Golden Threads

Prologue

When Mallory was a young child she would have dreams of a beach. A fire, a merry-go-round, pretty lights and death.

The blood & death she saw wasn't something a child of 5 should ever witness, and her little mind couldn't fully comprehend what she was seeing. Nor could her lack of vocabulary properly explain the situation to her concerned parents when they came asking her what's wrong? Woken by her screams and sobs.

Monsters? Monsters weren't real. It was just a bad dream. Go back to bed dear.

But how does a child so young explain to her parents - convinced she's just having a nightmare - that no, no they couldn't be dreams. They were too real. The four shadows she saw were too solid, the laughter too loud in her ears. The whole scene too unique for her little mind to just come up with.

But as mommy and daddy comforted her and her despair of not having the proper words, she slowly began to believe their soothing words. It was just a dream, the monsters aren't real, and shadows that had wicked laughter and no faces couldn't reach her here.

Micheal, her ever loud big brother, held up his toy sword and promised to fight the monsters for her. Mallory laughed with her brother and pointed out that they were much taller than him. To which he simply responded "Then I'll kick their knees!"

The Emerson twins and their newest baby brother, Little golden haired Sammy, went to bed late that night. The memory of such nightmarish visions fading from Mallory's mind as her father flew her around the room and her Mother danced in a circle with her brothers. They were allowed one sweet snack before they went back to sleep and Lucy had tucked them in for the night, their father having grown too tired and had gone to bed before them.

Mallory had laid down holding Michaels hand for the night. The twins still young enough that they were allowed to share a bed.

But her dreams were anything but sweet. And in the dark recesses of her mind, her loud and reckless twin brother couldn't keep her safe from the shadows with his youthful valor and toy sword.

The dream started off harmless enough, she was flying! Like Peter Pan and Tinker Bell under the stars. She was soaring over the ocean like Wendy Darling had done with her brothers when they went to Neverland.

But she wasn't headed to Neverland... or maybe she was. Mallory didn't know what a real life Neverland would look like. But she did recognize what a beach looked like despite it being dark.

Then she saw the pretty lights... and her stomach started to drop, then she saw the familiar merry-go-round and she tried waking up to know avail.

Then she saw the four shadows. She couldn't see their faces, she didn't want to see their faces. But they walked on the merry-go-round which Mallory knew was wrong.

You're not supposed to walk on a merry-go-round, you're supposed to ride on the horses.

The visions shift and it seems a police man knew the rules of the merry-go-round too. He was a large man, like Santa Claus but younger. He grabbed a shadow and threw them off the cylindrical contraption, the other three shadows following the first one.

Visions changed again, and once again she was flying. She was over the pretty lights when suddenly the lights went dark. She tried waking up again but she couldn't and she began to cry in her dreams and she quickly wondered if her real self was crying too.

Then she saw the large police man again. And then she saw the four shadows again. They were following the police man and Mallory began screaming at the police man to run! The shadows were bad! The shadows were gonna hurt him! But he couldn't hear her.

That's when the shadows started laughing, and the police man did hear that. He turned and started screaming as he ran to his car. Trying to open it but to no avail. Mallory was crying harder.

"Stop! STOP! I'M SCARED! MAKE IT STOP!" She cried out loud into the dream realm.

Everything went silent, and it took a few seconds for the little girl to gather the courage to re-open her eyes.

There were white puffy clouds all around her in a pink and orange sky, and pretty rainbow fish swimming amongst them like they were in water.

The rest of the night was peaceful, the bad dream forgotten.

But as the sweet dreams came to an end, and the song of consciousness began to reach her, she saw that dark beach one more time.

A voice that sounded a bit like her own but older whispered up at her from the very dark waters.

"Threads of blue will meet threads of gold,
A life on the end begins the journey,
Follow the star, and do not hesitate,
Threads of blue may join the threads of gold,
Or threads of blue cut the golden thread short,
Follow the blood, and choose an eternal moon.
Follow morals, and choose the predictable.
Fear not the Lost Boys, and you'll be safe.
Fear not Peter Pan, and the ice may be thin,
Fear not of tinker bell, and she may stab you.
The Neverland calls. Youth answers.
What will your choice be?"

Mallory woke up with tears soaking her pillow.

Micheal still fast asleep next to her.

She sat up and crept out of bed and went downstairs. Hungry and head full.

But - as with most dreams - as the day went on, the whispers of the dream faded.

And she never dreamt of the laughing shadows, or Neverland ever again.