~*+Mysterellyne +*~ (Part 5)

Mysterellyne gingerly opened it. The dusty, yellowing pages were covered with the same loopy, old-looking handwriting that was on the piece of paper.

She opened the first page, and started to read.

"Well...I wouldn't have thought that the dirty, sticky, always-smelly and fat little boy would grow up to be such a mature, striking and handsome looking young man! I still remember how he always used to take my things when we were kids. How I hated him back then! But just now, there he was, looking at me with an expression that was quite different from the taunting look back then."

"I looked back at him. Our eyes locked for 3 whole minutes, but it wasn't the same as the staring-matches we had when we were seven. And his eyes...they weren't full of laughter and mischief as before. It was a long time before he said slowly, 'I love you. Will you be my bride?'."

"I shrank away at once, and ran away from him. I went to the park and leant against the tree...the tree we used to play tic-tac-toe on. Ahhhh no!!! What am I thinking of? Why do I keep recalling all the memories with him! No No NO!! I must stop this! He is nothing more than a poor young man with only a hole in his pocket! Father and Mother would never permit this!"

"But my heart...why does my heart beat so fast whenever I think of him? Dear Diary, save me! Oh no...it's raining now and I'm sitting under the tree writing in you! No...I've already lost my heart, I cannot afford to lose you as well. Goodbye for now."

"Dear Diary, I will not be writing in you anymore. You must not miss me. But I am going to tell you what happened before I leave you forever. I was walking back home from the park just now, without an umbrella. Suddenly, I heard a voice shouting my name across the road. His voice. I turned, and he came rushing across the road to me. Oh Diary!! I will never forget what happened next...well maybe I will in about half an hour later, Diary. A streak of lighting struck him...his face was frozen in the smile that he was giving me...and he had fallen down...and...he just looked at me when I rushed over to his side...and I'll never forget his eyes when he looked at me through the raindrops. His eyes spoke to me as his lips had never did. And then, he was gone. Diary, I am going to rejoin him now. Goodbye, dear Diary."

The handwriting ended here.

~*+Mysterellyne +*~ (Part 4)

Where had it come from? It certainly hadn't been there last night.

Mysterellyne's eyes trained upwards to the old bookshelf in her room, which was right in front of the piece of paper. It must have fallen down from there, thought Mysterellyne.

The bookshelf had been there ever since Mysterellyne was born. And it had been there when her great-grandmother was born. It was well-crammed with books that looked as if nobody had ever bothered to read. Dusty old books with dog's-ears and titles in old-fashioned writing.

Mysterellyne, although quite a bookworm, had never bothered to touch these books. The bookshelf was simply placed in her room because there was no other space left for it in her house. Being the only daughter, Mysterellyne's bedroom was much bigger than the average teenager's room. In fact, it was about the size of two-and-a-half classrooms.

There were other bookshelves in her room, of course. And she had finished all the other books in her room, all except for these. The old, old books just looked too uninviting.

Mysterellyne picked up the piece of paper. It seemed to be part of a page of some book at first sight. She squinted to see the faded, loopy handwriting.

"forget his eyes when he looked at me through the raindrops. His eyes spoke to me as his lips had never did."

That was all.

Mysterellyne stared at it blankly, but her curiosity was aroused. She began to look closely at the old books on the shelf for the first time in her life. She soon discovered the reason of the torn page. Some lice were on the bookshelf!

Luckily, there were only two or three. Maybe they hadn't notified their family members yet. There was still hope that the book which this page was torn from (or rather nibbled from) was not too badly spoilt. Besides, Mysterellyne was a clean and tidy girl, so the lice couldn't have been there for a long time.

After hurriedly spraying insectide over the entire bookshelf, Mysterellyne examined each of the books' title carefully. Mostly were about old medicine. Some were cook-books. And all of them looked exceedingly boring.

Mysterellyne was just about to give up when she saw it.

A small, thick notebook.

Acting impulsively, she gingerly took it out with the tips of her fingers. She turned the first page carefully, afraid of tearing the old paper, and also afraid of disturbing more dust.

When she saw the writing on the first page, she knew.

It was her great-great-grandmother's name written there.

And it was a diary.

~*+Mysterellyne +*~ (Part 3)

Sitting up in bed, Mysterellyne realized that she had cold sweat on her forehead. Her hands were still trembling. Shakily, she got out of bed and went to her dressing table.

She looked into the mirror, half expecting to see an old witch with wrinkles reflected inside, or a goblin, or something else equally frightening. Instead, she saw only herself, heaving a sigh of relief.

Anyone would think that she would be happy that the dream was over. Well, she was, in a way. But not exactly.

"Why didn't a knight on a coal-black steed come to rescue me?" she asked of her reflection.

Although she was turning eighteen on her next birthday, Mysterellyne's love life was still empty. She had never had a boyfriend, never recieved a love letter. Nobody had ever even crushed on her before.

It wasn't as if she was just desperate for a partner or anything. But it just gave her a feeling that she was men-repellent, and she did not like that. Would she ever get to marry in the future? Was she really that bad?

She studied her reflection in the mirror. Big sparkling brown eyes with long curly lashes, a straight nose, a perfectly shaped pink mouth, nicely arched brows, a fair complexion, an oval face, glossy dark brown hair with slightly wavy ends...no, it couldn't be her looks.

Maybe her character? But she was friendly, kind, generous, helpful and she was always smiling. She had plenty of friends, including boys, but they were just - friends. Not even best friends.

Then what was the problem with her?!

Frustrated, she threw her hairbrush across the room. It hit the wall clattered to the floor, beside a piece of yellowish paper that she hadn't noticed before.

~*+Mysterellyne +*~ (Part 2)

She struggled hard, and managed to free her face from the monster's grasp. She glanced wildly around for some sign of rescue, but all she could see were trees.

The monster was carrying her towards the trees - wait! They were not moving at all! The monster was just pinning her to the ground and salivating on her. She could feel its hot breath on her. But why were the trees coming closer and closer to her?

She let out a scream that strangled in her throat.

The trees were alive! Evil looking branches were reaching out for her, picking her up. And now she was pulled towards the big hole in the middle of the tree. It looked like an enormous mouth...

Thrashing about, screaming, crying, she knocked her head on something very solid. She opened her eyes and found herself lying on her bed at home.

It was only a nightmare after all.

~*+Mysterellyne +*~ (Part 1)

It was the fourth day. And she was still alive.

"...yet," said a nasty voice in her mind.

And she had to admit it, it was really a miracle that she still survived after four days without food and water. And she was still walking. Walking along this dark, dark road that never seemed to end.

She had forgotten how she came to be here. All that mattered was there was not a single living soul in sight. No signposts stood on the lonely road. Occasionally, she would pass by a few whispering trees that enhanced the spookiness that was already overwhelming the young girl. But other than that, no cars, no animals, no people...nothing. No lamppost stood on the narrow road. All that lighted her path was a tiny sliver of moon in the sky. Not just any moon, either. It was a reddish moon with dark shadows covering more than half of its surface. It was a terrifying world of trees, roads and loneliness.

But that did not mean she was prepared for what came next.

All of a sudden, a gigantic shadow stirred behind her. She had barely turned round when something hairy and drippy pounced on her, muffling her scream that had shattered the silence of the dark, dark night...