Can't Find My Way Home.

Bobby's Anyone?

I'm falling, spiraling down an abandoned consciousness. The images blur and move symmetrically like a large kaleidoscope in my vision. I catch only glimpses of images; some of them happy some not so much.

I see two men laughing carelessly together. I see one of the two men, the long-haired one falling slowly into a deep dark hole in the ground. The shorter well-built man pulling a taller lean man into a hug. The skin of the shorter man being ripped from his muscular frame by some unseen force. The two men hugging each other tightly. The breath leaving a familiar old man one last time.

One of the images always remains the same and stays the longest, the fire. It always starts out as distinct colors, bright yellows, oranges, and reds. The colors morph into some unnatural color then explode, creating the flames. The flames dance and roar, I can feel the heat almost melting my skin.

I hear someone scream, "Samantha!" Terrified, I look up, "Mom?" I see her pinned on the ceiling, the flames licking and stroking every inch of her body. I stare at the large pool of blood that is expanding at the base of her stomach.

She snaps me out of my stare as she suddenly pleas "I need you to remember. Please, sweetheart, remember.

" I jerk upright in the crappy hotel bed, and I'm reminded that it was just a dream. My body trembles like a leaf, my heart beating fast in my chest, a film of sweat covering my entire body.

When my mind finally starts to slow I fall back into the bed. I silently turn to grasp a pillow and hold it close, letting the sobs tear through my shuttering body. I feel my body slowly releasing, my face burns. The tears that stream down my face might as well be liquid lava.

When my body stops trembling I sit up once more. When I've decided that I can stand, I go and take a cold shower; a feeble attempt to erase the memory of my nightmare from my head. I can't shake the feeling that something about this nightmare was different. I can't quite place it, it seems like as soon as I get close to remembering, it vanishes.

As the cold waterfalls around me, a female voice echoes in my head, "I need you to remember. Please, sweetheart, remember." Remember what? The car crash that took my mother's life eight years ago? The fact she threw me from the car and yelled at me to run away? Does she want me to remember how utterly defenseless I felt? She couldn't possibly want that.

In a failed attempt to clear my head, I turn the shower off and dry my hair. I run my hands through my long brown hair, cussing when my fingers get stuck halfway. I finish up and look at myself in the mirror.

Longish curly brown hair that frames my slender face, I reach up and rub my face with my hands. Deep breath in, deep breath out. It was only a dream. You are fine. When I look back in the mirror my green eyes catch my attention. God, I look like my father. Well, I guess I do, I've never even seen the man.

I'm snapped out of my thoughts when my phone suddenly rings on the bedside table. I turn and walk to answer it, "Hello?" I hear my adopted mother's cheerful voice on the other end, "Good morning sweetheart! Did you sleep okay?"

I shake my head and groan. "God, how can you be so awake? It's like 7 am." Her warm laughter on the other end makes me smile "It's really not that early dear."

I nod my head fiercely "Yes, yes it is. Did you have a reason for calling? Or did you just want to wake me up at the butt crack of dawn?" I imagine her rolling her eyes at my 'foul' language. "No, I just wanted to check up. See where you were and how you're doing."

I roll my head around trying to relieve the crick in my neck and end up pushing on the muscle on the back of my neck. "I'm in South Dakota. Sioux Falls isn't far away now, maybe 6 hours." I roll my eyes at her excited yelp. "Oh, that's so exciting!"