A Second Chance

Chapter 5

"Susan...Susan..." The gentle whisper seemed to be carried with the breeze that blew gently against her face. "Susan..." There it was again. The voice was warm, deep, and inviting. Susan followed the sound. It led her through a lovely forest of trees, but not just any trees, moving trees. Some of them would move, as if stepping out of her way. Then they would bend forward at the top, as if they were bowing. Finally she reached the source of the sound. It was a lion. A large, golden lion with loving eyes.
"Susan," the lion said in a kind voice. "why have you turned away from me?"
"I'm sorry," Susan hung her head. "I-I just forgot."
"You didn't forget. How could you forget? You simply refused to believe. You were too 'grown up' for those 'games' you played as a child. You didn't happen to forget, Susan, you chose to forget." He explained. Susan pondered his words.
"But why? What made me refuse?" She asked, now looking into his eyes.
"That's a question you'll need to answer yourself."
Ringggg! Ringggg! Susan sat up abruptly in bed. She glanced at the clock on her bedside table. Nine-twenty-two. Good thing it was Saturday. Ringggg! Susan sprung out of bed and dashed down the stairs to answer the phone.
"Hello?" She answered.
"Um, hi Susan. This is Warren."
"Oh hi Warren. Did you want something?"
"No. I just wanted to make sure you were okay after, you know, what happened last night and everything."
"Yes." Susan sighed. "I'm fine. And I'm sorry again. It was just hard being there in that house again, especially after what happened."
"I know. It's fine, I understand."
"But I'll try to push all that aside if we go back."
"Okay, but don't feel like you have to. I understand perfectly if you don't wish to go back." Susan smiled, grateful for a good friend, but who would've ever thought it would be Warren? She could just see the shock on her siblings faces if they knew she was friends with the geek who had chased her around all of high school.
"Last night when I got home I read some of the old letters my siblings wrote to me." She told him. "I don't know why but it made me feel better. It made it feel as if they were still here."
"Hmm. I don't think I would be able to stand reading those if I were in your place."
"Yes, well it was hard, especially when they mentioned-" She stopped. She had never told Warren about their so called childhood adventures. "-nevermind." She pushed those thoughts aside as well. Warren was polite and didn't push her to say anything more.
"Actually Susan," He said after a few moments of silence. "there is something I wanted. I was wondering if you would like to join me and my brothers family at church tomorrow morning?" Susan had thought about it but had never really gone to, or been interested in going, to church.
"Um actually I have a lot of papers to grade this weekend." She excused. "Maybe another time."
"Alright, another time." He said, sounding a bit on the disapointed side. They found that there wasn't much else they wanted to say at the moment so they said their goodbyes and hung up the phones.
Susan had had a long night and, though she had slept in quite a bit, she found it hard to keep her eyes open while grading the past weeks' spelling tests. Finally she dozed off, laying her head on her arms.
In her dream she found herself exactly where she had left off that morning. She was standing before the great lion in a beautiful forest.
"Now come, dear one." Said the lion. She followed him through the forest. As they walked it gradually got colder, and finally it began to snow. They reached a small ledge that overlooked a pond. On the pond sat a little beavers' dam. It looked cozy and warm with smoke billowing from the chimney. They stood there for a moment gazing at the little home.
"Do you remember this?" The lion asked. It seemed a bit familiar, but Susan shook her head. Then she followed the lion down the steep hill and up to the house. He stopped and nodded towards one of the windows. She walked up to it and peeked in. Inside two beavers sat at a short table. Sitting across from them were three children. One, who looked to be the oldest, had dark blonde hair and bright blue eyes. He sat in between two girls. One looked quite young with short brown hair, not even shoulder length. The other looked a lot like Susan herself. In fact, it was Susan. She was staring straight at herself and her siblings.
"It all looks so real, but..." She trailed off. She didn't quite know what to say.
"Follow me." The lion said and turned in a different direction. She followed him back into the forest. Soon they stopped and watched the same three children, Peter, Lucy, and herself, approach a man standing by a sleigh. He had a long white beard and a jolly laugh. He pulled a large sack out of the sleigh.
"Presents!" Lucy squealed. Then Father Christmas gave each of them a gift. To Lucy he gave a dagger and a bottle of Juice of the Fire Flower. To Susan he gave a bow and arrows and a magic horn. Then to Peter he gave a sword and shield. The lion didn't ask Susan anything. He simply lead her away to watch another scene.
They came to the edge of the forest. It was dark, but the scene taking place in front of them was lit with torches of fire. There were many creatures, evil looking creatures. Hags and werewolves and ogars and dwarves and things Susan had no idea what they were! Then there was a lion. A lion that looked much like the one standing next to her. The lion walked up the aisle of creatures then suddenly he was pushed to the ground. The creatures then jumped on him and binded him with rope.
"Wait!" Yelled a tall woman with a small crown on her head. "Let him first be shaved." Then the creatures piled on top of the lion with their knives and swords, cutting off his mane. Susan looked at the lion next to her. He hung his head in shame. Then the lion was dragged up onto a large table made of stone. The creatures were clapping and shouting as the woman knelt down and said a few words to him. Then she stood up, raised a knife above her head then brought it down, with great force, into the lion's side. The lion's eyes rolled back and all the creatures cheered.
Suddenly the lion next to Susan let out a slow breath and, suddenly the scene completely changed as if they had skipped ahead in time, which is in fact what had happened. All the evil creatures vanished and all who were left were two girls who were weeping over the dead lion. The sun was just beginning to rise. The two girls arose and began to walk away from the table when all of a sudden everything began to shake. When the girls turned back around, after the shaking had stopped, the lion was gone and the table was cracked. Then suddenly the lion walked up the stone steps behind the table. A bright light shone behind him. "Aslan!" The girls exclaimed.
Susan jerked her head up off the desk. She was breathing heavily.
"Aslan." She whispered.