We Are Written in the Stars - Kaylor

4. Love Is A Ruthless Game

As she lay in her mom's warm embrace that night, Taylor felt as though her heart had been torn from her chest, a hollow ache that seemed impossible to quell. Dee, woken by her owner's movements, ambled across the bed and gently pawed at her elbow.

"How could she?" Taylor thought, as she cuddled her cat close. "How could she leave me like that?"

It took Andrea a good hour to stop Taylor's crying, becoming more worried as the minutes passed. Ten years, and she had never seen her daughter this distraught. Eventually her tears subsided and Taylor pulled away from her mother, eyes trained on the floor.

"Taylor sweetie? How about we get some water?"

It was only in the kitchen when her mom passed her a cup that Taylor realised her hands were shaking.

"So," Andrea began gently, as they sat on the living room couch. "That was a pretty big nightmare wasn't it?" Taylor nodded.

"Was it the spiders again? From when you were little?" Taylor shook her head as she remembered climbing into her mom's bed, swearing she still felt spiders in her hair.

But unlike when she was little, there was no lingering sensation after this dream. Nothing but the feeling she was forgetting something, that she should know why she felt like this.

"Sweetie? Can you tell me what your dream was about?"

Taylor tensed. Telling Abigail was one thing, but her mom? Telling her mom would bring up questions Taylor was still trying to find the answers to. She knew she could never lie to her mom about how those dreams felt.

Telling her mom would mean her feelings for her mystery girl would no longer be her own secret.

"Taylor?" The small blonde startled as felt her mother pull her into a comforting hug. "Oh, honey. It's alright. It was just a nightmare." Taylor vehemently shook her head, unable to bear the thought that her dreams didn't hold any significance.

"Did something happen at the museum today?" Taylor nodded. "Yeah? Did another kid say something mean to you?"

"No," Taylor hesitated, "that's not it."

"You don't have to tell me what it is. I just want to make sure my baby's okay. I'll always love you, you know that right?" Taylor nodded again. She could doubt her dreams all she liked, but she would never doubt her mom's love.

"I was dreaming about a girl," she started.

"Yeah? Is it a girl you know? A mean one?"

"No!" Taylor exclaimed. "No, she's beautiful and kind and gentle, and..." she trailed off.

"Have I met this girl?"

"No. I don't know who she is." She was already regretting this. She must sound half mad. Andrea raised her eyebrows in surprise.

"You sound like you know her quite well though?"

"Yeah. Well, no. I've never met her in real life, but in the dreams it always feels really familiar."

"So this isn't the first dream you've had about her," Andrea stated. "When was the first?"

"Our first trip to New York. We were in Central Park-"

"The mint leaves?"

"Yeah. You remember that?" Taylor asked in surprise.

"Sweetie, you were looking at that plant as if it had just sprouted wings and told you all the mysteries of the universe. Of course I noticed," her mother joked. "So the first dream came after that?"