Metamorphosis (Breaking Free, book 2)

Chapter 12-Rosie

Laughter and the clinking of silverware filled the room with a certain kind of warmth I hadn't felt since this whole ordeal had started. It was a kind feeling, like my mom's random hugs or the photo albums she'd show me from before my dad died. It filled my chest up with relief and curiosity and love.

 It was something I wanted to hold onto forever, and something that had disappeared with Milo. When he disappeared he took with him the light and the love from the town. Nobody felt safe. It became a cold place, barren, dark and lonely in a way that I didn't think our small town ever could. 

My mom never explicitly mentioned it, but the dark look on her face whenever his face popped on the news or I came home from yet another search party, sobbing, said everything that she didn't. 

But this magical, wonderful sound filled me with warmth and joy and I couldn't help the small smile that crept on my face. My eyes fluttered closed, my body relaxed and I soaked in all the love that coated the air of this place, and I thought of my mother and the smile on her face in those picture albums, standing next to my father's blurry figure. 

"You like it?" Amare asked, chuckling. She had introduced herself after I had calmed down and acknowledged that she wasn't a threat. With a growing frown, she had nudged me towards the towering spiral of light she had left behind. I flinched every time her fingers brushed my skin, and she pretended not to notice, but I could tell that she did.

For several minutes we were surrounded by the brightest white I had ever seen, with rainbow colors swimming in the purity of it all. It was silent, except for a dancing tune of a violin that I couldn't see. The tune tickled my mind, reminding me of something from my past. It was something that I loved dearly, and something I wished I hadn't forgotten. 

The scent of coffee the morning after a storm wafted around the area and I breathed it in, memorizing it. My mom would always pour us both a cup after a storm, a gentle smile on her face. 

We would wake up early after nights like that, way before the sun would climb over the mountains, and we would sit on the porch, sipping our coffee in comfortable silence watching as the sun rose, reflecting light off of the droplets of water on the grass and the spiderwebs, creating cascading lights of all different shapes and colors. The world looked enchanted then, like everything the sun touched could come to life.

She would sigh and smile, the light of the sun reflecting in her eyes as she told me that these mornings just after a storm and before the sun rose, the veil between Heaven and Earth opened for only a couple of minutes, and she could feel my father smiling at her. I didn't believe her, but maybe I should've.

Then in a flash of warmth and light, the violin stopped playing and the smell of coffee disappeared and we were somewhere else completely. Someplace where people were laughing without a care in the world in front of long tables with trays filled with warm bread and meats and bowls of fresh fruit and soup creating an aroma that made my mouth water and my stomach rumble. How long had it been since I had eaten anything besides the crumbs the drunk men left behind on their tables?

Slowly, the cacophony of noise dropped to a dull hum, and it was silent with all eyes on me and Amare. I shuffled awkwardly and itched to hide behind her back. Row after row of piercing blue eyes stared at me, some cautiously, most were simply surprised and shocked by my sudden appearance in the hall. 

But one pair of eyes caught my own and the familiarity of them struck me, even if I wasn't sure where from. It was a man, his hair a pale blonde with a smattering of freckles, but his face was unnaturally pale as if he had just seen a ghost. Maybe he had after all this seemed a lot like what my mom described as Heaven.