The Red Lounge

Chapter 52

Two Weeks Later

The sound of running stream water was music to me ear. I sat on a large rock by the edge, dipping my feet into his bearable coolness. I hummed a Spanish children's lullaby that my mom and grandmother used to see to be as a toddler.

Los pollitos dicen, pio, pio, pio...

I lifted my head up and stared at the magnificently clear blue sky with a childish grin. I continued to splash my feet in the water as the female voice finished the song.

It was quiet, unbearably quiet. A big cloud started to form above me, darkening everything around me. I could see ice particles forming in the water and quickly crystallizing. I pulled my feet out before the water could freeze over.

The call of crows made shivers run down my back. It was happening again. I had the terrifying repetitive dreams that I couldnt escape from no matter how hard I tried. Gun shots blared out from a distance and the beautiful birds that were once humming, flew away in their group.

I stood on the rock alone. I had nobody. All I heard were familiar voices, but they came and went. The stream started to unfreeze but it rose higher and higher. Large waves started to form, hitting my legs and causing me to lose my balance.

More gun shots echoed around me but this time it felt like they were blasted right near my ear. I covered my ears tightly and continued to keep my balance as the tides rushed past me, but it was no use.

My hands flailed as I slipped off the large rock and I submerged under the icy cold water. My weak body had been tossed back and forth by the tides. I swam up with all my strength. I could see a large branch at a distance and reached for it.

My cold, pale hands wrapped around the branch and my body swayed back and forth like a rag doll as the tided pushed past me. I tried grabbing the branch with my other hand but just when I did, the branch broke off from the old tree.

I heard a loud crack. I had hit my head onto a large rock, causing my skull to crack open. I faded into complete darkness unaware of where I would go next.

"Amor?" I heard a feminine voice speak.

I repeatedly blink, trying to eliminate my hazy vision. I could see a faint silhouette of a slouched body.

I groaned in pain as my head throbbed. I tried moving my hand to my head, but a warm, delicate hand stopped me. "No te muevas, amor."

"Can you see me?" The woman said in a thick Spanish accent.

"A little," I said as I repeatedly blinked.

I heard someone standing up and the sink turned on. The woman approached me and started cleaning my face with a warm rag. "Estoy aqui, alfin."

She wiped the wetness with the dry side of the rag. As she slide the rag away from my eyes, she came into sight.

"Abuela?" Could it be? Was it really by grandma? Was I officially dead and in heaven with her? "Are we dead?" I asked, my voice cracking.

A loud laugh escaped her thin lips. "Oh, amor. You're still that funny little girl."

I chuckled nervously. "So, not dead?"

"No," she said simply.

She was not as old as I expected her to look. She had to be in her mid to late 60s, though could pass for younger. Her brown hair was complimented by grey roots and streaks. She stared at me with her sweet brown eyes that always provided the comfort I wanted. I held her thin hands and when I brought them up to kiss it, a surge of pain radiated from my shoulder. I cried in pain as I waited for the torture to subside.