With Love, Silvia. [✔️]

Chapter 5 Dreaming of You.

Dinner at my new house wasn't as bad as I pictured. Everything was so chaotic, that it seemed as if I'd been living with these people all my life. Ofcoarse Rodger wasn't too found of me, but other than that everything was ok. I also discovered that my guesses on Emma and Rodger's ages were way off... Emma and I were hanging out in her room and she told me everything I would need to know about the Hanson family. Turns out that Emma is 12, and Rodger is 14!

For dinner we ate mac n cheese, which was a family favorite; and I fit right in. Once everyone was settled, we all dug in. It was the best mac n cheese I had ever tasted. Apparently it's Erica's recipe she developed on her own.

After we ate, everyone dispersed in different directions. Erica clearing the table and putting the dishes in the sink, Owen and Emily wandering off into the front yard with Emma following close behind. I watched Rodger flop onto the couch in the living room watching a football game.

Emma grabbed my hand and said,

"Come on I want to show you something." She said as she lead me out of the front door. We stepped out onto the porch, it was a particularly chilly night and a steady breeze blew every which way. I looked out onto the grassy part of the front yard and saw hundreds of little blinking lights flying around Owen and Emily who were trying desperately to catch them.

"Woah." I said breathless.

"These are fireflies, they come out every night and no matter how many times I see them, I'm still mesmerized." Emma said walking down the porch steps to join her brother and sister. I followed her too, getting a closer look at the fireflies.

Since I'd lived in New York for all of my life up until this point, I had never seen a real live firefly.

Emma leapt into the air and snatched one of the air closing her hands around it. The cracks between her fingers glowed and she kneeled down to show Owen and Emily. I knelt beside her and watched as she slowly parted her hands and let the little bug fly off into the air.

I'm not sure how long we spent chasing after the fireflies, but after a while Erica came outside and called out to us,

"Alright! Time to get ready for bed." She said and went back into the house.

Emma and I gathered Owen and Emily up and took them inside. The digital clock on the microwave in the kitchen read, 8:05 pm. Which was super early for me, Mom never had a set bedtime for me to follow. Emma sensed my concern and said,

"Don't worry only the little kids have to go to bed now. We can stay up 'till 10." She said and helped Emily up the stairs.

Lots and lots of time passed of some quality journaling time for me. I spent the whole time sketching a pair of hands cupped together to reveal a firefly. When I was finished it was nearly 10:00, so I headed upstairs. When I entered Emma's room, she was snuggled up in her bed reading a different book, this time it was The Hunger Games. I crawled onto my inflatable mattress/bed and dug around in my suitcase.

I took out the only pair of pajamas I had and spread them out across my mattress. Next I took out my toothbrush and toothpaste and headed off to the bathroom next to Emma's room. I carefully shut the door and locked it. I changed into my pajamas and brushed my teeth, then threw my hair into the messiest bun I had ever made, and tiptoed back to Emma's room.

I flopped onto my makeshift bed and took out my contact lenses, and shut the case I put them in tightly and put them back into my suitcase.

Emma got up and shut the lights off.

"Goodnight Silvia." She whispered through the dark.

"Sweet dreams Emma." I said and drifted off to sleep.

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I had a dream that didn't only frighten me, but also sent me into a deep depression when I woke up. The dream started out nice, me and Mom sitting in Central Park enjoying lemonade. But all of a sudden, Mom's phone rang and she said she had to go for "police stuff". The dream continued on when she returned. I ran up to her but the closer I got, the further away she appeared. Soon enough, she was out of sight and I crumpled to the ground crying softly to myself.

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I awoke with a jolt, and for a second I forgot where I was. When I came to my senses, a wave of sadness washed over me and I began to cry. I had stayed strong all day, but now it felt as though the floodgates protecting me from my depression and worries had broken and I was desperately trying to stay afloat.

Tears streamed down my face. I wiped them away quickly. I couldn't wake anyone up with my crying, plus they wouldn't understand my pain anyway. So I reached for Mom's jacket and wrapped it around me. It felt like I was being hugged and despite my sadness, it lulled me back to sleep.