Rebuilding the World

24 Dreams

Sure, I’ve felt pain before, but not as painful as this one.

Every part of me aches. Like every cell in me was set on fire. Every breath I take is like punching needles through my lungs. I want to scream out in pain, cry out, moan or groan just so I know I’m still alive. But I stayed there in that painful comatose-like condition, unable to move or make a sound.

I hear faint voices.

“How is she?” a male voice asked.

“Still asleep.” A female voice answers.

“She’s supposed to be awake by now.” Another female voice says.

“She almost burned out with the fight.” The male voice says.

“She’ll be fine.” The first female voice says.

Someone holds my hand and I felt pain shoot through my hands like I grabbed a live electric eel. I wanted to scream out in pain, but no, I remained silently still.

“Majella,”

I drifted off to sleep.

I was almost twelve, and I got back home early because I ran from school to the house. I looked around our house, searching for my mother.

“Mom?!” I shouted.

No one answered and I noticed that the doors to the porch leading to the garden were open. I tiptoed and looked outside. My mom was out in the gardens, staring up into the cloudy blue afternoon sky.

I thought of surprising her, so I silently crept to her back.

But just when I was going to shout “Mom!” she said,

“Zeus, you’d love how Majella has grown into. I bet she can do even better than Hercules.”

The dream shifted and I was back in Camp Makiling’s dining pavilion. It was dinner and everyone was busy chattering. I looked around and saw familiar faces. But all of them were younger than I remembered.

I realized I was sitting among the Hermes kids.

“What did the truck say to the cow?” Menea asks her siblings.

“What?” Sam asks.

“Beef, beef!” Menea shouts and everyone howls into laughter.

It was my first night in Camp Makiling. It was the night of my 12th birthday.

There was a crack of lightning, the torches that lights the pavilion dims. Everyone turns silent as the dining pavilion turned darker. A blue light suddenly flashed. I looked up and saw a blue eagle hovering atop my head. The symbol of Zeus.

Everyone turned to me and one by one, they began to bow down in respect. Maria Makiling’s soprano voice echoes in the silence,

“Hail, Majella Esguerra, daughter of Zeus!”

Pain. Pain. Pain.

Every part of me was in pain.

I heard faint voices again.

“How’s she doing?” Asks a male voice again.

“Same old. Same old.” A female voice answered.

“How’re you doing?” the male voice asks.

“I don’t know.”

“You should probably go get some sleep.” The male voice says, “I’ll look out from here.”

“I want to be here when she wakes up.” The female voice says.

I want to open my eyes and say I’m fine now, but my whole body still aches like Tartarus-hell. My eyelids were heavy and I don’t have enough energy to open my eyes.