Feathers of a dream

Chapter 1

Opening her eyes Lythia looked around at the beautiful scenery she was sitting in. The meadow seemed to be overflowing with life.  Different shades of green and brown sparkled as the suns rays bounced back and forth. Butterflies and bees seemed to be floating in and out of the flowers dropping pollen along the way. The lush green grass beneath, tickled her hands and feet. Each blade seemed to glisten underneath the sunlight as flowers poked out between them.  Looking up from the grass and into the distance, hills and trees were surrounding. Just like the field they seemed to be over flowing with life as they rose and fell in all directions. The smell of warm grass and sweet flowers was both intoxicating and relaxing. It was such a beautiful peaceful spring day all alone in this clearing.

             Noticing something twinkling beneath the tall glistening grass, she pushed it back. Bones were sticking out from the ground. Scanning back over the surroundings she noticed death was covering the beautiful meadow. Trees in the distance that were fallen over have bones draped across them. The dirt trail next to her had spears and shields deposited across them. Some still had hands wrapped around them. Beneath the tall glistening grass, and coving the lush hills and forest were so many decayed bodies. The years of sun and rain only left skeletons, stripping them from the flesh that once held them together. Grass and flowers had over taken them, keeping them sealed beneath their glistening stems. Taking in a deep breath once again she was met with the intoxicating aroma of warm grass and sweet flowers. Confusion clouded her eyes as she tried to understand what was happening.

            “Where am I?” She whispered.

            The little boy sitting next to her looked up through his long blonde eyes lashes an innocent smile swept across his face. “Only time will tell.” He gently answered.

Hearing his angelic voice she looked down. Bright blue eyes were looking intently in hers. The eyes were sad and empty. The smile on his face and angelic voice didn’t match the eyes staring back at her. Those empty black pupils felt like they were threatening to overtake the blue and her along with it.

~                                                                                                                             ~

Sitting up Lythia felt panic and fear over taking her body. Shivers ran up and down her spine. Blinking rapidly, she took in the sight of the room. Taking a big breat,  her vision started to clear and understanding engulfed her. Grabbing the blanket pushed to the ends of her feet, she pulled it toward her face.

            Turning her head she looked toward the window to see the night sky breaking away to dawn.  Thin layers of fog seemed to coat the ground. Lythia watched as the rising sun started to carved paths through the fog. A sigh escaped her lips, as the images from the dream continued to keep dancing through mind.

            A blinking light caught the corner of her eye. Her cell phone sitting on the night stand still humming music. The light blinking ever few seconds letting her know there were text messages waiting. Picking it up, she unlocked her phone and scrolled through the text messages.

            Bell: Sleeping again? Seriously?! Call me when you wake up!!

            Lythia giggled and looked at the time. Knowing Bell would be asleep still she hesitated to call her. Pushing the call button she grabbed the headphones sitting on the night stand. Putting them on her ears she patiently waited through each ring. A half groggy voice finally stopped the ringing.

            “Jinn is that you?” Half awake Bell tried to sound sweet and innocent.

            Lythia chocked back a laugh. “You said to call when I woke up. So here I am!”

            Silence meet Lythia while she waited for bell to respond. Hugging her blanket closer to her body she heard a heavy breath from her friend.

            “Lythia? What the hell are you doing?” Bell hissed. “It’s too early!!”

            A small chuckle escaped. “You said to call. Bet if I was Jinn, you wouldnt think this was too early.” She teased.

            “Yeah, I know, I was waiting for him to call but I fell asleep. I figured he would call and wake me up by now, or I would still be awake.” She groggily answered.  

             Giggles escaped as Lythia bit her bottom lip trying to stifle them. “Well I could let you go back to sleep so when Jinn calls he can wake you up.”

            Bell let out a heavy sigh fully awake now. “No, you really shouldn’t. I’m awake now. So what’s with the call at the c***k of dawn? Anything interesting to tell me?”

            Lythia sighed. Not sure how to respond she looked back toward the window. The fog was growing in size. Thin layers just a little while ago but now it had become thicker, seeming to  cling on to the morning dew. Sunlight was trying to push through but the dense fog kept it from shining brightly.

