Dreams

Prologue

Two kids are running around their house, laughing and overjoyed. They are going to a party around 7:00, and they can't stop their excitement.

But in their joy, one of the kids, named Maria, bangs into her parents' shelf of pictures and memories. "OW!" Maria cries, holding her head.

She quickly turns to glare at the shelf as if it's the shelf's fault, but an album with a giant, white, jewel-embedded heart comes toppling off of the shelf with a loud BANG!

Maria gasps. "Oh NO!" She cries. Maria runs over along with her brother, Jaxson. "Ay ay ay. . ." Maria mutters. "Mom's gonna murder me. . ."

She picks up the album with Jaxson looming over her, and her eyes go wide as she hences the album's beauty. "Woah. . ." She says.

Jaxson gasps behind her. Maria holds up the gorgeous thing very carefully, peering at it with interest and curiosity.

"It's. . . it's BEAUTIFUL!" She cries. "Jaxson, what do you think?" "It's VERY girly," The boy notes. "But it IS really pretty.

Maria returns her gaze to the album in her hand. She lets her curiosity get the best of her and she opens it up, just to reveal hundreds of pictures of two gorgeous kids, one female and the other male.

And they couldn't be happier. Every single picture was all those two. They looked very young, too; not even teens yet.

"What do you think this is?" Maria asks Jaxson, grabbing a picture of the same kids holding hands and smiling. "I have NO idea," Jaxson says, messing with his blonde hair. "But the album has a heart on it, right? That's GOTTA be a clue."

Maria continues staring at the old photo in her hands. She brushes her finger lightly over it, as if a single touch could damage it.

"Jaxson?" Maria asks, not taking her gaze away from the photograph. "Who do you think these . . ." Maria trails off as she looks away and notices that Jaxson isn't there anymore. ". . . Jaxson?"

"Of course." Maria reluctantly sets down the photo gently on the sepia wooden floor. She decides to ignore the mess of picture frames and fake flowers and she heads to her mom's room instead.

And, just as she expected, the second she opens the snow white door, she sees Jaxson nagging their mom. "But MOM-" Jaxson pleads.

"I'm not telling you until your sister gets here." Maria hears mom say as she crosses her arms. "I can grab Maria! Just hold on-" Maria opens the door and Jaxson turns to look at her. "SEEEEE?!?" Jaxson cries. "HERE SHE IS!!"

Her mom sighs. "Okay. Well, you're telling me you banged into me and your fathers SPECIAL SHELF and found an album with a fake-diamond embedded heart?" Maria hangs her head nervously.

"Y-yes, mom." She says, not looking up at her mother. "You guys can do more damage in an hour than a bull in a china shop. . ." Her mother mutters. Maria finally brings herself to look up.

Her mother is smiling. "Well. . alright." She says. Maria and Jaxson stare at her hopefully. "BABE!!" She calls. Maria's father walks into the room. "Yeah?" He asks. "It's time." Her mother says excitedly.

"For the comedy show. . ?" He asks unsurely. "NO silly!" Her mother cries. "For the. . ?" Her mother waits for him to finish the sentence. "OOOOOHHH!" Maria's father says. "Right. Right."

He sits next to her. "Okay! Well, children, we've prepared this story for WAY too long! So, well, we'll tell you the story."

Maria gasps. "What kind of a story is it?!?" "If I told you, Jaxson would run out of here." "Oh, fun." Jaxson says sarcastically, rolling his eyes. "But then you'd miss it!"

Her mother complains. "And you don't wanna miss THIS!!"

"Why not?" Jaxson asked, clearly intrigued by his mother's words. "Because!" His mother says. "If I may, this is a story of a LIFETIME!"