Homeland

Dreams and Nightmares

new book cover •

Azélia walked through the dark walkway, the sound of her bare feet walking on the glass floor echoed some how. She looked down carelessly and saw through it but there was nothing, everything was black, then the sound of running water took over the quiet mist of darkness. "Hello" Her voice echoed.

She clutched tightly on to the silk cream robe she had on as she slowly took a step at a time down the lane of nowhere. "Help me" A younger girls voice whispered resulting in another echo. "Help me...help me....help"

Azélia looked behind her, there she was, her as an adolescent. The same braids she loved so much, her favorite stick that she thought was magic because she wrapped a ribbon around it and the dress her mother knitted for her. "Help me....help me...help" her voice was calm yet it screamed fear, Azélia remembered those words, it turned into her chant at a young age because that's all she wanted was help.

Azélia took a step forward but that only resulted in the younger her taking a step back, her actions was also hers. Blood began to leak from both of their mouths, the same achey feeling she use to get when her father came around bolted through their bodies. "Ouch..ouch"

"He's coming...he's coming...he's here" They both mumbled, staring at each other as if it was a mirror. The younger her pointed at the far end of the black hole, Azélia's head turned around slowly following the direction of her little finger and there he was.

He stood in the same work outfit he'd always wear, her father was a very buff man some said he was the biggest in their town. Veins poked out of his head, neck and arms; if he moved too fast he'd pop a vessel.

"AZÉLIA!" Her fathers voice had no echo, it was demonic and frightening. Azélia ran towards the younger her, hoping to catch her before her father did but the more she ran the farther the younger her got.

Her father dashed through the dark misty hole, his formation when he was running was even dominating. It seemed as if every step he took, he cracked the glass floor just a little more.

"Run....run....run" She yelled out in fear, it was no help they were in sync. The man she thought she had escaped was now chasing her down a dark hole that never ends. The sound of the water running got louder and louder, she looked down and saw the floor under her began to flood, her screams playing in the streams.

The Azélia's stopped running, it was no use they'd be running forever and their father was bound to catch up. "I'm sorry... sorry... sorry" she could never save herself, even when she was younger, no matter how much she ran and fought she'd always end up drowning in tears.

Her father ran straight past her, his prey was the younger Azélia and it seemed as the closer he got to her the higher the water got. She felt the hot water covering her knees, she wanted to move but she couldn't, it was no use she was stuck.

The screams of her father taking the innocence of the younger her drove her insane. "LET ME OUT! LET ME OUT!" Still in the same place, still hearing the same "help me...help me...help" maybe her life didn't change that much since she moved to America she thought, maybe she was still screaming for help on the inside because she's still that same scared little girl.

The water was now covering her silk robe, but the scenery changed. She was no longer in that black hole, she was in Amirè's house, the home she once loved. "Help me" she yelled feeling the water come up to her neck, in a few minutes it would be up to the ceiling resulting in her death. She was frightened.