             Wiggling the headset cord through her fingers, she tried to find words as images danced across her head. “I had a dream. It was… bazaar.” Lythia looked up toward the ceiling, the little boys face flashed across her mind. “I can only remember bits and pieces of it.”

            “Seriously? I’m not deciphering dreams this early in the morning!” Bell whined. “I give up before I even start.”

            This time a full course of giggles erupted from Lythia and she didn’t try to bite them back. “Its fine, I wasn’t going to tell you my entire dream anyway. Mostly, because I barely remember… but it felt so real.”

            Bell couldn’t help but giggle to herself listening to her best friend. “Good! Your dreams are…” A moment passed before Lythia heard a shriek. “Oh! Jinn is calling. I’ll text you.”

            The call ended. Snuggling deeper into her bed, Lythia scrolled through her notification.  Pressing the play button on the music again, she looked back at the ceiling. Wondering why the dream felt familiar and yet she couldn’t remember ever seeing a place like that. A sense of déjà vu was settling its self right next to eerie knot tied in her stomach as the boy skated across her mind. Those blue eyes looked sad and empty, but yet she knew she had seen him somewhere before.

            VIBRATE! Jumping from the movement, she looked down at her phone. Her best friend’s incoming text lit the screen up.

            Bell: Aww he said “I love you” for the first time! I think I’m going to keep him forever!!!

            Lythia smiled to herself. She wanted nothing more than to see Bell happy. It looked as if her best friend had finally found that with Jinn. Slowly she pulled up her keyboard and typed away.

            Lythia: Aww how cute!! Wait why is he calling so early just to tell you he loves you?

            Bell: Remember he went to Japan for a few weeks because of work? It’s killing me I need him here now. Oh and it’s night there when it’s daytime here.

            Lythia: Oh yeah! I completely forgot about Japan. Tell him to bring me home a souvenir. Also patience is a virtue my friend.

            Bell: We all know I have absolutely none. This is torture!!

            Smiling at her friends impatience Lythia pulled her headset out while wrapping it around the phone before tossing it on the bed. Swinging her feet out from the warmth of the comforter she touched them to the wooden floor beneath. Every morning it was always ice cold. Didn’t matter if it was dead winter with ice and snow outside or in the hot dog days of the summer the floor remained chilly. Fighting the urge to tuck her feet back in the warmth of the comforter Lythia made her way to the bathroom. Turning on the shower, she stripped her night clothes and tossed them into the hamper sitting in the corner. The warm steam from the shower floated around, it was beckoning her to join.

            Letting the water hit across her skin she started to relaxed. Red blotches followed everywhere the water hit. She felt as if the water was washing away some of her troubles. The eerie knot in the pit of her stomach seemed to unravel and wash down the drain with the water. Slowly the dream became something of a distant memory with each passing minute. Turning the shower off she reached for the towel that was sitting on the sink.

            Lythia took a wash cloth from the drawer and wiped down the mirror. A dark green pair of eyes stared back at her. Dark circles seemed to high light the skin underneath her eyes. She poked at the dark skin. It turned pink then back to a blue shade. Sighing to herself she looked away from the mirror and headed down the hallway toward her room.

            Pushing open her bedroom door a mess unfolded before her. So many of her clothes were thrown from one end to the other. Sitting down on the floor she started digging through the mess. Trying to remember what had and hadn’t been worn, she started tossing different things toward the door. Each time they landed perfectly into the laundry hamper.

            Once the bottom of the closet and bedroom floor was visible she stood up and grabbed the first shirt she saw hanging up. It was a plain dark blue t-shirt. Walking over to the dresser she pulled out a light colored pair of jeans. They started to fray in different patches up and down the front legs.

            Getting dressed Lythia picked up her phone removing the headset so  the music could play loudly. Listening to the music play she sat down in front of her vanity mirror. A towel was still wrapped around her hair. Slowly she removed the towel leave a tangled curly mess. She couldn’t help but laugh remembering a picture of her mother’s hair in the eighties. The mess she had could have totally passed as a normal hairstyle. Taking the towel, she blotted her hair trying to remove any excess water. As dark brown strains fell into her face she used the hair brush to untangle it.

