I woke up with a start, breathing heavily as I tried to calm my nerves. The sheets stick to me, drenched with sweat as I try to adjust my vision to the darkness surrounding me. Looking out, I can’t help but sigh upon realizing that it was still hours till I had to wake up. ‘The fudge was up with that dream. That felt way too real, I really gotta stop eating sugar before bed!’ I think as I turn my head to my alarm clock, deciding on how much longer I could sleep, I loudly groan to see it’s about 4:30 in the morning.
'Shit! I woke up way too early, I only have to get ready at 6. Now, what am I gonna do, it’s gotta be at least a couple more hours till I have to get ready to go to school.’ Deciding that I probably won’t go back to sleep, I get out of bed and move towards the bathroom to get ready for my first day at my new school. Realizing I have time to kill, I choose do a little archery practice to blow off some energy. Heck, I might even make myself so tired that I can get at least an hour of extra sleep before I have to go.
I quietly walk to my closet so I don’t wake anyone in the house; well, other than Dad, but he wouldn’t care (seeing as to how he always wakes up at 4 in the freaking morning to get a head start on extra work). I’d rather that my brother Shun stay asleep since he can be rather annoying in the morning when he first wakes up.
My lovely little family of three had just moved here to Silver Peak about a week ago. Everything has been going good so far since we moved here for a new start since Dad said he wanted to try and open his own café. Not a bad move, but I initially wondered if people would even consider coming. Due to having seen the shortage of bakeries and café shops in town, I saw that my old man might know what the heck he’s talking about.
‘Now all we have to do is get him to try and focus more on his customers’ tastes and not just his own so the menu can become more of what’s in trend; for business and bringing in profits. Shouldn’t be too hard right? I mean his side of the family makes awesome French pastries, he should at least try making other things. I mean make a cupcake once in a while! If I see one more mushi pan or melon pan… I think I’ll scream.
I stop my mini rage session and frown. I miss Mom. It’s been three years since her car accident but the pain still remains. My chest and stomach tighten as I walk out the bathroom, but I take it as a hint that I need some grub. Heading to the kitchen to make myself something to eat, I see that there were no more eggs. So, in response, I settled with some plain old Fruit Loops and sit down. As I begin to eat, my mind wanders to that strange dream. Now I’m not one to keep track of dreams but, in all of my sixteen years of living, I fail to remember having a dream as crazy as that. Something was off and I could feel it, my dreams have never been so vivid. So lucid to the point where I can feel what is going on.
“Tch, probably nothing anyway,” I shrug,” I don’t know why I’m thinking so deeply into this. Maybe some archery practice will get my mind off things.“ Grabbing the keys to my car, I peek on my Dad to make sure he didn’t fall back asleep while doing paperwork again. I love the man, but he has a tendency to overwork himself.
“~Hey, Yu-ki-ko,” turning as my brother sneaks behind me and lifts me into the air. Stifling a yawn, he grins a little at my shocked response and puts me back on the ground. Casually putting his elbow on my shoulder, he scratches his neck and smoothes out my now-messed up hair. ” So what’s my usually lazy, yet adorable, little bro doing up so early, hmm?”
Bro-con…
I shoot him a glare at the sudden gesture and push his arm off my shoulder, irked at the use of my full name. ” Well Shun, I was about to go to the shooting range to get a little practice. Got a problem, or do you wanna help me put by being a target?” I then plaster a smug look on my face saying,” Got in late again from another ‘little date’ with Emma?”
With that, he hooked his arm over my shoulder, effectively putting me in a headlock, and messed my hair again. “And so what if I did, my personal life is no concern to you Baby Yuki. Or need I remind you who the older brother is?” Giving me a playful punch in the shoulder. I got away and I stick my tongue out at the cringy nickname. My parents just had to give me such a girly name! Rolling my eyes and then grinning I can tell that he’s had a good little break last night hanging with his friend, Emma (who has a tendency to be a “tiny” bit intimidating, if you ask me).
