Wildest Dreams

Chapter 1 - Typical Day

"My alarm went off an hour ago; I'm late for school!" shouted Loura. Her once warm milk was now cold. The thermostat wasn't turned on because of the increasing price of gasoline, so she hurriedly microwaves the milk and gulps it down. She wears her thickest jacket and goes out to see the heavy traffic on the streets. Instead of taking her car, she took her skateboard - which hasn't been used since she was a sophomore.

She parked her skateboard in the racks and walked into school. Loura was one hour and forty-five minutes late, the school's principal Mr. Ewing was writing detention slips when she walked in.

Mr. Ewing shouted "Eleventh time in a row, a new record. You're excelling in this, it might be great to see you late a few more times."

Loura laughed and said, "I'm sorry Mr. Ewing, but you see an hour ago, a stampede of elephants were stomping their way and almost killed me."

Ewing laughed and gave Loura the detention slips. Loura was going to her second class when she smelled the aroma of the newly baked croissants. Disregarding the fact that she was already very late, she went to the cafeteria and bought a Peach Croissant.

Loura finished the croissant an hour later and went bonkers when she knew she was late for her third class. Mrs. Sanders her T.L.E teacher saw her late and gave her another detention slip; Loura's second slip of the day. She groaned internally. School went by in a flash. Loura was dismissed, though she had two hours of detention, a typical day for her. She sat through detention and counted the minutes until her two hours were finished.

She missed the bus again, which meant she needed to use her skateboard again. She arrived home twenty minutes later and saw her dad waiting outside the house. He glared at her and stomped his feet towards her; he was ready to scold her. In a dash, Loura dropped her skateboard on the lawn, kissed her dad on the cheek, and sprinted inside.

Her dad followed after, shouting, "Loura! Didn't I tell you that you were not allowed to have detention? We were going to have dinner with your brother!"

Loura's eyes widened as she ran her fastest to her room, took a bath, wore a dress, applied some makeup, and was ready to meet her brother. She hasn't seen her brother since she was ten years old, and that was seven years ago. On the way, she wondered how her brother was now. She also wondered what would her brother say when he saw her.

Her brother J.R. was impatiently waiting for them inside the restaurant because Loura and her parents were five minutes late. J.R. was drinking a glass of wine when they walked in. As soon as he saw them, he quickly stood up and hugged them. Seven years and now, they meet again. While eating, they talked about their lives. Loura's father needed a new car, her mother who earned millions because of her new online shop, and of course, Loura always being late.

J.R. was a psychiatrist back at Milwaukee, so he was an expert in treating people who had many problems. He was used to asking the questions, "How do you feel about that?" Or "How are you coping with that?"

"Loura, you've grown so much! How have you been doing?" He asks her in a way that he is both curious and making small talk.

Loura thought, of course, I've grown, you haven't seen me in seven years. Though, of course, she kept that to herself. Instead, she gave a small nod and a smile.

J.R. and their parents made eye contact, and they gave him a slight nod. They were oblivious to the fact that Loura could see their small exchange quite clearly. 

"How have you been sleeping, Loura?" He asks prodding her to answer, though she had no intentions to. "I hear you haven't been, let's say best, when it comes to punctuality."