A Sublime Echo

Chapter 3-Night Owls and Sunshine

(Avia above)

Current day, about 16 years later

Ezry

         I wake with a start, seeing the apple blossoms outside my window, bathed in a new spring green. While I certainly have my fair share of recurring nightmares, my dreams are always varied, beautiful, and full of a life and feeling of happiness that I have hardly ever felt outside of my dreams.

         Don't get me wrong; I live my life to the best of my abilities, even though they are tempered by circumstances. I know how close death is. I have seen death, caused death, and lived death from when I was 5, until I was 15. If that isn't messed up, I don't know what is. We are all just one moment away from death. I appreciate my life, and though, ever since I awoke from my coma when I was five, and felt like half a person I try not to waste my life.

After years of running, he'd finally caught us. I woke up to a new life. A life no one would ask for.

         I pull the purple flower blankets off of myself, the cold wood floor sending a chill up to my spine. Since it is only my friend Avia and myself in this country home in upstate New York, I forgo most clothes at bedtime, which just makes me grumble with cold in the morning. I can hear my only real friend making coffee, "thank all that is holy in any world that is listening," I mutter.

         After I get my pajamas on, I trudge downstairs, seeing Avia's beautiful, unkempt crown of blond streaked dark brown curls. She's beautiful inside and out, and would certainly have died either physically or emotionally had we not escaped the compound we spent 10 years in together. She is one of the least tainted people I have known, and has compassion that rivals a saint. She can keep her kindness, I'll be our vengeance.

         "Mornin', sunshine" I wave; she is the eternal morning person. I have always loved the night, though appreciated the day. The stars, their wonder, and the feel I get whenever I see a falling star, causes such a thrill of longing for me than any beautiful ray of sunshine ever will.

         "Good morning, my little night owl. I made you coffee, just like you normally take it." She winks at me, "creamer to make it just a shade lighter than my skin, and enough sugar to kill a hummingbird." She hands me my cup and we both sit to enjoy the oatmeal she made.

         "So, Ezry, tell me about your dreams," she smiles over her coffee cup, "I heard you again last night from across the call, and you know I love hearing about your adventures in dreamland," she sighs dreamily, she never uses my given name, unless she wants to wake up with purple dyed hair. Ever since I was 5 and in every dream I have ever had, I was Ezry. When Avia and I left, and changed our identities, I never hesitated to tell her that my name would be Ezry, never again 'Elish'. Just saying the name sounds foreign, not right. Just like my father to name me something that means 'of noble birth'. He really is a crazy bastard.

         "Hm, nothing exciting, Av. But it was still nice," I look up scrunching my nose while smiling.

         "Ah, let me see, you had two sisters, a brother, and parents. Both of which were alive, and the father wasn't an evil bastard who seeked his revenge on you?" She asked cheerily.

         I smirked at her, "the exact same family". I don't ever see their faces, though. Avia lives for my retelling of my dreams.

         "What kind of magic?" She smiles; I don't call her everyone's ray of sunshine for no reason.

         I roll my eyes, "Av, you know I've never been able to tell what type of magic my dream self has, just that I have this smug feeling towards my magic. That it and myself really are 'all that'" I say with a smug smile. "That is why it is a dream, it's my brain escaping and forming this extraordinary life that could never be possible, because ya know," I wave around, indicating our home and life.