I was running through the forest, my heart pounding against my chest, adrenaline coursing through my veins. I was being chased. By what, I did not know. Whatever it was, I could not let it catch me or I would surely die. I chanced a glance over my shoulder, but the trees were too thick to see anything. I could hear it though; cracking twigs and crunching leaves, making its presence known.
My pace quickened to a sprint, hoping I would outrun the beast, only to be stopped by a cliff that had appeared out of nowhere. I checked myself for weapons that I could use against the oncoming terror that was sure to be upon me at any moment and found I had none. I was completely defenseless. No, wait. Not completely. I realized I did have a weapon, two in fact; my mind and my body. If I could not overpower the thing with my strength, perhaps I could outsmart it.
I turned and faced the dense trees. As the noise of its approach grew louder and the trees began to shake, I braced myself to face the unknown creature. I never got to though. For at that very moment, my eyes popped open, ending the nightmare, and I was back in my bedroom. Apparently, I had not been prepared to face the unknown terror.
Rising to a sitting position in my bed, I found myself covered in cold sweat and still breathing heavily, as though I had actually been running through the forest. I buried my head in my hands, disappointed in myself. Why had I been unable to face the beast? My father had taught me to always confront my fears, so what prevented me from doing so in a dream?
My thoughts were disturbed by a soft whimper that came from my younger sister, Teagan. She started to toss and turn, entangling herself in her bed sheets. It seemed that I wasn’t the only one being plagued with nightmares. As Teagan’s whimpers became louder, I rose from my bed and hurried to her side. I was just about to rouse her from sleep when she woke with a start, her green eyes wide with fear. She caught sight of me in the dark.
“Kelly.” She breathed.
Something was definitely wrong. Kelly was her nickname for me that she only used when absolutely terrified or very upset. I sat on the edge of her bed and gestured for the little five-year-old to sit on my lap. She crawled over to me, positioned herself on my lap and wrapped her arms around my neck, resting her head on my shoulder. I held her close as she began to cry into the sleeve of my nightgown.
“Shh,” I whispered, glancing over at Rosaleen, my other sister who slept in a bed on the other side of the room. Much to my relief, she was still fast asleep. “Shh. It was only a dream, Teagan. Just a dream and nothing more.”
“It was about you.” She said, looking up at me. “You said that you were leaving and weren’t sure if you were going to come b-b-back.”
Fresh tears spilled from her eyes and she nuzzled her head back into my shoulder. I began to slowly rock her back and forth like a baby, hoping it would soothe her.
“That will never happen.” I reassured her. “I will never leave Emery. I promise.”
Though she now had my word that her nightmare would never become a reality, she continued to cry. At times like this, when a baby or child would not stop crying, a mother would sing a lullaby to calm them. My mother was asleep in the room across the hall and I didn’t want to disturb her, so I took the responsibility. There was only one lullaby that I knew of. It was as old as the mountains themselves, according to my mother, passed down from mother to daughter for generations. I remember my own mother singing it to me when I was little and had overheard her sing it to Rosaleen and Teagan before. It seemed now was the perfect time to use it. I ran my fingers through Teagan’s hair as an added comfort and started to sing.
Calm my baby,
Close those eyes.
Find a place
To run and hide.
Wipe away
The tears you weep.
Rest your head,
Go to sleep.
When you wake,
I will be there
To kiss your cheek
And stroke your hair.
There you’ll lay,
In my arms.
There you’ll stay,
Away from harm.
Close those eyes.
Find a place
To run and hide.
Wipe away
The tears you weep.
Rest your head,
Go to sleep.
When you wake,
I will be there
To kiss your cheek
And stroke your hair.
There you’ll lay,
In my arms.
There you’ll stay,
Away from harm.
The singing had the desired effect. Teagan had stopped crying and was sucking contently on her thumb, as was a habit of hers. I repeated the verse, it being the only one that I knew. There had been more that went with the song, but they had disappeared over time; lost, forgotten. It must have been the fifth time I repeated the lullaby before I realized that Teagan had fallen asleep in my arms. I set her head gently back on her pillow and pulled the covers up to her chin. Before returning to my own bed, I kissed her softly on the forehead and whispered good night. Back under my covers, I stared at the ceiling, contemplating my dream once again. I didn’t get anywhere though before I too fell back to sleep.
I woke a few hours later just as the sun was beginning to rise over the horizon. Rays of golden sun were creeping in through the window, stretching across the floor of the room. My old, wooden bed creaked as I got up to get dressed. My eyes darted to my sisters to make sure the noise didn’t wake them. They were still fast asleep and would be for another hour or so. It seemed that Teagan’s nightmares had stopped because she was curled up peacefully in her bed, snuggling with her old teddy bear that my mother had made for me when I was little.
Quickly and quietly, I got dressed, checking on my sisters every time I made the slightest bit of sound. After pulling on some clothes and fish-tailing my long, brown hair, I slipped out the door. I walked down the hall into the kitchen/living room, the wooden floor groaning beneath my feet every now and then. Upon entering the living room, I headed straight for the fireplace which was filled with ash from the night before. Being the first one up, it was my job to clean out the fireplace and get another one started to warm up the house. Once that chore was done, I made my way to the wooden chest where my family kept some prized possessions; my father’s old military uniform, his sword in its sheath, my mother’s beautiful silver hairbrush, given to her when she was young by her grandfather, a small box of animal toys carved from wood that had belonged to my grandmother, my bow and a quiver of arrows.
I took out my hickory bow and examined it, like always, running my fingers over the intricate vine carvings. The bow had been made for me by my grandfather. He had been a bowyer for the army and later became quite famous for it. When I was born, he decided I should have a bow and made one of hickory. On my tenth birthday, he took me out into the woods to practice. At first, my mother wasn’t too happy about me learning to use a weapon, but after a dinner that included my first squirrel, she didn’t mind as much.
After making sure my bow was completely intact, I took out the quiver of arrows. They had also been made by my grandfather from the same hickory tree as my bow. I stood, slinging the quiver of arrows on my back, and made my way to the kitchen in search of a quick breakfast. From the basket on our kitchen table, I took a piece of bread my mother had baked the day before on our oven. We usually bought bread from the baker, but sometimes Mom liked to make her own bread.
Holding the bread between my teeth, I pulled on my leather hunting boots that sat by our front door. I opened the door and, with bow in hand and bread in mouth, walked out onto the street. I took a deep breath, filling my nostrils with the cool morning air.
Yeah, I'm kind of stuck after that. I know what I want to happen, I just can't seem to put it into words. Ugh. Well, anyway, I would like to know what you think about it especially the lullaby. I'm not sure if I should scrap it or not because it reappears later in the novel. Just tell me what you think and I'll try to update it every now and then. Thanks for reading! biggrin heart biggrin