“Getting to more current matters,” he says suddenly becoming concerned,” why are you,really, up so early,“with that, my smile fell as I slowly recalled the recent dream that I had and how terrifying it was,” Our schedule has been a little crazy, but you should seriously get some sleep. Heck, we just finished unpacking everything yesterday night. You should be exhausted!” He commented with a wave of his hands.
" However, your junior year of high school will be crazy, so enjoy having the luxury of waking later.”
“Ah, nothing much, I just couldn’t sleep. You see, I had a bit of a bad dream and it kinda startled me a bit,“ and cue overly-worried older brother stance,” But it’s no biggie, I mean, I planned to explore the town a bit before going to school so it kinda works out for me.” With that, I turn and rush off leaving an annoyed (and confused) Shun in my wake.
As I neared Dad’s office, I peeked in to see him silently cussing out his paperwork, muttering something under his breath a little extreme for his usually calm self. Realizing someone’s behind him, and without looking back, he calls out,” Yukiko, I didn’t think you’d be up at this time, is everything alright?” Sighing, and a little put off with his knowing I was there, I told him the same thing that I told Shun and that I was going to the shooting range for a while. Looking up from his paperwork he frowned, suddenly worried, as his paternal instinct kicked in.
“What’s this about a dream? Why don’t you tell me a little bit about it, hm? Maybe I can help you prevent another bad one from coming?” he said with a little concern in his voice, which I honestly found a little offsetting. It was just a dream, I mean it was a “different and interesting” dream but nothing major. Heck, everyone gets those kinds of dreams so it’s nothing to worry about. Regardless of my annoyance, I took a seat in a chair beside his desk and told of my dream. From the lake-pit to the weird glowing ball, even to the strange figure that stopped me from falling in.
“Hmm,” he started with a stroke of his haggard chin, “instead of going out the range, why don’t you stay home instead and just go later?” With a little twinkle in his eye, he added,”while you’re at it you can help me with my paperwork by organizing them by dates!!” And without another word, he grabbed a particularly large pile and handed it to me with a clasp on the back.
With a “there you go son!” and a thumbs up, he turned to, supposedly, go back to the rest of his work, but instead tossed me a strange looking ring. Looking at it, I notice it has an image of a blue wolf with an impression that made it look as if it were frozen and giving off steam.
“Since you're sixteen now, you'll get to wear an heirloom from your mother’s side. Before she passed, she told me the ring was rumored to bring its bearer good luck and sweet dreams. Why, I remember her father telling me stories of how his father never had a bad dream, or luck, whilst wearing this ring. In his prefecture, he was known as Japan’s luckiest man.” With a twinkle, he adjusted his glasses.
“It’s, typically, passed down to the next generation… if the need arises; and since you had a strange dream, I’ll give it to you. Take care of it and don’t ever take it off.” Serious as a heart attack, he placed the ring in my palm and sat back in his chair proudly. With a smile, I gazed at the ring while examining the unnatural shade of blue that surrounded the wolf. I hurried into the kitchen, trying to get a head start, and started to work on the hellish pile of paperwork. Slipping the ring on, I couldn’t help but feel a little tingle go through my body from my head to my feet. Disappearing as quickly as it appeared, I remember the earlier chill from the dream and how it slowly dissipates. Shuddering, I ignored the foreign feeling and start on the annoying pile of paperwork.
‘I mean, honestly, where is all of this come from anyway! It’s a freaking cafe!’ I thought with a slight groan. This was gonna be a long morning.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Finishing that sinful amount of paperwork (glare thrown at Dad as he innocently sipped his coffee and ignores it), I head upstairs to my room so I can get ready for school. Looking in my closet I pick out a simple outfit. The jeans have seen better days but I’m more into comfort, so I kept it. Grabbing my favorite Deadpool hoodie, I head downstairs to go to school. Little did I know that the day would not be as peaceful and easygoing as I thought.
Comments (0)
See all