I Dream of Shadows

On The Road

(A/N: Whoa?? A Sunday upload?? Yeah. Felt a writing flow coming. So here ya go. Enjoy!)

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Warm...

I feel warm.

I opened my eyes slowly seeing a blur of yellow and golden hues.  

"Good morning." I heard a voice so familiar and warm like the sun speak to me. Their silky lips leaving heat behind on my shoulders as they kissed up to my face. "Did you sleep well?" I heard them speak on my lips. I rubbed the sleep out of my eyes and looked up to the source of such a somber yet joyous feeling. His face was hazy but I could make out his handsome features. I reached out to touch this man's face seeing my fuzzy hand in front of me. 

It wasn't my hand. 

Who am I...? 

Where am I...? 

Who is this man and why do I feel the slow sway of love and sadness all at once? The sun is on my bare back; heating me further than the dizzying heat of love laying in front of me. His hand is trailing up my arm leaving a trail of burning emotion behind in its wake. "Earth to Amber." The man chuckled swiping away a stray hair from my eyes. "You okay? You look spooked..." He spoke quietly now, concern laced in his words. My eyes are on fire. His face started to come into focus. Intense blue eyes filled with concern and love were the first things I noticed. Messy medium length chestnut brown hair in loose curls was next. The light stubble...recently shaved. Beauty mark under the outer corner of his right eye. Chiseled jaw line. Cheekbones that sat high. His skin was lightly tanned. Other light beauty marks littered his body in certain spots. Once his face became completely in focus it went right back out of focus once more. I felt my eyes burn even more than they were. "Abe, you're crying...Bad dream again?" He spoke again. I felt such love and happiness to see this stranger lying next to me...but why? I let my fingers trail lightly over his cheek and down his jaw.

"Who are you?" I finally spoke hearing a voice crackle with strong emotion. This isn't my voice. 

His face grew pale and his deep blue eyes grew wide. He didn't speak he just stared at me. Slowly his face grew red and his eyes grew puffy as he accumulated dark circles under them. His healthy glow seemed to deteriorate and was replaced with the look of depression and malnutrition. He instantly looked as if he were crying for years on end. "Amber...Come back to me.." He said in barely a whisper. 

"W-what..?" I whispered back not hearing him. His grip grew tight on my arm and he lowered his head. "Ow...Stop it...You're hurting me..!" I whimpered feeling his grip. The man began to sniffle and sob uncontrollably head falling completely to the mattress. His hair covering his face from my view. There was a black aura coming from him. That warm sun I felt in bed next to me became as cold as a freezer.  His tanned pale skin drew darker and darker until he merely reflected nothing but a shadow. A dark fog.

"Amberrrr...." The man next to growled low in a menacingly inhuman voice. 

I shook where I laid and started to try to move off of the bed but I was frozen. All I could do was lay there and feel his sorrow overcome what once was blind happiness. His grip tightened and his transformation finished. He was a shadow figure with disproportional limbs.  

"AMBER!!!" He wailed lunging at me.

I shut my eyes tightly screaming as loud as my lungs and vocal cords would allow. 

Next thing I know I'm being shaken awake. "Karen!? Karen! Karen!!!" David shook me with a worry stricken look all over his face. My mom soon came into the room taking a spot behind him. I looked around frantically panting and crying. I looked at David and hugged him tightly crying into his shirt. I heard my mom start to cry as well. I started to remember yesterday and allowed myself to cry harder. Our happy family was broken. I couldn't remember my nightmare I had I just remembered it scaring the daylights out of me. I held onto my brother until my sobs quieted. This would happen a lot. I'd have these really bad nightmares right after my dad would do something to mom or David. I could never remember them but the after effects of them always stayed with me. I never told them about my nightmares and they chalked it up to be my young mind stressing out about the very adult situation I was in. Young kids aren't supposed to see or deal with tragic things such as this. Once I had calmed down my mom came over and did her best to kiss my head. Her lip was badly bruised and split. She gave me a somber look and walked off to my brother's room where she was sleeping. 

David patted my back. "It's okay, Karen...I'll protect us from now on, okay?" He said. I nodded and wiped my face of sadness. "Common...I'll help you start packing." He said as he stood up. I looked up at him with a red face and puffy tear-stained eyes. "W-what..?" I uttered. "Where are we going??" I asked following his movements around my room. I watched him open my closet and pull my princess suitcase out. "We are going up north to Virginia. We are gonna live with Grandma for a little." He said softly looking back at me. I looked down and felt the tears pushing to come back. I stood up, walking to my window and looked out over the front yard. I whimpered to myself trying to hold back my tears as my eyes landed on my dads truck. He's in jail right now. A part of me wanted his sober comfort but another part wanted him to stay there until he kicked the alcohol addiction and learned his lesson finally after multiple incidents. A few of them I helped stop but just by luck of how much he had drunk those times. I looked at the car parked behind mom's van and looked back at David. "Is Uncle Chris here?" I asked and David nodded. "He came late last night to see if mom was okay and to help us get to VA." He said. I nodded and walked out of my room peeking into the hallway mom and dad's room was sectioned off. Leftover police tape stuck out of the corners. I frowned and looked around the corner into my brothers' room seeing mom sitting on David's bed crying into her hand as my Uncle Chris sat next to her trying to comfort her. I stared at them for a while hating being inside my own skin. This place is bad luck. 

Uncle Chris looked at me and gave me an empathetic smile. One that said, "My brother is an asshole and I'm so sorry he put you all through this." 

I furrowed my brows and went back to my room helping David pick out the clothes I wear most often.  Once the bare minimum of my stuff had been packed I took my suitcase down the stairs and put it next to all the others. Dexter's had his stuffed animal, Ally The Alligator, popping out of it. I onced over the blood stains on the walls and looked at the leftover police tape that was in the den and kitchen. I didn't want to imagine what happened when I was gone at school. I sat at the bottom of the stairs while everyone else gathered the rest of their stuff. I thought about the shadow that visited me last night. He was so sad. Did he see what happened to momma? I sighed and put my face in my hands. I wonder why he's never showed himself to me before. Every time I got sad or distressed a corner would get dark in color like a thick fog accumulated. I knew something had to be following me. Something was attached to me. I think that's why I had those scary nightmares before. I would feel him and I would get scared. Now I know he's friendly...Why am I still having nightmares? I hugged myself and put my knees into David's hoodie I was wearing. 

"Okay, love...Let's get going..." Uncle Chris said to me patting my head. I nodded and stood up walking out of the house dragging my suitcase behind me. Holding onto my favorite stuffed animal, Chai my red panda, I walked to mom's van. Once everything and everyone was loaded up Uncle Chris came to the driver's side of mom's van and leaned against the door. Mom rolled the window down looking at him from the bill of her hat. "I'll be following right behind you. Call me if you get sleepy we can rent a hotel room to rest in while we are on the road." He said. "Okay...Thank you, Chris...his means a lot." She said sadly reaching out of her open window and squeezed his arm gently. He gave her a sad smile and nodded touching her hand and stood right-up walking to his car. He backed out of the driveway and so did mom. She drove off and he followed. I usually like the road trips to Virginia to visit mom's family but this time I just wanted to sleep some more to think about anything else but why we were going on the sudden road trip. 

David looked out his window. "On the road we go.." he scoffed silently to himself. I closed my eyes and tried to sleep. 

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(A/N: I publish every other Monday! Sometimes consecutively if I'm feeling a good flow-a-comin' <3 Like today--lol. 
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