A Dragonfly's Dream

Chapter IX- The sincerity ring

DREAM JOURNAL

The sincerity ring

We were in law school. There was a two way mirror where my professors could see everything the students were doing. Wearing a red shirt with black stripes I feel I had once seen in high school, James entered my dream through the mirror.

He handed me this ring. The ring was not perfectly molded but I knew how much effort he exerted making it. It was made of steel. The ring was connected to a silver string. I could not see where the string led to.

"It's a sincerity ring." He said.

...............

Jake was Maya's brother. He was actually older than us by a year but he started school late so we still belonged to the same batch.

I remember the first time I saw him at Svelle. It was after school at gate three. Gate three was one of my favorite hang out places with Maya. There was beautiful park nearby, where we could just rest and talk. It was rarely frequented by our other classmates as there were so many kids playing. Such privacy from our own batch was one of the reasons why we liked the place.

"I'll see you later at gate three!" I said, waving my hand at Maya as I rushed to class. I borrowed a book from her and promised I'd return it after class. Thus, at 5 five p.m., as soon as the bell rang, I was on my way.

I found her sitting on a bench, waiting for her dad to pick her up. I handed her book back. "Just as I promised!"

I sat beside her. A gust of wind blew and it rattled the trees a bit. I watched a few leaves fall down and slowly float into the air.

"Maya, dad said he'll be late." We both looked up, and I saw Jake for the first time. He didn't look anything like Maya at all. Maya looked more like her mom whereas Jake, took after their dad. Jake wasn't handsome in the conventional sense. But he wasn't ugly either. He had dark skin, and soft, gentle hair that made you want to reach out and touch it. One look at him and I decided he was a nice person. I heard that he was very smart too. He belonged to section A, which was the class exclusively for students who were academically gifted. The honor's section, in other words.

"What time will he get here?" Maya asked.

Jake was talking to Maya but his eyes were on me. "He'll be here at six p.m."

"Oh, by the way, Lyssa, this is my older brother, Jake."

I smiled at him self-consciously. Jake never took his eyes from me. "So, you're Lyssa."

Maya looked from me to Jake. She cleared her throat and broke the awkwardness. "Okay, you've told me what you wanted to say. You're now free to leave."

Jake looked at Maya, and then at me once more. "It was nice meeting you, Alyssa."

...............

"Jake likes you."

It was lunch break. Charise and Ria were at the library doing some urgent research about the Biology project they were planning for the upcoming Science Fair, so that left me and Maya alone for lunch.

"Why do you say that?"

"Duh, because he told me!" Her facial expressions and hand gestures seemed to convey that she thought my question was silly. "He always asks about you. I've never seen him like this before. I can't stand it!"