Day One

July 24th 2013

July 24th 2013

                I was thinking of when I was a child. Back when the only scary creatures were the ones I had imagined in my own head. The monsters that lived in my closet or under my bed.  When my father would come in and comfort me. He would always say something along the lines of

“Hush child and go to sleep. For as you have seen there is nothing in your closet or under your bed to grab your feet.”

This of course, would set me wide eyed and questions would erupt from my lips

“Father, do they really go after your feet?  Are you sure there aren’t any hiding from your sight? Not even a teeny tiny one?”

My father would look wounded and grab his heart.

“Ah, it hurts to know that you my little princess would doubt me so. Just in case I will check again.”

Once he had looked under every nook and cranny. Then made sure I was satisfied with his hunt he would plant a kiss on my head and bid me a good night.

“Goodnight little one. No harm shall come to you.  Close your eyes and float off to sleep. Welcome your dreams with ease and they shall be sweet!”

And as soon as he would say those words that comforted me oh so much. I would fall into a dream land where things like his beast would never exist. Sometime I think of what it would be like to be six again. Where my father was my hero and he would never do anything to harm anyone. Where he would protect me and love me, as a father should.

My relationship with my father only became strained in my teenage years. Where I was different and a loner. When he and my sister shared so much more than he and I did. I was jealous, but I thought maybe it was just because I was a teenager…this is supposed to be different when your this age. Aren’t they?

A creaking branch pulled me from my thoughts.  I looked down… I could have sworn that I had just seen a boy… no a man. He was collecting wood or something. He accidently stepped on a branch and then he took off.  Was he a part of my father’s army or maybe a lone survivor.  I even had hope that he may be one of the few rebels. I was about to leave the safety of my tree about a mile away from the base of the mountain. Then a thought hit me…with it being night fall… a pack of beast could be lurking around. Even with my heightened sense they could still see farther in the darkness then I could.  If I left my security of my tree I could be dead seconds before my feet even hit the ground. I would have no fighting chance.

So using my awful beast like skills, that I will admit come in handy sometime, I breathed in the man’s scent.  His scent was a mix of earthy tones, cinder and even a little of bacon. Leave it to a man to smell like bacon.  His scent was warm and relaxing to me. This came as a shock to me… nothing ever helped me relax. Especially the scent of another. 

Remembering his scent, I made myself cozy. Which may sound difficult in a tree, but it wasn’t that bad. I was welcoming my dreams wishing that they would be sweet.

Z