The Ceremony of Tama and Ruana

The air was thick with anticipation, the guests were all seated, and the view outside of the house's open windows showed that even the weather was cooperating. The sun was shining its brightest on this day, in the middle of winter. The trees swayed gently in the wind, and each leaf seemed to glisten like a tiny jewel.

Tama could not help but feel like she had seen it all before, that this whole place was somehow familiar. She had been here before. She knew that much. It couldn't be a coincidence that they had found their way to this old mansion in a town they'd never heard of before finding this invitation. But where? When? Her mind raced as she tried to remember through her confusion and disorientation.

"Ruana! Ruana!" Tama whispered loudly to her brother. "Do you know where we are?" He looked at her with those big brown eyes and shook his head in response.

Ruana wasn't very smart, but he was good at heart. He loved his sister more than anything else in the world, and he would follow her anywhere if he thought it meant protecting her from harm or sadness. His attention span was short, his memory worse than awful, but if there was one thing he remembered well (most of the time), it was how much he loved his sister. And now that she was gone for so long, for what seemed like an entire lifetime since their mother died, he had grown especially protective of her and everything she did or said. That's why he didn't speak out against her when she came up with this crazy plan to find their mother again by following some strange invitation they found in their grandmother's basement.

They had traveled so far on this quest - from Japan to New Zealand, England and finally to South America before finding their way here to Australia - just because Tama kept insisting that their mother must be here somewhere and that they just hadn't found her yet! But Ruana hadn't wanted to leave Japan until Tama promised him that they would go back after they went looking for their mother in Australia first! They lived with their grandparents for a few years after their mother died when Ruana was only seven years-old and Tama was ten years old! It felt like ages ago! Their grandmother passed away almost two years ago now, and ever since then it felt like they were alone in the world again! Now they were back in Australia, the place where they were born, where they used to live with their mom and dad before moving to Japan when Tama turned five years-old! Yet everything felt so unfamiliar - even though they had been there before too! How paradoxical it was! How confusing! How annoying!

Suddenly Tama felt dizzy again as she approached the door of the mansion on which 'The Ceremony' was written in big fancy golden letters right above the door knocker which resembled a dragon's face carved into a wooden ball. She could feel herself falling down towards the ground... Towards the ground... Towards... Down... Down...

Then suddenly: darkness...

"TAMA!!! TAMAAAA!!!!" Ruana shouted as he watched his sister collapsing onto the floor in front of the house where 'The Ceremony' took place once every seven years or so (or so everyone said)! He ran towards her as fast as his legs could carry him and caught her just before she hit the hard ground! He lifted her up carefully into his arms and shook her violently hoping that it would wake her up again! But nothing happened for what seemed like ages until finally Tama opened her eyes slowly and looked around confusedly at first before finally finding Ruana's eyes staring straight back at her with concern written all over his face!

"RUANA!! RUANA WHERE ARE WE?!" Tama cried out loud while simultaneously hugging him tightly hoping that everything would be alright again now that he was there with his warm embrace! "WHAT IS THIS PLACE?! WHAT ARE WE DOING HERE?!" For some strange reason she couldn't remember any of what happened leading up to them being here (which felt like ages ago already!), only bits and pieces about being tired from traveling so much lately and... Above all else: concerned about something not being right somehow... But what?! What had struck such fear into her heart? Why couldn't she remember anything?!