The Story of Adeline May

What A Family Reunion

I dream about mom and God the following night. I know, right? What a weird combination. Memories of my mom and some form of hatred for God. The 'Alpha and Omega'.

My mom and I are at church, in my dream. I was sitting in a few rows ahead of her, like always. I look down at my clothes — which is usually a dress of some kind — but instead I'm wearing a sports bra and boxers; what I was wearing when I found my mom.

I wake up a few moments after that.

For a week, I've had that dream. I always wake up before the preacher can start talking.

Something in my dream, this time, acknowledges the fact that when I wake up, I'll have to go to school. That was the agreement I made with my father. Wait a week, get my 'emotions' under wraps and then go to school. Like clock ticking away...

What wakes me up is someone shaking my shoulder, hard; the only reason mom's face is forced away. "I'm up, I'm up." I mumble, pushing myself up.

"I've been trying to wake you up for 25 minutes, Rainbow." Silas says with a chuckle. "I forget how heavy you sleep sometimes."

I smile softly, looking around the room. Silas must've redecorated it. Before, he had Punk Rock band posters covering half the wall. All I see now is aesthetic collages — white and blue colors popping out the most.

A picture of me and him is hanging on the closet door, along with others of his friends, surrounding his mirror. I see a chalk board behind him, my eyes locking on the small rainbow drawing beside his name.

I look up. "Love the new look."

"Thought you might," he says. "You can thank mom for-"

"Yours or mine?"

Silas' eyes grow sad as he realizes his dilemma. Even though he's my stepbrother, we are close. So close that he calls my mom 'Mom', and on occasion, I'll call his mom 'Mom', too.

"I'm sorry."

Before I can say anything, Elijan pokes his head in. "You finally got her up — yay. Dad said we have twenty New York minutes to get ready for school. And he was talking specifically of you, Adeline."

I roll my eyes and turn to Silas. "That's not why you woke me up, is it? Being up early isn't really at the top of my list right now."

"Actually, I wanted you show you your room. You were exhausted last night — though, I have no idea why, you've been here for a week and haven't done a-"

"Why didn't you just carry me to my room?" I ask, cutting him off.

Silas chuckles. "Remember when we were younger all you wanted in the world was to sleep in the attic?"

A smile stretches across my face, and I throw the blankets from me. I rush out of the room. Silas laughs. Having an attic-based bedroom has been a childhood dream of mine. I don't know — something about a small bed against the farthest wall, a circular window above it with lanterns lighting the room always bring a nostalgic feeling to me. I gasp when I finally reach the top of the attic stairs.

The attic is everything I imagined it to be. A lot bigger than I thought it'd be.

There's a king-sized bed to the left of me with green pillows and comforters. A small table with an alarm clock and lamp is beside it. Ahead of me is a plain white desk and a rolling chair with boxes of my belongings. I walk towards it. Reaching into the box, I pull out a photo of me and my mom. Of course, she's the first thing I pull out.

The picture was taken at my thirteenth birthday bash — my face was covered in cake icing and my mom was behind me, her head back, frozen, as a laugh left her. I place a finger on the glass. A sad feeling pangs my heart.