Children of Morpheus

    I was running at the sidewalk while the sun sparkled off the piles of snow that were mounted at the curb, as if they were like heaped diamonds that was scattered across. The shops were closing as the sunset shimmered down the street, overlaying the gray color of the cold asphalt with a mixture of red, orange, and yellow.     I stopped for a moment to run across the street and wait for my dad at the bench on the other side. The road was slippery at that time. “Accident prone area,” the sign said at the corner of a candy shop that I always loved. Especially back when I was a kid.      The red and white neon lights glitch open in the wide window of Ekron's diner as more people got in and sat on each booth. Then a boy, same as my age, took a turn at the corner from my right. Sebastian Tobit. I know him from Keyshade high and from family gatherings. He's a senior like me, and he is also part of the founding families of the town. That's why I know him. We're tight since we are the new generations of the founders. Me, him, and the others like us are all “childhood friends, ” as they like to call it.     I sat there at the bench, staring at a woman holding her kid beside her. I never met my mother, she died giving birth to me. My dad told me stories about how great she was and how she loved me every waking moment of her life. But he never liked to tell stories about her family, I never knew why. I only saw her in the pictures that are framed on the walls of our house. That's the only thing that kept me connected to her, somehow.     A blue pickup truck stopped in front of me, slide down the window revealing my dad, snapping his fingers. “Get in.” He commanded with a smile.     I sat at the passenger seat and exchange glances then drove. I'm very close with my dad. When I was a child, I remembered he will always put me in bed after I fall asleep on the couch watching a cartoon. And there was one time, I bought candy from the shop for his birthday. And he loved it.      Every time I have birthdays, he always put this smile in his face that kept telling me everything is okay, even though I know everything is not. But each night, I always hear him crying in his room with the picture of mom wrapped around his chest, hugging her like she was in front of him. I know he misses her and I know how he loved her so much. So I want him to be happy always.     He will always be there for me when I needed him and the same as I with him.     “So, how was your day in school?” Dad started then he turned the wheel to the right. “Rafael, remind me later to buy takeout from the diner. We are going to the Dawn's manor in Alderwright, and it's a long drive.”     “Wait,” I paused for a moment. “We?” My eyes widen as I begin to crouch in the seat, slacking my back stubbornly. “Why? What did I do to be punished like this?” I groaned hard.      “Yes, we.” He answered with a hardening voice. “Why? Because it's a meeting of the founding families of the town. Since you are a Williams, you are one of the founding families. So deal with it.”      Wow. He almost answered everything, I said to myself. Then he parked the car in front of the house. The blue shade of the painted wood burst in color with the sun settling down on the Silverkey Forest.     Our house is literally next beside it. I always love going there since I was a child. I don't know why, but I feel like I have a connection with the nature around me. Somehow or something like the connection that I have with my mom.      Is it weird? Cause, I think it's weird. But dad said that I inherited my naturalist, adventurous traits and my green eyes from mom. So that's good enough for me. . . I think. Still, it's good to know that I'm like her.       I opened the door and stepped out of the car. Soon as I almost swing the car door close, Dad looked at me with his brown eyes and said, “Raf, you will go with me. Whether you like it or not.”      “Okay,” I replied with a sarcastic voice. “Like I have a choice,” I quietly said as I shut the door.     The last time that something like this happened is a month ago. He wants me to go with him at a party that the Dawn, again, was throwing. A party for Chad's birthday. And yes, he's one of my “childhood friends.” So there I was, in bed, pretending to be sleeping. But soon, waiting for my dad to leave, I literally fell asleep. Then hours later, I woke up from a dream and got hungry. I got into the kitchen to eat something but there nothing. He literally hid the food from me.      Good parenting, huh? He's a terrible dad, I know. . .     The good thing is that I hid my money very well. I went outside to the diner and ate there. Since Amanda and her daughter, Emma Ekron, are at the party her assistant manager took over the diner while they were gone.     I followed my gaze with my feet following each other, like a race on the stone slabs embedded on the ground. It trailed towards the front door with bushes at each side. The grass carpet is wet from the sprinklers.      I went into my room and got ready. I jumped out of my clothes and threw in a new one. A blue and black snickers, blue jeans, and a sapphire blue polo shirt with white stripes, horizontally. I always like the color blue or any shade of blue. What can I say, Blue looks good on me.     