“Friday”
Cheska’s Point of View
I opened my eyes to darkness, with but only a lantern that lit a pathway to follow. I could hear noises, and see eyes of people or perhaps creatures of the dark, that were just lurking around the corner waiting for the right moment to pounce on me. As I was walking through the bricked road, the scenery suddenly changed. I could sense the creatures retracting towards the dark corners of the place as the scenery in front of me continued to shift. I could finally see light, the lantern, and the pathway long gone from my field of vision.
A fastball of moving light approached me, perhaps it was too fast, and fear slowly crept up on me. Even so, I stood my ground, there was something familiar about it. It was as if I’ve seen it before. And so I did the craziest idea I had in mind, I jumped.
Then it hit me, I was dreaming.
The place in front of me now was beautiful, with skyscrapers as tall as mountains, technology more advanced than where I came from, the people so tall and beautiful. “What is this place?” I said to myself. Even though I’ve never been there before, everything felt familiar. I was awestruck at what my eyes were seeing, I could see buildings with giant boards plastered on them one was named, "Wonders In Clitheopiea" WIC huh. A guy appeared in front of me and said “Xen! It’s you! We’ve been waiting for - “
“Aaaah” I was brought back to my senses with a splash of ice-cold water. I opened my eyes and saw my grandma standing beside my bed holding which is now an empty bucket. “Nana, did you just use that bucket on me?” I asked. “Isn’t it obvious child? Now get up and get ready, you’re coming with me. It’s Friday”
I hurriedly got up, bathed, and ate as fast as I could. I knew my Nana, she’s a lot of things but being patient isn’t one of them. I grabbed my white canvas bag and closed the door behind me and jogged to where Nana was seated at. It was still dark out, twilight if you would say. if you were wondering why I wasn’t getting up for school, it’s because I don’t go to any. Nana says it’s for the best. I’m homeschooled, Nana teaches me everything she knows. From the basic stuff that they teach you at schools like the science of the creation of the universe, mathematical calculations, historical events, to knowledge about healing herbs and even simple stories about mythology.
We silently walked to the Market, while walking I talked to her about my dream. She was unusually quiet after I told her about it, part of me thought she somehow knew about it. “Someday it will all make sense Ches, be patient. Plus it’s just a dream dear, don’t worry about it too much”. We just shrugged it off and continued to walk. It still bothered me but I wasn’t going to tell her that, I wouldn’t want her to worry.
She’s Grandma Gemma, I call her Nana. She’s the only family I’ve ever known and the only person I trusted. I grew up with her you see, my parents left me to her. Nana says it was to protect me because they loved me but I doubt that. Nana is often ridiculed and shamed in our town because of rumors that say she’s a witch, that didn’t bother me though. Growing up I used to see her mixing herbs, doing chants, and talking languages that I’ve never even heard of. People would come to our house and ask for help, I didn’t understand then and I didn’t really bother to ask.
We arrived at the marketplace after about thirty minutes of walking. Nana led the way and I just followed her, holding the plastic bags she bought. “Nana this getting too heavy, can’t we just come back for the other things? My arms are sore and tired” I wailed. “Quiet child, you’ll ruin the mood” she replied and continued to walk around. With a loud humph, I followed suit. A few hours later, we were finally back at our hut just in time for lunch. I placed the bags in the kitchen and let Nana work on lunch. She doesn’t want me anywhere near the kitchen and it was understandable considering I almost burned our hut a few times before.
I decided to stay at our terrace and relax. The warm summer breeze touched my skin, birds were chirping, the sun peaking behind a cloud shaped like a bear, and no human insight. I inhaled deeply, closed my eyes, and felt the air fill my lungs. The air smelled like the ocean, which I liked. Living here in Samar came with a lot of perks. “Xen!” I opened my eyes and exhaled. Startled. That voice, I’ve heard that before or I thought I did. I yelped in surprise from where I was sitting when a hand suddenly touched my shoulder. “Nana, you scared me”. “Child you’re too caught up in your thoughts I’ve been calling you for over a minute now. C’mon lunch is ready”. Nana and I ate in silence together. I wasn’t much of a talker. I was more of a listener. “Ches, I’ll be out tonight,” Nana said sadly. She always hated leaving me alone. “Nana it’s okay, I’m a big girl now” I smiled and held her hand trying to convince her. After we finished I went up to my room and played with my pet. She’s a black cat, named Luci. I opened the tv and reached for the book on my bedside table. The tv is for background noise while I read, it helps me concentrate when I read.
A couple of hours later I heard a knock. “Ches lock the doors, there’s food on the table, and call me if you need anything, I’ll be back tomorrow morning”, she said and left.
The clock struck 6 pm, time for dinner. I went to the kitchen and used the microwave to warm my food. After I ate I cleaned after myself, and just fiddled with my phone. I was scrolling through YouBook when I heard the window open letting in a strong gush of wind. “Ah s**t” I muttered as I heard something break. I closed the window and checked the incident. It was Nana’s picture frame, that’s weird only hers broke the others were fine. Even so, I thought nothing of it and carefully picked up the pieces of broken glass and threw it away.
I went up to my room and watched tv. A few moments later I dozed off to a dreamless sleep.
