Red Pool To Overcome

Chapter 5

Light crawled into my eyes and awakened me so I opened them and looked around. My room looked different. Everything in it had been rearranged. I looked out my window and I see that outside was different as well. The sky was a purplish blue and people were screaming and fleeing towards the main gates of the town. I was confused, so I layed back down and shut my eyes as I tried to make sense of the scene outside. I opened my eyes as mom burst into my room, tears welling in her eyes. She picked me up and ran downstairs and then out of the house. I had no idea what was going on, so I screamed. Mom face appeared startled - and then she fell with me still in her arms. 

 Upon impact with the ground, I rolled out from underneath Mom and looked back to see her suffering a really bad seizure. I put her into the recovery position like she showed me how to, and stayed by her. After a few minutes, the seizure suddenly stopped.

I checked her pulse and it was very weak, but it was there. Then Mom opened her eyes and very softly said, "The Ravens were the beginning of the seizures, and they will be the end of them."

I kept my finger on her wrist the whole time, as she spoke very slow.

She smiled at me with the loving mother smile that she always gave me, then shut her eyes, laid her head down... and vanished, body and all. I was gobsmacked and devastated. I cried for what must have been an hour. After that for no reason I got up and went to the Williamson's house. I burst through the door to find the house deserted. I called around the entire house for Dustin, but he wasn't there.

When I got to what must have been his room, I looked around for any evidence of what might have happened. I looked all around his room and then sat down on his bed. I was all alone. There was no one to help me. I cried for the second time today, this time for a half an hour. When I looked at the covers of his bed, I saw it: A ring with three small red stones.

Dustin's ring.

I felt a wave of fear sweep over me. For no reason, I grabbed his ring and put it on my finger. A wave of shock went over me. Light blinded me and I could feel my body knock against the cold hardwood floor. I managed a scream. I shut my eyes tight, waiting for the torture to end. The light faded into a warm orangey glow of a lamp. I opened my eyes and I was back in my own room. It was back to normal with all of my stuff where it should be. I looked outside and the scene out there was back to normal as well. People were casually strolling down the hilly road and I could see the Williamson home down the road. In the window I could see the shadow of Dustin getting his bag. For a moment I could see the shine of his ring on his finger.

I wondered what was going on for a moment until a smiling healthy Mom came through the door of my room and told me that breakfast was ready downstairs.

Then it hit me: The entire thing was just a dream. None of it was real. Not mom having a seizure, Not her speech, not finding Dustin's house deserted and finding his ring on the bedspread. I went outside and met Dustin at his door. 

"Hey, Dustin, Are you busy? Can you come over?"

"Yeah, I'll come over as soon as I am done with the paper route."

To kill some time, I had the breakfast that mom made me. It was eggs and toast, a simple but delicious meal. Dustin came to the door just as I gulped down the last mouthful of toast. 

 I Invited him in and we talked and played soccer for a while until I finally told him about the dream. He said her had never heard of it before, and that I should tell him if it happened again and he would look into it. I thanked him and then we went into his house for lunch, which was hot dogs. After that I thanked Dustin for the help and his mom for the meal. Then I went to my house and asked Mom for the 50 cents that it cost to buy a journal. She gave it to me and I went down to the store and bought myself a journal with a red leather cover and knew that I would have to document my dream.

So I did.