Wings in Alabama

Chapter 5

My legs felt numb and tingly as we stepped out of my aunt and uncle's car. I stretched fo r a moment, then walked back to the trunk stiff legged. I heaved the trunk's door open and picked up my suddenly heavy suitcase and backpack. Aunt Kat had already stepped out and was taking Mom and Emily's suitcases to the door. She'd just unlocked it when something big, golden, and furry ran out and bowled me over.

"Ayyyyeeee!" I shrieked. Something pink and slobbery slathered itself all over my face. I opened my eyes and squinted at big brown eyes and I realized I'd been tackled by a golden retriever. Uncle Mike pulled the dog off of me by the collar. "I am sooooo sorry, she's new to the house and gets easily excited. Down, girl."

I let him pull the dog off of me and I crawled around the driveway, grappling for my suitcase. I found my bags a few feet away from where I'd gotten tackled. Man, that dog had an impact. I pushed myself up and dragged my stuff in while uncle Mike shoved the retriever into the garage.

Aunt Kat guided Emily and I to a large grey and dark blue where we'd be staying. Two beds stood against one wide wall with pure white comforters and a few throw pillows (non-wet ones, thank you very much). Royal blue quilts with golden designs that reminded me of a wizard hat. Three trendy black chairs sat in the corner and a dark brown desk/vanity stood among them.

"Wow," Em said. "Not bad."

I nodded in agreement. I dropped my bags at the foot of the bed closest to the window. I left the room and joined Mom, aunt Kat, and uncle Mike in the living room. They talked about too many random, adult-ly topics, so I roamed the house and explored.

Nothing else that I saw was very different from the bedroom Em and I shared; chic, trendy, and dark colored, with the occasional white. After my boring little trek of my aunt and uncle's house, I headed back to my room, where my little sister held my IPad in front of me. It beeped constantly, and when I unlocked it, a picture of Stephenie appeared.

I'd completely forgotten that Steph also had an IPad, and that I wouldn't be alone over the summer. Just as long as I stayed in a WIFI zone, my social life could continue. I poked her image with my finger and a new page showed up.

Heyyyyyyy! Is it as awful as u thot?

I rolled my eyes and chuckled.

Its not 2 bad, they hve sum style

Another beeping sound came from my IPad: Sum? How bad? Send pic!

I focused the IPad on the room and poked my camera button.

"Take photo," I muttered, and an image of my bed appeared on the screen. I sent the image and waited for another beep.

o_o

wat?

Nuthin. Uggh, cannot believe u aren't here! D:

Ditto. She took my phone. Nearly exploded.

*gasps and faints*

I chuckled again and typed "LOL". As soon as I did, a pain that felt like a million knives in my back made me gasp out in pain and fall onto the ground. I gingerly pressed my hand to my shoulder blades and winced. Nothing was there.

I didn't want to move. I felt like lying there, gasping short breaths as my IPad continued pinging and beeping. Everything became suddenly became fuzzy, my vision and my hearing. I heard Mom call something from the living room before I blacked out.

˙·٠•●♥ Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ ♥●•٠·˙

The nightmare came back once again. The pain grew stronger this time, and I began to believe that this was more than just a dream. The pain felt in the dream came to me in real life, and it hurt almost twice as much.

Like the dream I'd had on the airplane, I jumped straight off the cliff without stopping or turning back. I fell head first, but unlike this dream, I was in pain, not the peace I'd felt. The sharp rocks that jutted out like islands in an ocean were menacing and already looked deathly.

I couldn't stop falling now. There was no pause button. It would not freeze. I could not maneuver my body away from certain death, this is what I faced. I squeezed my eyes shut tightly and I curled into a ball, saying, "There's no place like home, there's no place like home..."

I peeked my eyes open again to find myself swathed in white comforters. The blurred image of my mother danced in front of my face. "Mo-mo-mahh..."

"Oh, Rylee, baby, thank the LORD you're alright," she exclaimed softly. She parted strands of my hair to look like a halo around my rather flushed, pale face. "How do you feel, sweetie?"

"Ummm... uhh," was all I could muster. My tongue felt numb, but not tingly with sleep like my legs had been earlier today, or was it yesterday? How long had I been out?

Mom answered my question like a mind-reader. "I'm not exactly sure. You've been sort of an on off button, too active in your unconsciousness to keep track. You tossed and turned, you nearly fell off the bed! You screamed in your sleep, something about running, pain, and falling."

I nodded slowly, my groggy mind doing its best to process all of this at once. I was so confused. "What's going on? Am I sick or something?"

"I don't think I could answer both of your questions, sweetie. We don't know what's going on. Uncle Mike suggested we ask you if you knew when you woke up."

I shrugged sleepily. I was soooooo tired! I had to go back to sleep, but didn't want to. The nightmare would hurt even more if I did. My hands pushed myself into a sitting position, and I winced as my shoulder blades hit the pillow. 

"What is it, honey?"

I winced once more before I had the strength to answer my mother's question. "It's my shoulder blades. They've been hurting ever since I fell asleep on the plane ride."

Mom looked confused. One hand stroked my hair as her other one reached gently behind my back. Her middle finger pressed lightly against my left shoulder blade. I bit my lip and shuddered with pain. "Well, honey, nothing's there. I'll stay in here if need be. In the meantime, do you think you can feed yourself?"

I nodded efortlessly, and she pushed a bowl of hot beef noodle ramen towards me. The bowl sat on a wooden tray, so I wouldn't spill. I took the spoon and gulped down the soup very quickly. As I passed the bowl back to Mom, I felt my eyes droop.

I'd only closed them for a moment, just five seconds, but burning pain had already entered my muscles. An image of the mob, the hearse, and the cliff flashed before my eyes and I shrieked. My eyes shot open and I writhed in the bed. Tendrils of my long blond hair plastered themselves to my face with exhilarated sweat. Mom was at the side of the bed immediatly, holding my arm.

"I'm... I'm... I'm okay, I"m okay," I breathed. "I... I just need to get out for a while, just need some fresh air."

She nodded worriedly and allowed me to get up and out of the mussed bed. I shoved my feet into my Nikes, pulled my hair into a ponytail, and trudged silently out of the house. I hoped aunt Kat had a bike in her garage. A bike is just what I needed right now.