As she stops to catch her breath, she looks back. Shocked, she looks around realizing she is not where she laid down to go to sleep. Looking around further she notices that the sky has a strange hue to it, and the buildings, though familiar, seem to be faded into the background as if they belong to a painting rather than a part of her own view of the world. Despite being outside, she could not find any scents at all, like someone had sent a wind to take every single scent away from her. It suddenly clicks in her mind as she starts to recognize the structures around her.
Off in the distance, she could see the training ring, half hidden behind the Pack Mansion where the Alpha lives and much of the administration for the pack takes place. Across the street, she could see the school and training facilities her parents had often dropped her and her sister off at when they were working. The only house that stood out as seeming real was a small, two-story, blue-sided, ranch style home. She knew that home from anywhere, and suddenly she knew that this was a dream, a memory. Katherine is standing in front of her childhood home at the Blue Moon housing campus.
Catching movement from her right, Katherine turns, only to find herself being tackled by a laughing child in a blur of dark, honey brown hair. The child, dressed in a muddy, white, tee shirt and jean overalls, moves off of Katherine to reveal the joyous face of her twin, or at least it looked like Kaycee did when she had last set eyes upon her. The five-year-old Kaycee has a huge grin on her face as well as a splosh of mud across one cheek and is holding one of her hands behind her back; shoes and socks are missing from Kaycee’s mud-covered feet. Looking down at herself a moment, Katherine saw that she too looked to be five years old and dressed in a clean matching outfit to Kaycee’s in this dream, though her feet were covered by her pink, light up, tennis shoes and white socks.
“I got you good Kat-Kat. You were so scared,” Kaycee rushes out between laughs. Standing Kaycee reaches out with the visible hand and helps Katherine to her feet.
Smiling at the memory, Katherine chooses to follow along, since it was a happy one rather than the nightmare that usually plagues her. “I wasn’t scared. You just startled me.”
Kaycee smirks as much as her five-year-old self could, “Sure, and you totally didn’t scream when you saw this” She says as she pulls out her hidden hand to toss a small fake snake at Katherine, who squeals and ducks away from it.
Kaycee falls to the ground laughing as Katherine does a double take at the snake to ensure the dream wouldn’t suddenly let it come to life. Looking down at her twin’s laughing form, she pretends to pout, a small smile trying to push through and onto her face. “You are being a meany Kake.”
Kaycee immediately stops laughing to look at Katherine. Seeing Katherine’s struggle to hide her own amusement Kaycee smiles and stands up, “I was just joking around.”
“I don’t see it as a joke Kake,” Katherine says, crossing her arms and forcing herself to frown, to keep from smiling.
“Kat-Kat, it’s a fake snake. I wouldn’t bring a real snake anywhere near you.” Kaycee huffs, pouting at Katherine as she reaches down to grab the fake snake.
“I don’t believe you wouldn’t try to scare me with a real one. You put a real lizard in Ms. Bradley’s desk drawer,” Katherine replies, her eyes focused completely on the fake snake.
Kaycee rolls her eyes at Katherine, turning to walk towards their childhood home. “I don’t like Ms. Bradley. She doesn’t let us do anything fun.”
Katherine follows Kaycee, watching as her twin tosses the fake snake onto the porch swing then walks over to sit on the grass in the front yard. “You know we’re supposed to be learning while in school right,” Katherine lectures as she sits down beside Kaycee.
“Learning Ms. Bradley’s way is boring,” Kaycee complains.
“She is just doing her job. You didn’t have to use a real lizard,” Katherine argues.
“She wouldn’t have reacted half as much if it wasn’t real. Plus, she made us sit quietly for no reason,” Kaycee retorts
“But a real lizard, Kake?” Katherine asks, shivering at the thought.
Kaycee looks over, studying Katherine’s face before smirking. “It’s the ‘real’ part bothering you?”
Katherine glares at Kaycee, playfully pushing her twin over when Kaycee starts to laugh. “It's not funny.”
Kaycee calms down, still grinning, “I’m sorry Kat-Kat. What would make it all better?”
Katherine smiles softly, her eyes watering slightly at the memory, “Would you promise not to bring anything real around again?”
Kaycee grabs Katherine’s right hand with her own right hand, linking their fingers together before kissing her own thumb. “Twin Promise. I will never use anything real to scare people again.”
Katherine puts her head on Kaycee’s shoulder and wraps her arms around her twin’s shoulders, Kaycee instinctually returning the hug, Katherine’s tears well up in her eyes falling down her cheeks, even though she knew this memory was not meant to be sad. She knew she was really twenty-three years old and Kaycee would only ever be five years old to her. As the tears continue to flow down her face to wet Kaycee’s shoulder, Katherine felt her sister pulling back from the hug. Kaycee’s hands came up to wipe away Katherine’s tears, using her thumbs at once on both wet cheeks, just like she use to when Katherine got upset.
“Don’t cry Kat-Kat, I didn’t mean to scare you this bad,” Kaycee soothes, her own eyes watering slightly in empathy to Katherine's tears.
“It's not that Kake,” Katherine tells her, pulling Kaycee back into her, tears starting to flow even more. Kaycee holds her tight as Katherine starts to sob, waiting patiently for the distraught girl to calm once more. As Katherine starts to calm down, Kaycee pulls back once more to wipe the last of Katherine’s tears away. Katherine pulls Kaycee down to lay in the grass. “I’m sorry for getting you wet Kake,” Katherine says as she cuddles into Kaycee’s arms.
Kaycee just chuckles and rubs her cheek on Katherine’s head, “I don’t mind getting wet, I probably needed a bath anyway. Why were you crying Kat-Kat?”
Katherine looks around at the dream world, trying to decide if it was worth changing the memory even more by sharing her worries to the ghost image of her twin. “You wouldn’t understand Kake. It's not something kids should be worrying about.”
“But you are worrying about it,” Kaycee says. Katherine sighs, but stays silent, even as she notices Kaycee getting restless beside her, Kaycee’s feet beginning to tap where they rested on the ground. “Would...would you like to hear about… well…. it's something I….uh...heard about,” Kaycee ends up asking.
Katherine moves to where she can look into Kaycee’s darker eyes, still touching her twin so as not to lose the missed connection given back to her in this dream. “Yes. Please tell me,” she replies, expecting a story about something Kaycee had done that they both knew was not really allowed.
“People are being poisoned. All over. They are dying. Mason is trying to get the whole council together to investigate, but there could be a race war based on the little bit about the poison we have been able to figure out,” Kaycee carefully shares, looking down at her hands. Katherine looks at her sister in shock, surprised that the five-year-old Dream Kaycee has chosen to talk about exactly what is happening in the real world.
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