Deciding she looked somewhat presentable for the day she threw her hair into a pony tail and headed down toward the kitchen. Making sure her hard work didn’t go in vain she tossed the dirty towels into the laundry hamper on her way down the steps.

            The house was completely quiet. Which was nothing out of the ordinary. Lately everyone was so busy with their lives. It made her feel like no one but her was living there. She grabbed a bowl from the kitchen cupboard and a box of cereal, and sat down at the table.

Mixing everything into the bowl she eyed her food hungrily. Taking a bite, she looked toward the window. The early morning fog was finally starting to lift. In its wake the fog left water droplets layering the grass. Something moved in the corner of her eye. Turning her head, she saw a Raven standing in between the tall grass.

            Staring at the Raven it started to hopped a few feet. She watched it hop back and forth and move through the grass as if trying to find something. Lythia couldn’t take her eyes off of the Raven, something seemed different about it.

Watching the sun highlight each and every feather as the raven turned to face her. Black empty eyes stared back at her sending eerie chills down her spine. Trying to shake the feeling she dropped her gaze back to the bowl. The eerie knot in her stomach tightening again, something seemed familiar about the raven and she didn’t like it. A few minutes passed and Lythia lifted her head again, but nothing was there. Intently moving her eyes across the back yard she became lost in trying to figure out where the raven had gone. The woods behind her house seemed to move as if something or someone was standing in them.

            Something rubbed across her leg making her nearly jump out of her seat. Looking down a familiar pair of green hazel eyes were gazing up at her. The cat walked over to the other chair and jumped into it. Looking across the table at Lythia’s breakfast he yawned and curled up on the seat. If it wasn’t fish or meat, he normally didn’t want any part of it. The cat was taking in the sunlight that shown through the window. Looking over at her, he sprawled out across the chair.

            A giggle escaped. She remembered when he first entered her life. He was a small kitten sitting on the side of the street. His fur was matted together, and stained a shade of dingy yellow. Black dirt coated his paws and was smudged across his face. Being no bigger than the palm of her hand she placed it inside the pocket of her jacket and headed straight home.

            Running a sink full of warm water Lythia placed the kitten in. He meowed relentlessly as she took some of the soap and scrubbed across his fur. Taking her hand, she scooped up water and gently poured it over his back.  The once clear water had turned gray in the sink as a pure white coat started shining through. Wrapping him up in a hand towel she took him in to the living room.

Bright green eyes peered up through a small opening in the towel. They reminded her of her eyes. As she blotted him dry and slowly moved the towel across his back fluffy white fur puffed around him. As the white fur glistened in the light it reminded her of a freshlu fallen snow.

            Lythia ran toward her brother’s room and burst through the door. Davin laid sprawled out on the floor listening to music. She jumped down beside him and let the little kitten walk across his stomach. Lifting his head, he looked at the kitten then toward Lythia. Her eyes were full of love, as excitement lit up her face. Shaking his head he knew what to do.

He picked the kitten off of his stomach and without saying a word walked outside to the patio where their parents were. Davin handed the kitten to their mother and asked if they could have it. She looked confused but saw Lythia smiling as wide as she could muster. Jacob her other brother took the kitten from her mom. Turning it over in his hands a few times he smiled as well. He couldn’t help but join the other two in asking if they could keep it as well.

            Completely at a loss for words their mother shook her head yes. She couldn’t help but wanting to see them happy. Everyone sat together on the patio playing around and petting the kitten. Lythia was so overcome with joy, she couldn’t stop smiling the whole time. After what seemed like several hours, they decided on a name. His new name would be called ‘Snow.’

            Lythia set her bowl in the sink. Patting Snow on the head she grabbed her hoodie and purse. The purse wasn’t light by any means; it was large like a tote bag. Swinging it over a shoulder she headed outside turning the door knob just to make sure it was locked.

            The sun was brightly shinning. No trace of the early morning fog remained, but a gentle breeze blew in the air. The warm spring air flipped her pony tail around as she put her keys into the car door. Sliding into her seat she threw her things into the passenger seat, and grabbed her sunglasses off the dashboard. Still yawning she pulled away from her house.