/ phantom /
a figment of the imagination
"She was like a dark wave crashing upon the bright shores of his horizon."
Anne Wheeler. An outcast. A loner. A street orphan. A disregarded, disgraced child born out of wedlock. A broken girl waiting for a s...
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"Anne, you can't be serious."
"This isn't you. This isn't what Oma would've wanted."
"You can't give up on your dream."
"Please, just give yourself some breathing space before you make such a big decision."
"If you leave the show now, it'll ruin me."
"The show must go on. The show must go on. The show must go on."
A gasp of horror left her parted lips and Anne shot straight up, heaving and panting, shaking and sweating.
Then, she realised.
It was a nightmare.
She couldn't remember the last time that she had had a nightmare. It would've been a long time ago, as a teen, right after her mother succumbed to a severe case of pneumonia...
Several tears squeezed their way out of Anne's eyes and cascaded down the sore, tender skin of her cheeks.
Her gaze flittered across the apartment to where Deng Yan and W.D lay, in a deep sleep, on a pair of pallets that had been pushed up against the wall opposite her.
Trying to regain control of her breathing, Anne swallowed hard and kicked back the blankets covering her thin, haggard form. Soundlessly, she slipped across the room and retrieved her shoes and shawl from a misshapen pile near the front door.
Then, without a peep, she stepped outside into the cool grey of the early morning air.
Anne didn't know how she got there nor could she remember the if's, but's and why's. But, the next thing she was aware of, she was sitting on the edge of an old, rickety jetty that stretched its wooden boards out over the rippling waves of a huge, sparkling lake residing just outside of the city.
Screwing her eyes tightly shut, Anne recalled the day when, as a timid seven-year-old about to start her first year of school, Oma had awoken her very early in the morning, helped her put on her jacket, taken her hand and guided her down to the water's edge.
"Wohin gehen wir, Oma [Where are we going, Oma]?" she inquired curiously as they left the house.
"Du wirst sehen, mein kind, du wirst sehen [You shall see, my child, you shall see]," Oma returned gently.
When they arrived at the shores of the large lake, a young Anne spoke up, "Warum sind wir hier [Why are we here]?"
Oma just smiled and responded with, "Mein kind, wann immer du dich aufgeregt fühlst denke daran, dass ich immer in deinem herzen bei dir sein werde [My child, whenever you are feeling upset, remember that I will always be with you in your heart]."
