New Dawn

B o s s M a n

I WENT TO THE MAHOGANY CABINETS AND PULLED four of everything out and took it, all at once, to the kitchen table. I slowly placed the dishes and silverware in front of four of the five chairs. It was a subtle reminder of the loss of my older brother, who was a fading memory in my thoughts. I finished setting up as Mom and Cris brought in the food.

My mom yelled toward Dad's den. "Honey, dinner's ready!"

His head popped out of the door and his blond, grey hair bounced as he stumbled to the seat at the head of the table. Dinner didn't look good, I craved something at the table but couldn't find what it was. We held hands and Dad led us in prayer.

We sat in silence as we ate. I looked at the faces around me, observing the fact that I looked nothing like my mother or my father. They had blond, straight hair and I had a brownish, red hair color with curls. This bothered me; I wanted proof that they were mine. Cris had my mom's eyes and my dad's build. But I had nothing from them, no piece of them reflected in me. I shook my head trying to focus on eating but my attempts failed. Dinner was over before I had time to even start but I didn't mind.

My parents headed to their room as Cris gathered the dinner dishes and threw them into the dishwasher, "Night Sis, I'm out." He made his way to the stairs.

"Night baby brother."

I was the last one awake, as always, and I still had a few more hours left in me. I danced back to the living room and sat down at our piano. I loved to play the piano, the music seemed to flow through me and come out my fingers. Sitting on my stool, I played a song I had not named. The music wasn't mine, yet somehow I could feel it and knew it was meant for me. The beautiful lullaby ended and had relaxed me. I didn't want to leave this place of peace but I knew I had to. Reluctantly, I climbed the stairs to my room.

I laid on my bed and let my imagination recall the woman from my dreams; her vibrant red eyes had potential to be terrifying but they were filled with love that drew me to her. I wanted to understand who she was, and what the recurring dreams meant. My thoughts slowly faded into dreams, taking me to my meadow.

The silhouette of a man stood in front of me with a small, sincere grin spread across his face. I took a step closer as I reached out to him, but he stepped back. I took two more steps forward and he two more back. Tears formed in my eyes and a pain that I had never felt before ripped at my frantic heart. My legs went limp. Collapsing to my knees as the force of his abandonment became overwhelming, I looked out through the layer of tears in my eyes. The man stood above me. The heat of his body sent strange feelings through my own. The vision of his face began to dwindle away.

"Lydia!" I was being shaken awake by a new pair of arms. "Lydia, are you okay?" The voice was panicking.

My eyes shot open.

"You were screaming and yelling, are you okay honey?" I sat up fully alert at that point. My mom sat beside me, she was the most selfless person I knew and her presence had a way of calming me.

"I'm fine, it was just a dream."

She shook her head. "Do you want to talk about it?" Her words were tender and loving.

"No." My tone was quick and snappy.

"Okay, I won't pry." Wrapping her arms around me, she sat on the bed and ran her fingers through my curls. "Go to sleep honey everything will be okay." She rocked me in her arms, sending me back into my dreams. Only, this time it was not the mysterious man before me but the perfect, red eyed women who happily haunted me most nights.