Wish-Upon-A-Star

Chapter 11- Once Upon a Time...

I looked in the glass shard and I was a child again. I looked around and I noticed the busy streets of China, my home country. I walked out from the gutter I was standing in and I saw the farms, where I grew up. The streets were familiar, so I walked where I would normally walk. I found myself back at the farm that my parents owned. My real parents. I ran into the dump that I called home. My mother was sitting by a table with a rope in her hands.

            “Come child,” My mother called, obviously in Chinese. She reached out her hand and I took it willingly. I mean, why wouldn’t I? She’s my mother.

            We walked far from the farm, into the forest behind where our village was. My mother met with my father midway. We kept walking until night. Even through night, we kept walking until we found tree with a short branch. My Father could simply lift his arm and touch the branch.

            “Daddy, what are we doing?” I yawned while being cradled in my mother’s arms.

            “We’re building you a swing, Lei.” My father replied. My real name is Lian, Lei is just a nickname. I thought this was ridiculous. Why in the world were we building a swing in the middle of the night in the middle of the forest? Since I was a kid, I didn’t give a care in the world. My mother handed the rope to my father. He tied one end of the rope to the branch and the hanging part of the rope had a loop around it. In my mind, I had to question what kind of swing is this. “Do you want to ride it, Lei?” I shook my head because I was freaking tired, but my mother handed me to my father.

            “No, Daddy!” I yelled, but my father didn’t put me down. He put the loop around my head and the rough texture of the rope scratched my neck. My dad made sure that the loop was completely around my head and then let go of my body. Wait, this is murder, I heard my ‘inner voice’ say. It must be a nightmare. This never happened to me! I my eyes were closing as I watched my parents walked away and I finally took my last breath.

            Suddenly, my point of view changed. I was some kind of bird, but I was standing with a perfect view of my hanging dead body. I stood in the cold watching the dead body for hours. If I was a bird, why the hell didn’t I fly away? After about three hours, a man garbed in black came into picture. Finally I flew, but only to the man’s shoulder. The garbed man walked over to my dead body. He lifted my head from the rope and cradled me in his arms. Then he kissed my forehead. What the hell? Necrophilia much?

            Next thing I know, I’m back in my own body. I see the sunset behind the garbed man. He begins to walk out of the forest. I had no idea what to think. I was alive and that’s all that mattered right?

            Wrong.

            I was being taken away by a man in a black hoodie. How much more suspicious could that get? Plus, he was being followed by a raven. Oh yeah, definitely a practitioner of black magic. This naïve child mind of mine had thoughts of nothing but thanks. The walk with this man through the forest was much shorter than the ones with my parents. I guess they just walked in circles to tire me out so that I wouldn’t put up much of a fight when they murdered me. Yeah, it’s totally right to murder your daughter because you wanted a son instead. You people definitely had some kind of mental disorder. I mean, there are orphanages for a reason. Plus, since of the lack of women in China’s population, you would get paid for your daughter to get married to someone’s son. Whatever. Their loss.

            The man in the black garb walked into a modern town. It was probably around noon by now. He walked me into an orphanage. He told the woman in charge that he found me roaming the forest and that someone would be here to pick me up in a few months. Like the idiot that I am, I told the man not to go and that I didn’t want to be alone.

            The man knelt down on one knee and hugged me. “Do you want to give me a kiss?” The man laughed. I know that voice! I couldn’t place a name of face behind the voice but it was familiar. “Why don’t you pet the bird too? And don’t worry, you’ll make plenty of friends here.” The man told me. I gave him a kiss on the cheek and I gave the bird a pet of thanks. “I’ll see ya later, kid.” The man said.

            As the man turned around to leave, I found myself in my current body and the name of the voice appeared in my mind. “Gawain!” I yelled after the man and he turned around. His hood slipping off because of the swift motion. He smiled at me. That smile… was the smile that made my heart flutter first.

~oOo~

            I inhaled sharply as I woke from the dream that clarified my past. What really happened back then, I just remembered it all. I leaned over and checked the time. 2:56 am. I crawled off my bed and onto Gawain’s bed. I laid my head on his arm which was splayed out across the bed. His other arm wrapped around me in response and I fell asleep without a worry in the world. Even if all I could do right now… was worry.