Eidolon

“I told you she was fine. Do you think she’ll wake up?”

Isobelle felt her head pound painfully as she tried to sit up. Where was she? Her hands clenched, pulling up a handful of delicate, green blades of grass. Small flecks of sunlight danced across her closed eyelids. One moment it would be dark, then a breeze would pick up and the flecks would begin their dance again. Her head pounded heavily, closing her eyes shut even tighter. Her whole body felt heavy and painful when she tried to move.

“Excuse me, my friends and I were wondering if you were alright.” Isobelle opened her eyes slowly as a small, oddly coloured child came into view. The young boy’s skin was a resonant shade of cerulean that seemed to glow. He didn’t want to make eye contact with her and would only lock his pale eyes with hers for a moment before quickly looking down at his ducks like a small child sucks on its thumb or clutches a security blanket tighter when it’s nervous. His voice was simple and clear, resonating slightly in the dead silence.

“No I will not poke her! That’s horridly rude.”

“Who on earth are you talking to?” Isobelle voice sounded hoarse and awkward, surprising not only the blue-boy, but herself as well.

“Oh! Why, I’m talking to them.” He gestured to a queue of small yellow ducks all attached to one another with strings. In his small hand, the blue-boy held onto a string that connected onto the first duck. “They’re my friends. They wondered if you were alright.”

“They… wondered?”

“Oh yes, they were quite concerned for when you fell from that tree you landed rather sharply on your back and ceased to breathe.”

“Oh.” Isobelle pulled herself to her feet shakily. “Where am I?”

“Eidolon.”

“And you are…?”

“My name is Toulouse; it is very nice to meet you.” Toulouse bowed his head slightly before glancing over at his three ducks. “And these are my friends: Davy Crockett, Peter Pan, Elvis Presley…”

“Disneyland.”

“Pardon?”

“This place reminds me of Disneyland.” She watched as the blue-boy blinked with puzzlement at the term Disneyland. She supposed he had never been there.
“I’m Isobelle, but you can call me Bel.”

“Very nice to meet you Bel. I’m afraid I don’t have an alias that you can refer to other than Toulouse.” He smiled apologetically to her, then the three ducks.

Isobelle’s ears hummed still from the fall. Feeling light headed, she leaned against the wide tree behind her. She glanced up, watching the branches sway in the light breeze. Some of the branches up there were just as wide as her around and twice if not three times her length. She must have fallen from somewhere in that large tree, but why on earth was she up there in the first place?
The last thing she remembered before here was walking through her grandmother’s hedge maze. She remembered the immense red flowers on the hedges and the way they hard sparkled with early morning dew.
She had snuck outside to find the fountain in the center, but had found herself somewhere else in the maze that she had never been before…
Pushing it from her mind, Isobelle looked over at Toulouse again who was crouched next to Peter Pan.

“—I was merely saying that it would be best to leave before Kai and Kes arrive.” Toulouse paused as if listening to the duck’s response. “Of course we can’t take her with us, Peter.”

“Take me where?” Isobelle cut in abruptly, curious as to where they were going and why they couldn’t or wouldn’t take her.

“Excuse me,” Toulouse said, a very serious look on his face as he spoke. “I was speaking to Peter, not you Bel. You’re acting like Elvis.”

“Oh, I’m sorry, but I really don’t want to be left here alone.”

“I’m sorry Isobelle. We must go home. Right, Davy?” Toulouse looked down at the duck. “He agrees. And we can’t take you with us. Good day.” He nodded his head before turning to climb the tree, his ducks towed behind him in his ascent.
Isobelle tried to grab his ankle as he climbed, by her hand merely slid through and hit the bark roughly, scraping it in a criss-cross pattern. The blue-boy continued on up as if nothing had happened. This place just seemed to be getting stranger. She wished she was back at her Grandmother’s with her family. Grandma had told her not to go into the hedge maze by herself, but then again, Grandma was mentally unwell as Mother always told her.
She vaguely recognized the place, but she still felt lost and hopeless as she stood, licking the blood from her hand.

“Figment of your imagination, that’s all, luv.”
“Excuse me?”

“I said he’s merely a figment of your imagination. A delusion if you will.” Came a voice again. It cut through the silence rather sharply, making the silence after it spoke even harsher.

“And what if she won’t, Kes?” The voice spoke again, but now came as a softer variation of its self, a more feminine version.

“Then I suppose she’d have to go on through life rather oblivious, Kai.”

“Who are you? Show yourselves.” Isobelle said, cutting off its conversation. Two children about the same age as Isobelle or year older stepped forth from behind the tree. Both were clothed in very similar outfits, both were matching black and maroon making their dark hair and eyes only appear darker against their pale skin. This gave them a sullen and depressing appearance which seemed out of place in this bright green and sunny landscape.

“Oh. Hello. I’m Kai—”
“—and I’m Kes.” When they spoke, both twins’ lips moved in synchronization. The voice that came from them alternated between that sound with the feminine edge and the more masculine waver when they spoke with themselves.
Isobelle found it very difficult to decipher which twin was actually talking.

