That night, after arriving home, Zephyr went straight to bed, fell asleep quickly. Nightmares kept on waking him every few hours. He saw animals. This would have been normal for him, as he often had dreams of them.
This however, wasn't the case now. He saw animals walking closer to him. They opened their mouths as if they were trying to talk to Zephyr. He woke up, and checked the time. It was 6:15. He thought nothing in his dreams made any sense. Why would the animals want to talk to him? Why would they want to get closer? This isn't how wild animals should behave at all.
He walked downstairs to the kitchen to get a glass of water. He sat down on the cold wooden floor with the glass in his hand, and started petting Snackey to ease his mind. This worked so well that he forgot to pour any water for himself. The dog was lazy, and halfway asleep, but didn't mind the belly rub that he recieved. Zephyr's anxieties from the nightmare slowly faded, the dog always could cheer him up. He finally poured some water into the glass, drank it, but before he could go back to his room, he noticed something on the countertop. It looked to him like a very worn stick that had strange symbols carved into it. He looked at it, held it in his hands, but it didn't make much sense to him. Why would they need a rod like this? Why would it be engraved with symbols like these? He thought it was a twig for the dog, but that theory didn't seem right because of the symbols, and the fact that the animal wasn't really interested in it when shown to him. So he just placed it back as it was, because he worried that his parents wouldn't like him messing around with their belongings. He walked back to his room, and tried to get a bit more sleep before his parents would wake him up.
After sleeping relatively well, he awoke to the same knocking as always.
I'm awake - He answered while rubbing his eyes, and changing clothes as per usual. He went downstairs, sat down to the table, this time he opted for jam on his toast instead of butter.
How did you sleep, honey? - Asked Darya, because she could tell that he was a bit weary.
Not well... I had nightmares... - He explained holding his aching head.
Does your head hurt? - She asked him, as another newspaper flew into the fireplace thanks to his father's temper.
Yes - He answered slowly.
Have some tea, it will help you! - She quickly brew a cup of the steaming beverage, and gave it to him.
Zephyr nodded, and drank the entire cup of tea in one sip. After that, every second he started to feel better and better.
What's in this, mum? - He asked looking up to her.
Nothing, it's just good tea - She smiled while responding.
Zephyr looked at her weirdly, but didn't say anything. He went back to his room, to scribble, as he every now and again liked to do, when an idea struck. He wasn't the best at it, but he liked to do it, and see himself improve in the meantime.
He was drawing about his nightmares, sketching animals as they were staring. In the meantime, a disagreement erupted in the kitchen between Darya and Sebastian.
Did you give him tea from the Nixcapitis plant? - He asked his wife.
Yes, why? - She asked while reading the news before her husband can throw it into the fire.
I don't think it was a good idea... what if he discovers it? -Sebastian asked his wife.
Why so? - She looked up from the newspaper - He is getting close to being old enough.
I disagree. He might be almost old enough, but do you really think Zephyr is ready for this knowledge? Isn't he a bit too naive?
Of course he is ready - She retorted - He is our son. Your parents let you in on this information early too, didn't they?
