detailed. She saw a burning village with a priest holding up what it looks to be a Bible while shouting out these words.
We need to eliminate these abominable creatures once and for all. They are an abomination that is sent here to stray away from God's word from their sorcery. The time now has come to cleanse the earth from these vile beasts!
Then her attention turned to the people that were tied at the stakes being ready to be burned, but then she could only see flames engulfing the village.
The next scene was with some voyagers that were traveling across the seas in search of treasures across the Indies and the New World. After reaching to land, one of their leaders spoke to his crew about their recent incidents and issues with these "threats".
"These demons want to exterminate us by drowning our kind. So many have been lost by these things. How many more will we lose when we cross these great seas?"
Those voices of pain and anguish increased as she came about to the next scene. This scene seemed to have taken place over a thousand years ago but in a cave where a group of people gathered for a rally of what recently happened.
"A foolish maiden from our kind has already taken the life of that land dweller. Now we are pinned as the monsters that they have decreed to exterminate us over some careless act in the name of this so called 'love'."
Then another voice came, but it was directed towards Amelia this time.
"Listen to me child, if you want to know more about these visions you are seeing, inscribe these coordinates and meet me at this date and time..."
Amelia was listening to the information but the voice became distant as another voice crying out to her was getting louder. Next, she was hearing her own voice pleading and crying. Then she suddenly realized that she was slowly coming back to reality from these "visions".
"Amelia! Amelia! Amelia!" Lynae was shouting trying to wake her.
"Amelia! Snap out of it, Amelia!" Her mother desperately pleaded for her to stop.
Amelia finally opened her eyes and stopped screaming trying to catch her breath. It took her a minute to find where she was at and to confirm herself that she was back in reality this time. However, there was only one thing on her mind as everyone was trying to talk to her.
"Amelia, are you okay?" Bill asked.
"Pen..." Amelia said softly.
"What?"
"Pen! I need a pen!" Amelia started screaming in a panic trying to remember what the voice told her.
"Okay, okay, here's a pen and paper. What do you want to...write down?"
She hastily scribbled down on the piece of paper and caught her breath. After writing down the instructions on paper and took a long look at it, Amelia started crying once again thinking that maybe she was starting to lose her mind slowly as she had feared.
ns 15.158.61.5da2
