A Dream Chronicle

2

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ⓕirst activity of the day; walking. Dad said if I did something he wanted to do, he'd take me to do what I'd like to do. We decided to walk through the forest behind the cottage, which lead to the village, which was actually four miles ahead.

Dad said it was going to be muddy, as it was raining all last night, and probably today, so I grabbed my red, rubber wellies and my blue raincoat. I went to grab my phone...

...Oh, yeah. Nevermind.

After I swallowed my last mouth fulls of my pulpy orange juice, I finally met Dad down on the porch and we headed off on our walk.

We didn't speak much, for the first little bit. Every now and then one of us would say "whoops", and trip over a silly twig, or gasp at a beautiful bird sitting in a tree. Dad brought his old fashioned camera with him, and was taking pictures of old objects from farms and fields. It was actually pretty interesting until my eye got caught on something much more.

A dreamcatcher? No, not enough feathers. What was the shiny bit in the middle?

I had no idea. I decided not to tell Dad, but I simply picked up in a flash when he started to walk ahead. When I grabbed it, a feeling crawled along my body, a cold breeze, sensation of hunger? That was probably it. Nothing more, it was just a stupid little dreamcatcher thingy.

I was already tired half way down the path. The enclosure of trees put a heavy weight in the air, making it harder to walk up to speed with full energy. Some how Dad did it though, as happy and high as a kite. Wandering behind, I heard him every now and then say "Robyn, look at this!" Or; "Keep up, come on!" My eyes grew weaker, almost like I was falling asleep.

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I turned around, giving up and heading home. But Mum was trying to stop me of course.

Wait! Mum?

But she didn't seem happy. Telling me to go out and actually do something with Dad. She was never like this! Holding my breath I watched her shove a girl off the front porch. It was me!? The girl, squirming to stand on her feet, tripped and found herself crying, running into the deep opening of the forest and beyond.

I frowned in confusion. Why was she doing this!? I decided to follow the little girl, trying to find her and get answers. Mum scoured at me before I turned, glaring as if she never met me, or as if I was a criminal or the bad guy, and that was my motivation to run. Fast.

Running like an idiot I could not find the girl anywhere. I had taken turn after turn, pathway after pathway. No girl. Was she even real? I was the real one! I think...

At last I sat down, knowing that I got lost. My heart pounding in anger and hatred. She didn't love me! But it was a dream. And dreams can be sad. And even though you know it's not real, you'll still cry. Which is what I did. Cry.

Getting lost, my future self being hurt by my own Mother, trying to be brave because Melissa tells me that I am a big girl, who needs to learn how to grow up. Big girls don't cry. I would know because I never cry. Of course she didn't, she's too perfect.

Sobbing, I wished that Dad came back for me. He probably didn't even notice that I was gone. But he should sometime. He'd come back, Dads always should.

Hours went by and I felt like I fell asleep. The bad dreams kept coming to me, swallowing me whole into the darkness. Drowning me in with their nightmares.

My head started to hurt. It felt like I had just been knocked out! And I must have been because I heard voices, not like Dad's, or ananyone I knew, a strange, new voice. Coming from up above.

No, no, no! This cannot happen! Where on Earth did it go!? I left it in that 'human' junk, obviously not letting it get anywhere! If it's with 'that' one, we're dead. I'm dead!

I heard it say. I think it was referring to me! I instantly sat up, fearing danger of the thing. But when I laid eyes on it...

...It was actually pretty cute!

It looked like a mini owl, with really fluffy wing that made him look fat, or poofy. I giggled.

"I'm not fat!" It exclaimed. "Neither poofy!' I gasped. How did it know I thought that!?

"You...uh..." I pointed to it. "Yeah, yeah, yeah. Talking Tallawink, so what!?"

"Tallawink?" I stammered. "Yeah, never heard of one? Miniature talking owl, thingy. Mystical, and quite rare, don't you know." It began to brag. It flew down from the small branch and landed at my feet.

"The name is Hartburrow. And yes, I'm a 'guy'." It answered my question I never even said out loud. How was this possible?

"It's 'possible', cause I can read yer thoughts. That's what all Tallawinks can do, I think. Robyn Winder, right?" I nodded in disbelief.

I stood up and began to walk away. I must have been crazy!

"Hey, what do you think yer doin'?" He yelled.

"You tell me! I'm in a dream. You are a dream! You're not real!" He flew over to me and flapped his little wings, keeping him in the air, parallel to my face.

"It ain't a dream, sweetheart. Believe. Don't grow up like the other kids..." He sounded sad. All of a sudden he blew in my face. Almost like dust was coming at me, causing me to fall on the floor, asleep.

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I woke up. Dad was there, rubbing my head. I quivered, cold, tired, hungry, curious as to what "Hartburrow" was and why he was in my dream. Weird.

"Are you alright sweety? Did you get tired? We could have stopped, I mean..."

"No!" I stopped him. "Dad," I said calmly. "I'm fine. I must have gotten lost and hit my head." I touched my gently bleeding forehead.

"Yeah, why don't we go get that taken care of, couple band aids, and then we'll go out to eat in the village." He took me by the hand and lifted my to my feet. I nodded.

"And tomorrow, we'll do something you want to do." We walked together, talked and laughed as we strotted down the path down to the cottage.

As if nothing happened.

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"The greatest glory in living lies not in never falling, but in rising every time we fall."☪

-Nelson Mandela