Enchantment of Sorrow

Chapter 06: Life And Dreams

YOU were dreaming. Of that, you were well aware. Yet it felt like remnants of an old life. You seen your mother laying in a bed, white as snow from outside her doorway. Your sisters were gathered around her and you kept hearing her whispering something. You came into the room and stood at the foot of the bed.

"Y/N..." you heard with the faintest whisper. "Where is Y/N?"

"I am here mother..." you answered, but she did not seem to hear you, and kept repeating it over and over. You looked about you, and realized they could not see you.

Finally one of your sisters took her hand. "I'm sorry mom... she didn't come yet."

You heard your mother take in a shattering breath.

"MOM!" you shouted. You knew that sound. Death rattles...

Her eyes glazed over for a moment, and a smile came to her face and her face lit up in joy as if she could see you, and she began said in a sweet voice, "There she is... my baby... my sweet baby. But she's an angel. An angel."

Your mother's eyes closed, and you sat at the foot of her bed. She was sleeping now - the mortal sleep before she would draw her last breath. It would not be long now.

"You would think the little bitch could show up at her mother's deathbed!" Your sister spat out, her blond ponytail shaking as she stood and went to the window looking out.

The other sighed, "Maybe she got caught in the snow storm Michelle."

"Yeah right. You know how she is. Always just grabs and grabs. Hardly giving anything back. Thinking her little cakes and smiles of reassurance make up for all that shit she caused when she was younger."

"Michelle!" your red-haired sister Christine exclaimed in an attempt to reprimand her.

"She almost killed us that night, and did she say or show any remorse? Hell no! She only got more reckless! So, don't make excuses for her. If she cared so much for our mother she would have been here. Where was she while mom was spitting up blood and falling on the floor crying, and begging us to kill her?! Where was she when she had to go to chemo or take injections, or shitting herself because she couldn't hold her bowels anymore?! Not here! But I was... and so were you. So, just shut up!" Michelle expressed with disgust and venom, her voice rising in pitch before she ended it. Michelle closed her eyes tight, and shook her head going back to the window.

You however, were in tears. Where were you? Where had you been since you turned nineteen? Two states away because you couldn't handle the constant pressure and hassle anymore. You Had done so many things....

You could have...

You should have done better. You should have been there.

You cried out in a choking sob, when you seen your mother take one long rattling breath and let it out, then her head went slack, and she breathed no more.

You knew it... she had passed.

****

Your eyes opened, tears overflowing from them. Everything flooded back to you at once and shimmering fog over your memory which had began after your third day ended. The call from Christine about your mother. The car stopping in the snow, all the human elements of your memories returned.

You sat up, flinging the covers from your body and ran to the door, down the hall straight to the king's rooms. He had been laying down, and at your entrance sat straight up in alarm, and swung his legs out of the bed ready to pounce on whatever danger you were perceiving to be there. His loosely laced tunic fell off a shoulder as he reached for a dagger on the side of his bed, and the skin tight leggings showed the tense, powerful muscles he kept covered usually with his long robes.