Natasha Branch and the Cursed factory

Chapter 3: Is this a dream?

Natasha woke up all of a sudden in a place that was unfamiliar to her. It was a small wooden house with glass windows and a bed so comfortable that it felt like cotton. "Where am I" she thought. Not even bothering to look out the window she opened up the front door of the small dwelling and walked outside to see one of the most beautiful sights she'd ever seen. The weather was perfect and the sky was an unusual red and pinkish color that words can't fully describe. It was like something out of a fairy tale that had been made into reality. In the distance she saw lakes surrounded by an endless sea of the greenest grass ever seen by the human eye. Then, she heard a voice call out "Natasha! Natasha!". She turned to her right side and saw a familiar face in the distance and once her eyes began to focus she realized who it was. It was her grandmother who'd passed away many years ago. Natasha couldn't believe her eyes. "Grandma, is that really you?" she said as she dropped to the ground in disbelief. "Grandma I...I...I can't believe this." Natasha said. "Darling come on. Get up off the ground" Her grandmother said in a loving voice that felt so soft as she walked even closer to Natasha. Natasha then quickly got up and hugged her grandmother with so much excitement and craze that she asked her to calm down for a moment. Natasha had tears of joy in her eyes and one the biggest smiles ever on her face. Her chocolate dark skin making it all the more beautiful. She then said "Baby let's sit down at the table and eat something and talk a little while. Her grandmother then led her to a wooden table set in the middle of the grass. The table was set on a wooden platform wider and longer than the table itself and it was covered by a picnic cloth. Some of Natasha's favorite fruits were on it but when they got to the table Natasha could hardly eat anything. She only wanted to hear her grandmother's voice. "Do you remember when we were young how you'd cook our favorite breakfast on Sunday mamabear(A term she used for her grandmother)?". "Yes I remember that. You loved pancakes and eggs but eventually you fell in love with chicken and waffles" her grandmother replied. "Monteal was a special child though. She liked oats and raisins and oatmeal. I wasn't complaining though, cause those are some of my favorites." Her grandmother replied. They then both laughed and continued talking about various things from the past and life in general. Natasha was immersed in the moment. This place was for lack of a better word, paradise. It seemed so incredible and amazing that a place like it existed. Then, all of a sudden while they were laying in the grass looking up at the sky, her grandmother laid up and asked Natasha to do her a favor. Natasha laid up as well and said "Yes mambear, what is it?". Her grandmother then asked"Could you just close your eyes really tight for a just one moment?". Natasha wondered why but she didn't bother to question it and upon hearing the request she did as she was told. She felt a soft kiss on her head and her grandmother's voice say the words "Until we meet again." She then opened her eyes and all of sudden she was back in her bedroom. She laid up in her bed and saw the morning sunlight peering through the open blinds of her window. She was shocked to the core. It felt to real to just be a dream and yet here she was. It's like she could still feel the kiss from her grandmother. She didn't know what to feel at the moment because the realness of the moment she just experienced was still presently on her but her eyes were clearly showing her a different reality. Then she heard her phone buzzing. It was a text from Tomiko saying "Happy resurrection Sunday" and after reading it Natasha looked at the time and decided to get ready for church that Sunday. After getting out of bed she did her morning routine and once she was fully prepared she grabbed her keys off the table and walked outside her door but when she turned around to lock it her keys weren't in her hands. "That's odd" she thought. She knew that her hands grabbed the keys but somehow they weren't in her hands. She went back to grab the keys that were still lying on kitchen counter top and when her hand reached the first time it's like they somehow missed even though it was so close. However, the second time around she was able to grab them and so she left for Sunday Service that morning. Once there she began listening to the Sermon which interestingly enough was titled "Gifts from...." She didn't hear the rest of the title because her mind began to drift back to the time she spent with her grandmother in that dream. She still had trouble believing that what she'd experienced wasn't real. By the time she'd come back from her daydreaming, the benediction song was being sung. She'd been there the whole time and yet her mind was somewhere else. She'd been standing and clapping and even listening but yet she didn't truly experience any of it. After snapping out of the trance though she saw her friend Tomiko walking towards her and they began to chat. "Hey, you ok?" Tomiko said. Natasha responded by saying "Oh yeah, my mind was just somewhere else, pray for me.Anyway, how you doing?". "I'm good" Tomiko responded. Before Tomiko could say anything else Natasha replied "I see you looking good this resurrection. You fly today!" Tomiko wore hear hair long that Sunday and she was wearing a long white dress and high heels. Her top was made out of a same or similar material as her dress and it was a type of material that "flows" very much so. Her top went all the way up to the lower bottom of her neck line. Her dress went down right above her ankle. Her long legs and previously mentioned round hips also helped make her appearance more appealing although to once more reiterate it wasn't that she was trying to show them off, but it was just easy to tell that she had them even though she wore long dresses. Her swag supermodel walk also made it hard to not recognize her when she went somewhere. This Sunday she didn't wear her glasses for some reason but this only helped bring out the beauty of her eyes. Tomiko responded by saying "You looking good yourself girl". Natasha wore a blue suit type of outfit. Her dress was long as well but it while it covered her knees it left the lower half of her calves visible. She wore black stockings and her dress was of course blue. It had rigid creases that were about an inch or inch and half deep per crease. She wore a short sleeve under shirt that was blue as well but the suit that she wore over the undershirt was long sleeve. The top of her under shirt reached about an inch or so short of her neck line. Her suit also had a seemingly sown in diamond pattern. After complimenting each others dress they talked for a few more minutes and went out to eat that afternoon as they'd previously agreed to with some of the other sisters of the church. Once they got there and were seated and had their orders taken, made, and delivered to their table they began to chatter about a number of things. While some of the ladies talked about the service that morning others talked about recent events in their personal life, while others talked about a range of subjects from politics to shopping. Since Natasha was seated next to Tomiko she spent the majority of her time talking to her. Natasha ordered green beans and macorroni along with a mixed fried chicken and fried fish entree. Tomiko ordered fried shrimp with fries and corn as a side. Tomiko was happy to see Natasha "back home"(a term that they both understood to mean fully concentrated and focused) considering how nuanced and unconcerned of her surroundings she was earlier during the morning service. While she originally planned on not saying anything she admitted as much to Natasha by whispering in her ear. Natasha responded by saying "Yeah, me too. Keep me in your prayers. Then the waiter came to the table and began handing out the ladies checks. Curiously though, it seemed like his memory began to fail him and he handed out the order invoices to the wrong person several times. The ladies were able to straighten out the mess fairly quickly and he apologized but something he said before he left to get a refill for one of the sisters at the table caught Natasha's attention. He specifically said "I'm sorry, it rarely happens but every now and again I wonder if I'm awake or dreaming." When Natasha heard this she began to squint her eyes and she stared at him as he walked away. Tomiko noticed this and asked her "Is something wrong?". Natasha decided not to cause any worry for her friend and said that there was nothing wrong and tried to convince herself that it was just a coincidence. Something felt odd though about not just the words but the way he said it as if it was being directed at someone at the table specifically. This was truly an odd state of affairs.