Under the Stars

☆ Just a Bit More Confusion ☆

I had a dream.

Despite I've never had one before, now for some reason, out of all times, it had to be today. Maybe it was the shock. Or the change. Or anything.

I just didn't want to see this.

I was running. Not from anything, but toward it. Toward my mom, who stood in the middle of a black lake, floating, her feet just above the surface of the water. Fish were falling from the sky, and they all had dead, meaningless eyes just like my mom.

My hands were shaking as I struggled to get away from my my state. I got closer and closer, my efforts to stop seemed meaningless against the force pulling me in, makin me run even faster. My lungs were on fire. I couldn't breathe. I was exhausted, but the force didn't let me get away.

The fish splashed into the wather loudly, but it couldn't overcome the sound of my mom laughing, almost choking herself with it. The most terrifying laugh I've ever heard. It echoed through the endless void around.

I was desperate to stop, at that moment, I could have done anything just to slow down a little. I looked around with teared up eyes, trying to find anything that would help me.

But in the black water, among all the dead fish I saw corpses emerging from below, slowly leaving the water, flying upwards, opposite direction with the fish.

Then suddenly, it was all gone.

I woke up, covered in cold sweat, heart pounding like crazy. I still was under the shock of the images I saw. Mom's horrifying face, those dead eyes...

I shivered. Was this what people had to deal with every night? I heard only nice things about dreams, like they are made up of familiar places and scenarios, but this was neither of those for sure.

I looked around, only realizing it now that it wasn't a normal morning. It was an unfamiliar room, with nice carpets, clean floor and bright beige wall paint.

A wave of panic washed over me. I wasn't in my room. I wasn't at home. Mom was gonna kill me.

Then reality hit me.

There was no mom anymore. No yelling. No hitting. Just...

Nothing.

I took a deep breath, and started to think about what to do next. I can't stay with Karen's family. Although they are nice, Karen is surely afraid of me now if not terrified of what happened affected me. And I don't want to rely on them too much, even more, I don't want to bother them with my presence. I'm sure they have their own problesm, even without me.

The problem is, I can't live on my own. I have no idea how to make money, I still have to go to school, and I'd fail every job application because of my family state and bad grades. I still had to graduate! But I'm technically an adult now, so...

A light sound of footsteps cut my train of thoughts. I just realzed I had no idea what time it was. Judged by the light, it was over 10 a.m...

I stood up, and noticed a full-lenght mirror hanging on the door. I looked at myself. I was worn out. My arm was still bandaged, but it was, yet again, soaked with blood, blue and green bruises covered my skin everywhere, mainly my face.

It was miserable. My injured hand was hanging by my side weakly, pulsing to every heartbeat as blood run through my veins and gathered by the cut.

After I was done staring at my own horrible reflection, I decided to get out and opened the door. I arrived to a small hallway painted sea blue, family pictures were hanging from small nails. A sweet smell lingered in the air, which immediatelymade my stomach growl. It would have been fine in normal circumstances, but to be honest, the last thing I wated to see right now was food.