I lied down in the bed and closed my eyes for a second to rest. I felt relaxed as I breathe in and out slowly. This is nice, I said to myself. And again, I fell asleep.     Then something happened as I sleep. A dream came and there was a continuous honking sound that later became metal crashing, colliding to each other with frightful screams that echoed as I stood there frozen in the street. Fire blazed across my eyes fueled with blood spreading like a wave. The screams grew louder and wilder as if it was a banshee crying for help and to warn. Then a knock came running from the door that woke me up from that dream. It sounded like a banging wood on the front door.     I jerked my upper body and tried to calm down my fast-beating heart. What was that? I kept asking myself. A question that echoed in my mind like a buzz. I can still see my dream. It felt so real. It's so vivid. It marked right through me.     Then I was snapped out, again, from the loud knocking in the front door. I got out of my room and head towards it. For the last time, three sharp knocks came before I swung it open.     Nothing. There's no one there.     “Dad!” I called. I stepped out from the door and shook my head on both sides to look if someone is hiding. . . but nothing. “Is this a joke? Dad?” I called out again.     “Who is it?” A voice came running behind me that made my head jerk around and look.     “Dad. That's not you?” I grilled him and looked him in the eyes. But his eyes kept moving, avoiding my gaze.     “Ahh, no.” He replied as he turned back to the stairs. “I was getting ready in my room when I heard that hard knocking.” He added.     My dad wore a light blue long sleeve with what appears to be a necktie that hangs on his neck. He really doesn't know how to knot a tie. It's embarrassing, I know. Amanda is the one who makes it for him every time when she saw him with a tangled tie.     “Are you ready, dad?” I asked as he kept trying to make his necktie perfect.     “I'm just going to leave this be,” he threw the tie on the floor. “You look good,” he said and got back to his room.     The bell rang behind me as the door swung back. The smell of freshly brewed coffee aroma was in the air that excites my lungs, I love that smell, the smell of a rich and flavorful scent. The white and red tiles glimmered under the strong beaming lights and the red couch in each booth was shining from the beam. And there they were, Amanda with Emma all dressed up. Her blonde curled hair that bounces in her shoulders the same as with her mother. Emma's red dress contradicted her hair and blue eyes that made her astonishing.     Then the bell rang again, and this time it was Sebastian with his dad, Felix Tobit. Sebastian was wearing a purple polo shirt with navy blue pants and black snickers. It compliments his raven hair and dark brown eyes. Amanda gave dad and Felix their orders as I talked to Emma and Sebastian.       “Silly question, were you drag into this?” I started as I hid my mouth.      They nodded. “Yup.”     I bobbed back at them.     We all drove separately taking the same route. Sebastian with Felix drove first, then me and dad, and lastly, Amanda and Emma. Then the cold dead night began to howl as a snowflake landed on the window. A thick mist starts to swirl in the street as the headlights were blazed to see through. We saw Felix's car start to wiggle a little.       “Woah,” dad said with his eyes focused on the car. His face has this worry mark that I know. Then Felix's car swerved right in front of us.     A long honk came out that brought back the nightmare that I had. Dad spun the wheel to the right that jerked the car. The tires slid from the slippery road that made me hold on my seat as hard as I can.       I screamed.     A yellow watery light blazed on my side of the window as the sound of the car screeched and honked loudly as it can. Then a sudden jolt came, that pushed us in front. A loud thud of metal and a crushing glass explodes in front of me and dad that made my eyes shut. I felt the bee like sting of the shattered window on my face.     I heard a c***k beside me and saw dad hit his head on the spinning wheel as a whiplash sprung in my neck that made my sight blurry like a camera out of focus. I turned to my dad as he bowed, I tried to speak but nothing came out. My throat came dry.          Then blood gushed out from his head that widened my eyes like a waterfall. I can't scream. I don't know what to do as my vision came slowly turning into a watery sight. I shook my head around, with pain that I can't describe. Fire flashed out in front of me that started to spread beside the car. I panicked. Thinking, this is it, my dream. A question came running as my breathing got harder and thought, is this how I die? Is this the end?     “D-dad,” I muttered hard with a raspy and stuttering voice as I tried to be strong. “Dad!” And there it was, my voice. I cried out as loud as I can, but nothing.      Everything hurts, from my head to down. It's painful to move even for a little bit. Tears start to flow from my eyes down to my cheeks and start coughing hard. The sound of dancing flames was mixing with a long beep of a car as my sight changed slowly into a gloomy vision as everything was frozen deep in pain and fear.         Slowly, complete darkness came about and ate me with questions that made me feel like dying and becoming my hearth. . .