In the Company of Elves: Chapter 1 The Garden

( In the Company of Elves: Ch. 1 The Garden)

It is 2007 mid-April and the sun is setting over the hills as 20-year-old Melissa drives home from a family reunion that was held at Irvine Regional Park. Her white 2006 Kia Spectra, glides down the road as she heads to Silverado Canyon, where she lives with her father and step-mother. The custom-made home designed by her grandfather who was an architect, sits in a quiet cul-de-sac. Melissa’s grandfather passed away long ago, leaving the home to her grandmother, Mia.

   The fires that scorched the hills and some canyons, in 2005 were devastating but it wasn’t the fires that claimed Melissa’s grandmother’s life but a sudden heart attack that happened a few months after the fires. Miraculously the house was spared, with little to no damage. It was almost like magic. Melissa’s father inherited the house after her grandmother's death so, Melissa lived in that house for most of her life.

  Melissa reminisced about the family reunion party, while listening to the music on her car radio. “The family reunion went well. I got a chance to see all my cousins and aunts; mostly from my dad’s side of the family. It’s been years since I saw them,” she thought. Cars speed by as she carefully follows the speed limit.

   A year ago, she was stopped by a cop for speeding. She had to pay a hefty fine for a speeding ticket and it ruined her chances on going to Hawaii that summer with her longtime friend, Carly. Melissa isn’t ashamed in leaving the party early. She has work the next day and besides, her friend Carly left with her boyfriend, Diego an hour before she did. Even though Carly and Melissa went together to the party, Diego met up with them at the park. Carly and Diego are inseparable.

  “I would rather be relaxing with a good book at home. That’s what I’m looking forward to for the rest of the evening. My parents aren’t coming home anytime soon,” thought Melissa. When Melissa arrived home, she parked the car in the garage which is separate from the main house, she closes the garage door and walks to the house.  As she enters, she tosses the keys into the key bowl that rest on the corner table next to the sofa. 

    Passing the long oval full-length mirror that’s in her room, she takes a few steps back and stands in front of it.

   “Hmm, at least my shirt is not that dirty,” she said, as she looks at her dated flared jeans and her red checkered cotton shirt. Underneath is a white tank top and on her feet, she’s sporting her favorite black leather sandals.

   She smiled and joked. “A fashionista through and through,” she thought, admiring her reflection. She walks to the kitchen and opens the refrigerator. “I think I’ll make myself a sandwich. Maybe a tomato sandwich.” She said, as she taps her finger nails on the refrigerator door.

     She looks for a tomato in the vegetable bin. “After I make a sandwich, I’ll finish reading The Lord of the Rings for the fourth time and go to bed,” she said to herself.

  While she searches in the refrigerator for a tomato, thoughts of her mother entered her mind. “Mom would have enjoyed being at the reunion, seeing all of the family,” thought Melissa.

   Trista Burkhart, Melissa’s mother, went missing one December morning when Melissa was six years old.

   No one ever knew what had happened to her or where she went but the authorities speculated that she might have ran off with a lover. The search continued for Trista until it went cold. No trace of her was ever found. Melissa and her dad were devastated. It was a painful time for her and her father however, time heals all wounds and her father learned to accept that Trista was never going to come back. Years later Melissa’s father fell in love and married Jenny Torres a beautiful, loving woman. She and Melissa get along very well. Still no one can ever replace her real mother.

 "Well it appears that there aren’t any tomatoes in the veggie bin?” Melissa pursed her lips and frowned. “I guess I better go out and look for one in the garden.” She said to herself and walked out into the backyard.

    Following the cobblestone path, she searched for the tomato plants in the garden. As she walked along, she hummed a tune from a song that she heard on the radio. Melissa walked east from the patio towards the old oak tree and spotted a white rabbit sniffing along the wall’s bottom edge.

 She stopped and stared. Her brows furrowed, a perplexed look shadowed her face. As she steps closer to the rabbit, it looks up at her and starts digging frantically trying to dig under the wall.

   “What is it doing? How did this rabbit get into the yard?" She thought. “Hey, little fellow, what are you doing here? Where did you come from?” The rabbit stops and stares at her. Its nose twitched, and the rabbit continues digging, determine to get to the other side. Melissa scratches her head.

    “You must be one of the neighbor’s pets.” she thought. "How curious." Taking a better look at the wall, she noticed a door obscured by vines.  

  "Where did this door come from? I never noticed it before."

     The rabbit froze, its black eyes looked up at her. She leans in closer and starts pulling the vines off the door and uncovers it. Her hands got a bit scratched up but, what she uncovered was amazing. Her eyes flashed wide, her mouth dropped.

 “Wow, this door looks very old.” She touches the wood on the door and notices that it has strange indiscernible writing scrawled across the top.

   “This is weird? Maybe grandma didn’t know about this door. I guess?” She pondered.  

  “The door seems to be pretty old little fellow." She said as she looked down at the rabbit. The rabbit looks up at her and twitches its nose. Suddenly the rabbit scratches the door, as if it was trying to tell her to open it. She got the impression that it understood what she was saying, and she sensed an intelligence behind those black eyes. Melissa spotted a lock on the ground and she picked it up.

  “Wow, how weird! I wonder how old this is?” She sighed and shrugged.

   “I guess someone must have unlocked the door. But who?” She looks at the lock and inspects it. “This is truly a unique lock.” Butterflies fluttered in her stomach and she became anxious, but doesn’t know why. She felt a sudden sense of dread inside her mixed with an overwhelming curiosity. 

    Melissa raised her eyes and stared at the door for a moment. It seems to beckon her, coaxing her to open it. Something about it peaked her curiosity even more than normal. She gulped.

   "You know…. I wonder what’s on the other side." One of the rabbit’s ears twitched as Melissa slowly opened the door.

In the Company of Elves eBook

 (I've added chapters 1 & 2 from my book, In the Company of Elves)

Chapter 2

NOTE: pictures in this blog entry are not used in the book.