“Why can’t I grab Toulouse’s ankle?” Isobelle glanced up at Toulouse who was now stroking Elvis and whispering to him which Isobelle couldn’t hear.

“She’s not very bright, is she?”
“No, she’s rather dense.”
“I agree, I mean, just look at her clo—”

“I’m standing right here you know.” Isobelle crossed her arms as her lower lip protruded in a rather childish pout. The twins seemed to be mirrors of each other. Whenever one moved, the other did the opposite.
Isobelle watched in fascination as the twins turned towards each other, a hand over their mouths concealing their grins as they giggled with their one voice.

“Oh we know you’re right there, it’s just that—”
“—we don’t care.” They smiled menacingly at Isobelle.
“We’d like to finish a game with you.”

“Don’t you mean play?”

“Oh no, we mean finish.”
“Did you ever find that fountain you were searching for?” The second voice somehow managed to interrupt itself with this sentence, causing Kes to shoot a menacing look at Kai which she in turn had to mirror because of her nature, but she didn’t mirror his expression.

“Wait, how do you know about my fountain?” Images filtered through Isobelle’s head as her mind seemed to fast forward through her walk in the hedge maze this morning. Cobblestone, pebble stone, brick, marble. Hedges, flowers, vines, greenery. Right turn left turn hallway dead end…
Her mind slowed as the large marble stone fountain emerged from behind the stiff green leaves of the hedges.

“We know where it is.”
“We can show you.”
“Follow us.”
“Yes Isobelle, follow us.” In mirror movements, the twins approached the tree right beneath Toulouse. They touched the bark, dragging their fingers along it in an oval shape. Their fingers ground against the bark roughly, cutting them up raggedly.
After wiping their blood-smothered fingers on their clothing, they pushed on the tree. The bark of the tree swung inwards like a door. Grabbing an arm each, the twins picked Isobelle off of her feet just high enough that she could barely drag her toes on the soft grass floor. They began to walk with her on their arms into the tree.

“Kai, I—”

“I’m Kes.”
“And I’m Kai.”

“It doesn’t matter! Stop, I—” The twins just smirked and kept walking with her on their arms.
Inside, it seemed dark at first, but her eyes soon adjusted to the darkness. Or maybe it was getting brighter?
When the twins set her down, she felt the familiar feeling of the rough cobblestone beneath her shoes followed by the crunching sound of dirt between the ground and her shoes. The sound was crudely loud in the silence of the tree. Isobelle looked around the emptiness of inside the tree as it slowly became lighter and pieces of things began to appear. The cobblestone path slowly began to wind outwards and away from her feet.
The hedge maze soon came into view as the darkness seemed to melt away slowly.

“Let’s find it Isobelle.”
“Yes Isobelle, let’s find it.”

They pushed her forward, sending her into the maze by herself. Instantly, the hedges closed up behind her.

“Find it Isobelle. We’ll be waiting…”

“Waiting? Waiting for what?” She tried helplessly to break through the hedges, but they remained stiff and unyielding. Finally giving up on that, she began to walk down the path.
Cobblestone. Hearing scuffling behind her, Isobelle picked up her speed to a fast walk.
Pebble stone. Not paying attention, she slipped on a small patch of gravel that sent her flying forward.
Brick. Getting up quickly, she started jogging again before breaking out into a run.
Marble. Isobelle could hear the fountain bubbling in the distance now as she ran. She tried to follow the sound but continuously found dead ends.

“Isobelle. You’re bleeding.”

Stumbling away from the voice, Isobelle fell into a hedge, her bloodied hand sliding against it. The hedge immediately disappeared where she had touched it, leaving a hole big enough for her to push herself through.

“Kes? Kai?” Isobelle slid through the hedge.

“You found it.”
“Too bad.”

“Too bad? Found what?” Isobelle tried frantically to find the twins. “Where are you guys? Kai? Ke—” Isobelle felt herself slide over the marble beneath her feet. Small puddles of water were forming beneath her on the floor from seemingly nowhere. Isobelle turned around, finally seeing the fountain spilling it’s waters over the shallow edge and onto the marble floor.

“Do you like water?”
“Isobelle. You’re bleeding.”

Isobelle watched in horror as the fountain began to spill blood from the spout rather than crystal waters.

“No! Kes, Kai. Please help me…” The water was wading up to her knees now, slowly raising higher and higher. The water was slowly turning murky, then red as it filled with blood.
The blood was now past her waist as the walls of the tree began to close in on her and the hedge maze and fountain disappeared making the tree just a tall hollow tower.

“Oh Toulouse. Toulouse. Bring your ducks for a swim. Why don’t you bring them? We’d love to play…” The demonic voice taunted the small boy who was now swinging back and forth on a swing seat just over Isobelle’s head, his ducks in his arms.
“Oh Toulouse.”