A Peculiar String of Bizarre Dreams

Chapter 38: Wild with Nostalgia

My room, I'm in my room! On my bed! Which also still happens to be as messy as I left it.

The sheets feel cold beneath me like I've been gone for days or weeks. I reach for my phone; seeing my familiar boxy chunky phone makes me incredibly happy. It blinks the time at me, 1:13 am — the exact moment I decided to embark on my gemstone adventures.

With great satisfaction, I lay my head on top of bunched up pillows and glance around my room, looking at everything with new eyes: dark curtains drawn in, my desk with the note I wrote for Dad sitting untouched, and my couch invitingly vacant. I smile to myself, glad to be back in Avian Oaks.

A while later, I climb out of bed. I remove Sachelle from my pocket and lay him on the dresser.

"I still have room for a couple more gemstones," he rasps at me from his resting place.

"And you will be entirely unoccupied soon," I say.

He stays quiet and I let the dull silence linger, leaving it devoid of all retort.

Then, I decide to take the longest shower of my life. It feels unbelievable and I come out with a new found appreciation for water-spraying contraptions. I change into my pajamas and collapse into the mesh of blankets and pillows. What a night it has been!

***

My body feels heavy; aches emit from odd joints. The after-effects of a grueling exercise session seem to be setting in. Except these after-effects aren't from an exercise session, they're from journeys through realms, both real and unreal.

My hand scrambles to find my phone. From it, I learn that it is 10 o'clock in the morning. A busy day lies ahead of me: I have souvenirs to give and people to meet! Souvenirs which I hope will benefit people in some way. It's a win-win situation. They get gifts while I improve my ability and learn the ins and outs of traveling through the space-time continuum.

I drag myself out of bed, clean up and change into a fresh pair of jeans, a moss green t-shirt and a pair of red sneakers. My journey-worn sneakers lay dirty and muddy in the corner. They will need ardent scrubbing and cleaning.

On my way down, I catch a glimpse of Dad's room. It is absolutely tidy with a neatly made bed and no sign of him.

I thump down the stairs and find him sitting across the kitchen counter, in the exact spot where Mamma was sitting several realms ago. Upon seeing me, a tremendous smile invades his face. He is still wearing his nightgown and some of his hair sticks out in disarray on his otherwise well-groomed dark head.

"Gooood Morning! Did you sleep well?"

I walk over and wrap my comparatively small arms around his fatherly ones, "I slept great, Dad. Thanks."

His wide smile transitions into worry and he pats my head with concern.

"I am going to miss you, dear girl," he says.

"And I'll miss you!" I say back cheerfully.

"What would you like to eat?"

"Pancakes. Lots of Pancakes," I tell him without hesitation. I've been craving pancakes? I guess it must be true since I just asked him to make lots of them.

While I ponder over my cravings, my more-than-willing father begins to whip up the batter and grease the pan.

"How was your run this morning?" I ask him casually.

"I didn't go. Wasn't feeling too well."

My eyes widen with another realization, "Everything okay?"

There are very few days in the year when my father doesn't go running.

"Oh yes yes, don't worry, it's nothing. Probably a bad headache or something."

I don't think he has a headache. 6AN0's words echo in my mind, 'Amethyst for pleasant dreams'.

"Dad, do you have bad dreams?" I break his flow. He stops whipping and sets the bowl down on the counter.

"What do you mean?" He asks, a frown slowly creasing his forehead.

"Last night, you told me about Mamma's nightmares. But I was wondering if you had any  yourself."

"They're not necessarily," he considers his words with a pause, "nightmares. They're dreams that sometimes...take an unfortunate turn. But only sometimes."

"Why didn't you mention this before?"

"We were talking about your mother's nightmares, not mine. She was my person, you know. She told you about her nightmares, while I told her about my dreams. A strange sort of calm would settle upon me, after I was done telling her about them. Your mother was good at that...comforting people with her presence."

As he speaks, his cold blue eyes go wild with nostalgia and I wish I could take him back in time with me, so he could meet Mamma again. Did he know about our ability? Did he know we could traverse through time?

"I'll be back in a second," I jump off my chair. He nods and resumes mixing the batter.

I jog back to my room, where I untie the tassels around Sachelle and pocket a singular stone. Then, I bounce back excitedly towards the kitchen. In my brief absence, my father has laid out a pancake for me on the counter. He plops another one on top of the first as I sit back down.

"Did anyone ever give you an amethyst, Dad?"

"Oh you know we don't own any gemstones, Jemma. We only sell them," he replies matter-of-factly.

"I do, but I'm just confirming."

I say nothing else as he skillfully piles pancake after pancake on my plate. I let him take his time cleaning up and washing his hands. And right before we start eating, I put the gemstone beside his fork.

"An amethyst. For you," I whisper.

"Where did you get this?" His eyebrows shoot up in surprise. He picks up the amethyst and examines it expertly.

"Let's just say Mamma left me a box of gemstones and I found it last night," I report with a grin.

"Oh this is wonderful! You got the necklace and then you found the box! Oh, Camira, Camira," he shakes his head, smiling to himself and still inspecting the amethyst.

"They say it's for pleasant dreams," I nod towards the stone.

"Really? Hmm, I vaguely remember amethyst having some excellent benefits. People don't ask about their uses anymore, they simply buy gems for their aesthetic appeal. It's been so long since I went through those volumes gathering dust in the library, I ought to brush up on those benefits."

I smile at my father and marvel at his incongruous simplicity.