Monday, April 13, 2015

Awakening

Voices swirled around Serenity as she ran down a darkly lit corridor. "Serenity...Serenity...Serenity..." they whispered, filling her head with cottony sighs. Hands reached out, grabbing onto her ankles, but Serenity pushed on, freeing herself. She tripped over a dark object, falling flat on her face. "Serenity... Serenity..." a voice came from above her, unmistakably male. "It's ok granda... Hush my granddaughter... All will become clear soon." A face began to take shape above Serenity.

Serenity awoke with a start. She had fallen asleep curled in her bathroom. Outside the door, she could hear the voices of Braeden and Dympna as they conversed in low voices. Serenity pulled herself up to the sink, splashing water over her face with shaking hands. Her gaze fell to a book open on the toilet, with the passage "In this land, said the god; 'who seeks shall find; who sleeps with folded hands or sleeps is blind" highlighted.

"Quite right. And it's about time that you started seeking your own answers, girl, rather than having the wrong answers given to you." Braeden appeared in the doorway.

"Why?" asked Serenity, completely fed up. Fed up with the voices, fed up with her life, fed up with the lack of information. "Why on Earth would I want to find out? What on Earth do I need to find out!?"

"Well, strictly speaking, it's not on Earth..." Dympna peered over Braeden's shoulder. "Oh, dear, you look awful! I made you a tomato and bacon sandwich, the kind that you eat whenever you're having a bad day." Serenity walked out of the bathroom, and indeed, there it was, a bacon and tomato sandwich. It looked real enough, so she wolfed it down.

"Let's go, already. We have places to be!" Braeden tapped her cane impatiently against the ground. 'Might as well,' Serenity thought. 'It's not like I have anywhere to be; might as well give into the crazy if it seems to be inevitable path.' Serenity let out a short burst of hysterical laughter and got up, brushing the crumbs off of her pants and going to pull on a fresh shirt.

Less than 15 minutes later, Serenity was walking down the street. She turned a corner and nearly ran into a woman who seemed intent on getting past the minute clinic without anyone noticing her.

"Where are we going?" asked Serenity out loud, earning herself a few odd looks from the people around her. The woman looked up, startled.

"Are you talking to me?" She asked?

"No, sorry, Bluetooth." said Serenity quickly, anxious to get away from the public. The woman nodded, accepting the answer, then with one more look at the door of the minute clinic hurried off down the sidewalk.

"Where are we going?" Serenity hissed through her teeth.

Braeden looked at her. "To see your great-grandfather."