Trial by fire

dreams

(this section was written by a friend)

The little boy rubbed the coal out of his eyes and took another step. He looked at the scene around him. All the slaves marched like ants to their queen. Some dropped from exhaustion as they trudged through the snow. The scene was beautiful, in a way. The black of the coal and dirt on their skin sharply contrasted the pure white of the ground and sky around them. The boy did not have time to admire this, however, for in front of him an older man dropped on his knees into the snow. The man marching next to the old timer stopped to lend him a hand. A guard came charging into the scene holding a club. The club smashed into both men's heads in turn. The boy cried and reached out his hand. As he did so, the scene shrank away from him. The harder he tried to reach it, the farther the old man and his father, now just two more bodies rotting in the snow, seemed.

Adrian woke with a gasp and sat up with a start, which caused him to bang his head on the low hanging ceiling. As he clutched his forehead in pain, his mom walked in and sat at the foot of his bed, candle in hand. "You need to leave the worrying to the grown ups" she sighed.

"I had to grow up faster than the average kid. Makes sense that I should worry more than them too." Adrian responded, ruffling the hair in the back of his head as he spoke.

"Did Adrian have another nightmare?" croaked a sleepy voice from the other side of the room.

"It's okay, Livy, Go back to sleep." Adrian whispered in a calm, soothing voice.

"I'm allowed to worry too, you know." Olive replied.

"Yeah, but that doesn't mean you should." Adrian raised his voice as he spoke.

"Neither of you should worry, that's my job." their mother responded, even louder still.

Adrian started chuckling. He grew louder and louder until Olive finally asked, "What's so funny?"

After Adrien had stopped laughing long enough to breath he said, "We are just sitting here deciding who should be the one to worry. It's funny."

Olive smiled back at him. His mom chuckled, "You are so much like your father. Now both of you, get some sleep." She walked out of the room, closing the door behind her.

"Hey, Adrian?" Olive asked when their mom was a safe distance away.

"Yeah?"

"Do you think dad would have liked me? I mean, if he had gotten to know me?" She said, choking on her words.

"Livy, you are the most lovable person I know. Dad would have adored you." Adrian whispered.

"You don't know a lot of people." Olive replied.

Ardian laughed, probably harder than necessary, to distract himself from the lump forming in his throat. For Livy's sake, he wouldn't cry. He couldn't.