THE JOURNEY HOME

DREAMS (CONTINUED)

When Ophelia woke up again later that day, it was with a firm conviction that the events of the night before were absolutely real. She knew as certainly as she knew her own name that Pearl visited her. The natural course of action was to tell her family that she was still near, near enough to visit, she hadn't abandoned them. The choice of whom to tell was clear enough. Speaking to Mrs. Julia was out of the question and of Pearl's siblings, only her immediate younger sister was mature enough to handle the news of Pearl's reoccurrence. The only issue now was meeting her alone, on which Ophelia decided the best time would be on the walk back from school. All of Pearl's sisters went to the same school and they all walked home together but Amber had a tendency to walk a little behind her sisters, getting her alone was the easy part. Ophelia met with Amber where their paths crossed, as she walked home from school. She had to wait a bit for Pearl's sisters but they came surely enough. The younger, more active ones passed first, chattering loudly, and Amber sauntered behind them, watching, enjoying their chatter and play. Ophelia walked up to her. In the golden sunset, under the company of tall trees with yellowing leaves, her features suddenly struck Ophelia, she resembled her father so much. Amber noticed Ophelia only when she was right beside her and smiled warmly, even her demeanour resembled her father's.

'What are they saying?' Ophelia asked, referring to Amber's younger ones.

'Nothing important really, they are arguing about who is better at a dumb game.', Amber whispered under her breath so her siblings wouldn't hear.

'I see and who would you say would win?', Ophelia continued to probe.

'Neither! They're both terrible' Amber answered without bothering to lower her voice this time consequently earning harsh glares from the forms ahead. Amber wore a mischievous smirk and upon seeing their reactions,  giggled. Ophelia relaxed a little, Amber had that effect, she was easy to talk to, so easygoing and relaxed, in contrast, Pearl was intense and demanding.

But now came the difficult part, how to broach the painful topic of her sister.

'Can I speak to you?', Ophelia asked tentatively. Amber, perceptive as ever, seemed to grasp the gravity of the situation and immediately slowed her pace, allowing her siblings who were now moving even faster, as though racing each other to go on ahead. The trail was lined with brown leaves, the sun shone through the branches and leaves above and cast a golden light on the ground, the crown of the trees creating a beautiful pattern. On seeing this pattern, Ophelia remembered the events of the night before and wondered what Pearl's wings would look like. Would they be golden like the beautiful leaves above? Yellow, like the flickering sunlight that fell in rays around them and bathed them in golden glory or perhaps red? Amber's favourite colour. They could even be orange, like the setting sun, or a lovely shade of blue, sky blue. That would suit her best. Ophelia looked at the cloudy sky above, it was still mostly blue, but purple, orange, and red played around the edges, threatening to overcome the passive blue. She tried to imagine wings the colour of the sky but this task was too daunting for Ophelia.

'It's about Pearl isn't it?' Amber finally spoke, bringing Ophelia abruptly out of her reverie. Ophelia sighed, reopening this wound would be painful, but it was necessary.

'Yes, it is' She managed Amber's face showed no reaction.

'Yes, we all miss her, but we have to move on', Amber answered stoically. Ophelia knew her well enough to see the emotion behind her calm demeanor, it was anger, and who could blame her, if Ophelia felt betrayal, how much more Amber, her sister had left her.

'I agree, but it's hard', Ophelia started, not knowing how to mention the dreams.

'We must try our hardest, then', Amber said curtly.

'But the memories -' Ophelia started, but Amber cut her short.

'They must be forgotten, they bring nothing but pain', the conversation had gone wrong, maybe this was a mistake, maybe Amber wasn't ready to talk about something like this yet but time was a luxury Ophelia felt she could not afford, so she went ahead and blurted her true intent in speaking to Amber.

'And the dreams I sometimes have of her, where she seems so real, more than real, I can't understand it', Amber had stopped walking as soon as Ophelia mentioned the dreams, the emotions raging within her flickered over her face for only a moment, but Ophelia saw. Shock, pain, and anger before deathly calm overcame it all. Ophelia then knew she had made a grievous mistake. What Ophelia didn't know was that when multiple people vanished in succession, dreams of those who left first were common amongst their loved ones, it was a sign that they were about to go, it was rumored that those who had gone come back for those dearest to them, to take them to be wherever they went to. Sometimes the dreams started just a few days after the first disappearance, sometimes, they started years later. But for everyone who had gone, there are claims that they had dreams of those who had gone before, their loved ones who showed them the way. Amber knew this, she had grown up in this town, seen the previous disappearances, and heard the stories, so hearing that her sister had chosen to return, not to her but to Ophelia, struck pain straight through her heart, she felt bitter jealousy rise within her, why had Pearl chosen Ophelia over her.

Amber became very silent, she didn't speak again until they had gotten home. On which with a taunting voice and severe eyes, she glanced at Ophelia and told her mother,

'Ophelia has dreamt of Pearl', with those words, Amber made her way to her room. Mrs. Julia looked languidly at Ophelia as though she lacked even the willpower to care about the implications of this new information. She muttered something about dinner, leaving Ophelia to wonder what their strange behaviour could mean.

It seemed to Ophelia that the worst-case scenario had occurred. Not only was Pearl's appearance significant (and extremely so), she was probably the only one who had gotten a visit, Pearl had for whatever reason, chosen Ophelia to be her sole visitee. Ophelia had misjudged the situation, this was the conclusion she reached from Amber's reaction. Ophelia went to her room and freshened up, her mind kept going back to Amber's words. What was the significance of Pearl's visitation? She came back to the dining table and settled down to eat when suddenly, a thought flashed through her mind. The old library. In this town, there was a library as old as the town itself, it was said to have been donated by one of the founders of the town. Others say that it was the house of the first man who vanished, he had left behind his earthly property, and his house so large and full of books had been converted into a library. Books of all sorts could be found there, certainly, she could find the answers she was looking for there. Ophelia knew there was no time to waste, the sun had already gone beneath the horizon and the evening was almost upon her. She rushed out of the house without telling anyone where she was headed. The houses and trees went by in a rush, the cold wind beat against her face and she was out of breath but it was alright. She had gotten to the library as the moon was coming out but it wasn't locked, relieved, she stepped into the library still panting.