Reflection

Prologue

In one room of the house were twin beds, both of which were occupied by girls of the same age, except that one of them was a year older. Although they were cousins, they felt like sisters, ever since the other girl moved in. They remained asleep, dreaming about whatever it was they were dreaming about, until...

"Luna! Narcissa! It's time to get up!" A woman's voice called as she opened the door and turned the lights on but not all the way. Narcissa, the older girl, sat up and rubbed her eyes, Luna following suite.

"Alright, Mom," she tiredly replied as she jumped off her bed.

"Yes, Aunt Lydia," Luna chimed in as she too got off her bed. Not too long ago, her parents, Stella and Blake, had died in a traffic accident along with a few strangers, leaving her as the sole survivor. Lydia, one of Stella's sisters, Uncle Clayton, and Narcissa were more than willing to take Luna in. She was grateful that she had people to take care of her, but she would never forget what she had to go through. The swerving of that truck, the loud impact, all the screams of the eight victims including her parents.

Aunt Lydia led the two of them downstairs for breakfast, where Uncle Clayton was sitting at the table, reading the newspaper and drinking coffee.

"Morning, Dad!" Narcissa cheerfully greeted, causing Uncle Clayton to look up from his paper and smile.

"Why, good morning to the both of you too! Did you sleep well last night? Any dreams?"

"Yeah!" Narcissa beamed. "I had a dream where Mrs. Gates brought in candy for the whole class because we all got perfect scores on our most recent spelling test!" Narcissa was in first grade, and Mrs. Gates was her teacher. A small frown came to her face as she knew that it was just a dream that might never come true, especially since only a few of her classmates were excellent at spelling.

"There, there," Uncle Clayton reassured her. "It'll happen someday. What about you? Did you dream about anything last night?"

Luna just stood there, not knowing what to say. She did have a dream last night, but it seemed so strange and surreal to her. All she could remember was laying on sand as two figures approached her. Suddenly, the ocean rose up and consumed her.

Noticing that it had been a couple minutes, Uncle Clayton finally spoke up. "Well, it's alright. No one has dreams every night. Anyway, breakfast is ready!" He got up from his chair and walked over to the stove and turned it off. Four plates were spread on the counter. He picked up the large skillet with scrambled eggs and let a portion of them slide onto each of the plates. He picked up a smaller skillet, which contained strips of bacon, and put two on each plate. After putting the plates on the table and pouring the juice, he and his family began to eat.

Luna loved eggs and bacon, so she did not hesitate to start, even if something from her dream hinted at it being wrong. After they were finished eating, she and Narcissa headed upstairs for the showers. This was their normal morning routine: eat breakfast, shower, dry their hair, get dressed, and brush their teeth.

As they were brushing, they could hear Aunt Lydia saying that they had five minutes until the bus would get to their stop. They hurried up and rinsed their mouths. They ran back into their room, grabbing their respective backpacks before running down the stairs, with Aunt Lydia following them out the front door.

They stood on the sidewalk for a couple minutes until the yellow school bus pulled up and opened its doors. Luna and Narcissa got on and immediately went to the nearest empty dual-seat. Once he could tell that they sat down, the bus driver closed the door and drove off.

As usual, kids were chatting very loudly and singing songs that were taught to every kid. Luna and Narcissa just sat there, not thinking much it all.