Becoming Emma

Chapter Two : A Weird Dream( Part One)

The sun was scorching brightly in the vast blue firmament. The sunlight wasn't as merciless as in the beaches back in Australia was. It was warm and comforting.  I closed my eyes and felt the leisure crawl upon my epidermis. Wait. I was standing under sun. Under Sun!! I was surely gonna have rashes and blisters. I took a note of where I was standing and found myself on the open deck of a simple white yacht, a roofless one in the middle of freaking sea! The first thought that came to my mind was to jump into the water( whose temperature didn't look more than 303 kelvin) and I decided to follow this, but a hand stopped me from behind. I turned around and saw a beautiful woman in a sundress, with her strawberry blonde hair elegantly tied in a low bun, smiling at me.

I unconsciously spoke, " Mom"

Her smile got brighter. She didn't say anything, just embraced me in a warm and motherly hug. I immediately hugged her back. It had been almost 9 years since I hugged her like this. Wait. Mom passed away 8 years ago. Well, it was totally understood by then that I was dreaming.  Oh, that also meant I wasn't gonna die. That's okay.
                   We sat on the yacht side by side and she started singing a song,
" Gentle breeze, it stirs the leaves/ and stirs my soul, my heart deep inside me/ sense my worth and...."

I recognized the song instantaneously.  How couldn't I? She used to sing this song to me on my request every night; no matter how much exhausted or despondent she was, she never denied. I realized again how much I missed her all these years. When she was  gone, my 8 year self couldn't accept and grasp the truth. I kept thinking it was dreadful nightmare and it would end soon or if I scream loud enough, Mum would wake me up and embracing me, she would say in her ever soothing voice, " It's okay. It was just a bad dream, Belle. I'm right here, with you." But that never happened. I still remembered Dad in very miserable state ; it was a moment when I just wanted to grow up fast and shelter my dad. But I still was the same moron I previously was. Since then, Emily never forgot remembering me how much of an unimportant, worthless and filthy piece of dirt I ever was. Nothing remained the same.

               Mum stopped singing and looked at my midnight blue orbs with her same, but beautiful ones meaningfully.  Well, I looked like my father, but got mother's eyes. Hey, I'm not Harry Potter, for Dumbledore's sake! Mum put both of her hands on my shoulders softly and finally said something to me,
" Belle, don't do anything  that you'll later regret."

  I looked at her in utter confusion. But before I could ask her what she meant, the surroundings changed drastically.  I was no more on a yacht in the middle of sea under sun, but in a..... freaking concert?! The yelling and shouting of the crowd made me doubt if I wasn't deaf already. There were fireworks and colourful lights everywhere. The stage and overall, the arena was huge. And it seemed like a 90s concert. I meant, the dressing style of people and the equipments looked.....olden, but classic. In the extremely bright lights, I could see most people wearing dark coloured plaid flannel shirts, stonewashed or ripped jeans, Birkenstocks or Combat boots. Well, I knew about these from my father.( I was that bad that I couldn't even differentiate Oxford and Derby. )

                        My father was once a singer in a 90s popular band, named 'Leap'. It was pretty popular in those days, but Dad and his bandmates decided to go on their own in early 21st century.  My father, Arthur Stark, chose to take up an academic career like Mum whom he met in one of his concerts, and a previous degree in Biochemistry from University of Harvard helped him to be a professor.  One of his bandmates, Paul Wilson, carried on his musical journey, but the ride came to an end when he died of lung cancer three years ago. I could  swear I really had no idea to say anything as I didn't know him at all. Though Emily was a huge fan of him and truth to be told, she had been a crying mess for two whole weeks after his death.( Please, don't think me an insensitive person, I'm just emotionally distant) Anyway, Jeremy Smith who was the lead guitarist of Leap, thought of starting his own business ; but Uncle Jeremy had serious problems of drug addiction and gambling. Last year, he was found in a pool of blood with a shot right through his cerebrum and a revolver in his hand, in a hotel room of Grand Hyatt Seattle, after he became bankrupt. At last but not least, there was John Carter. Uncle John was closest to my father and helped us in moving to Forks too. After the band broke, believe it or not, Uncle John decided to fulfill his suppressed wish of becoming a police officer.  He was now the Sheriff of Forks.
        
                    I didn't know my parents story well as they never agreed to tell me, but when I asked Uncle John about this, he just replied, " Your Mum saved your Dad." I really had  freaking no notion what he meant.