Evasive Darkness

Chapter Two - There's no place like home

Chapter Two – There's No Place Like Home.

My eyes opened and I squinted for a moment as they adjusted to the morning sun coming through my window. I was not surprised to find myself in my own bed, but I was surprised to find myself remembering the soft mattress that had felt just as real as the hard one I was laying on now. In addition to remembering the mattress I also remembered the whole day I had in Forks, Washington with piercing clarity. There was not even the slightest fuzziness to the memory, or the type of confusion that usually came hand in hand with dreaming. I pulled myself out of bed. I was feeling surprisingly refreshed despite the energetic dream I had. I dressed quickly – my mind was still mulling over the dream I had.

My little sister Eleanor was eating her breakfast when I walked into the kitchen. I poured myself a bowl of cereal and paused for a moment when I realised I was about to pour orange juice over them. I shook my head and grabbed the milk.

"What's with you today?" asked Eleanor, she raised an eyebrow at me. Her spiral hair fell down her back. She spoke with her thirteen-year-old attitude that Mum was always scolding her about.

"Just not awake yet," I told her as I sat down next to her. I ate my cereal quietly as I thought about my dream. I couldn't shake the feeling that I was going to miss this dream terribly and I began to wish that I couldn't remember it at all.

"You look like you're in another world," she commented, not looking away from the television which was playing cartoons. I laughed at how close she was to the mark.

I had pulled myself out of my funk by the time I got to work. I filed and answered phones all day with the strict mental orders to not think about Twilight all day. I wasn't very successful.

When I got home I walked straight to my sister's room. She was sitting at her desk doing her geography homework. I walked in and lay down on her bed.

"Yeah sure Leighton you can come in," she told me sarcastically without looking up from her work.

"Thanks," I mumbled to her, my face in a pillow.

"What is wrong with you today?" she asked, throwing her pen down and turning around to look at me. She was a very serious thirteen-year-old. Sometimes I thought that maybe she should be the older sister.

"I had this strange dream last night and it has stuck with me all day," I told her, turning my head to look at her.

"Well let's hear it then," she resigned, and I smiled. This scene was a common occurrence between the two of us. I told her most of my problems and she usually gave me very good advice, even though most of the time she was too young to have experienced any of the things herself.

I explained my dream to her in detail, giving her a play by play of every minute. When I finished she looked at me with her mouth slightly ajar.

"I knew you'd think I was crazy!" I told her, burying my head in her pillows.

'No. It's not that," she told me, "I was just wondering what the problem was exactly."

"What the problem is?"

"Yeah,"

"What do you mean?"

"Well. As far as I can tell last night you had the best dream ever. I don't know what you're agonising over." She gushed. She looked at me jealously as I considered what she said. My sister was a bigger Twilight fan then I was. I hypothesised that it must have something to do with the fact that she had no romantic experiences of her own. She believed particularly strongly in Edward and Bella's relationship. She just took the leap when Bella did, not ever stopping to question if it was right or healthy, as I often did.

"That it's over," I admitted reluctantly, and she laughed. I gave her a kiss on the head on the way out and she cringed away from it like I was burning her. I didn't understand that. She was so willing to embrace Edward's and Bella's love but she moved away from mine for her.

That night as I sat in bed I perused my bookshelf in the hopes of reading something before I went to sleep. I moved my gaze purposely past the Twilight series which kept jumping out at me. Eventually I settled for Breath by Tim Winton, but I had only reached the second page when my eyes began to droop sleepily. I carefully sat the book and my bed side table and snuggled in to go to sleep.