Sylvia's blurred vision slowly pushed through the fogginess of waking up. The first thing she saw was the bright blue morning sky and the lush rustling leaves of the elm tree outside the window. Her head turned to the other way, seeing the vivid red digital numbers of the alarm clock. They read 7:59 a.m. She sat up in bed, letting her fluent locks of shiny brown hair drape over her shoulders and back, one or two smaller pieces over her face. Sylvia took in the surroundings of her room. The floor was hardwood and covered by a medium sized cream-colored rug. The walls were painted greenish beige and the windows framed in white. Her cedar unit shelves were still neatly crammed with books, binders, folders, and stacks of paper. The desk and black wheeled chair remained in their proper places in the corner. The pale gold sunbeams of the fully risen sun were pouring into the room.
She attempted to recall the events that took place in her dream, but the details were quickly slipping away with every second she strayed from her sleep.
She was no where near her home. For that matter, she had no idea where she was. Sylvia remembered herself to be wearing an innocent yet elegant white dress. The soft material wrapped her forearms snuggly, leaving her creamy shoulders and neck to be seen purely. She felt like a princess from a fairy tale in it. But where she was, a princess did not belong. There were tall and ominous black trees surrounding her under the dead night sky. The moon peered through, being her only light.
Snap.
She turned. The sound of a breaking branch came from an unwelcoming thicket behind her. There appeared two threatening and glaring red eyes. They simply stared at Sylvia with bloodthirsty determination. With a rift of panic, Sylvia takes a dash in the opposite direction. Her bare feet pounded against the hard dirt path that took her away from the eyes, but not from her fear. A few branches smacked at her armed she ran. And overwhelming sense of fear was taking over her. The situation didn't really look that scary, but there was a dark feeling of unnatural dread welling up within her. Her breath quickened and her pounding heart created an ache her chest. She could even feel the tears pulling at her eyes. Her beautiful white gown was already ripped at the end.
Suddenly, as Sylvia was looking over her shoulder, she collided with something very solid. But at the same time, it was quite soft. A pair of thin arms wrapped around her. Because they lacked the feel of skin, the hands were obviously gloved. She raised her eyes to gaze upon the face of her barrier. The deep emerald eyes of Todd locked with her own. He was holding her tightly as if to protect her. The soft glides of wind gently stroked his black hair away from his face.
His perfect lips separated as he spoke, "I promise. Nothing will ever hurt you as long as you are in my arms."
Todd closed his eyes and his head bowed to meet the lips of the young and surprised Sylvia.
Then, she awoke. Her tight clenched fist rubbed the sleep from her eyes. Sylvia pulled the downy white comforter blanket off her legs and swung them off the bed. Her long slender legs were a tad bit wobbly, like they were every morning. The door to her bedroom squeaked loudly as she pulled it open and wandered out into the hallway. The growling stomach within her was already steering her in the direction of the kitchen. Not to her surprise, mother was already standing before the stove and tending to a pair of sausage and green pepper omelets. Sylvia noticed that the two halves of an egg bagel were toasting way in the toaster.
She spoke in a dreary morning tone, "Morning, mom."
Rose, who already knew she was there, continued flipping omelets, "Morning Sylvie."
Sylvia took a seat at the kitchen table and stared blankly down at the polished, slightly scratched hardwood, "Hey mom, what happened yesterday?"
Rose brought the frying pan over to the table and heaped one of the omelets onto her plate, "Well, yesterday, after I got home…"
"And that's what happened," Sylvia said to Caroline.
The two girls were driving into town with the leather hood lowered.
A smile played across Caroline's face, "Wow, you struck gold Sylvia. A handsome guy that practically belongs in the matrix, can dance, and tucks you in after tending to your bump on the head. I wish I ran after him the night he saved us."
Sylvia was smiling too. But Todd wasn't her guy. He was just her friend. He didn't seem to be pursuing a loving relationship. So it only seemed right to call him her friend, despite the massive overwhelming crush she had on him. She didn't tell her best friend about the collection of romantic dreams she has involving Todd.
Caroline's clean white convertible pulled into a rather small parking lot. Both the girls grabbed their tote bags and Caroline folded the hood back over the car. By the way a few darker clouds were beginning to roll over the blue afternoon sky, you could never be too careful. The two entered a clean cut tan building through the double doors under the white letters spelling 'Silver Cloud Spa'.
"Hi, Francis!" Caroline said in a giddy fashion as she walked up to the elderly man with gray hair and half-moon spectacles behind the counter.
He smiled, revealing a silver tooth, "Why, Hello little Miss Caroline. How has your dad been doing?"
"Great," She spoke, "Well, we're off for a day of relaxation."
Caroline and Sylvia walked pass the counter with smiles on their faces. Francis called out, "You girls have fun."
Sylvia was always quite thankful that she had a friend whose family owned a line of spas. Caroline had to be the second richest person in the school. The first was their rival who shall remain without a name. But right now, the time was for a well deserved girls' day out after suffering through a week of mid term exams. The building was quite nice without a doubt. The floors were painted like white and black marble and the walls were a modest forest green. Paintings of relaxing realistic and abstract scenes hung from the walls in golden frames. They passed several glass doors until they reached the solid wooden one with the words 'Ladies Locker Room' in gold letters on it. Sylvia and Caroline entered and changed into their bathing suits for a long soak in the bath. They re emerged into the hall, Sylvia in a modest but bright pink one piece and Caroline in a flashy blue bikini with lighter blue swirls patterned on it.
The bath room was humungous. It had an oriental style to it. There was a large set of cubicle shelves painted red and set with a roof to look like a Chinese pagoda. Even a small waterfall poured from a jumbled tower of smooth rocks into a small fountain in the corner. The hot spring was shallow all over, but there were different heights on the seating ledges that lined the bath. If you didn't want to share the large stone tub with everyone, there were several smaller baths off to the side. Since the room was empty, except for one lady who seemed to be fast asleep soaking in the hot water, the girls decided to sit in the large bath. Caroline just stepped right in like the intense heat of the fiery water was nothing. But Sylvia needed to dip her toe in to test the warmth, withdraw it once, try again, and slip her whole foot slowly into the water. With quite a while of slowing sitting down to adjust to the heat, the two were finally settled. Sylvia had her hair tied up in am elegant bun and Caroline's light blonde hair dangled only an inch above her shoulders. Both sighed in unison with the relaxation of sitting carelessly in a huge oriental hot spring of steaming water.
Caroline was the first to speak, "So, does your head still hurt? I know what it feels like to smack your head on something really hard."
Sylvia turned to her with curious eyes, "You do?"
She laughed, "Yeah, in summer league softball back in fifth grade, I was in the wrong place at the wrong time. Allison Cory was practicing swing her bat and accidentally clocked me in the back of the head."
Sylvia gave a cringing hiss of imaging what that must have felt like, "Oh, ouch. She has quite a swing too by what I hear."
"Old wounds heal. It's not like she gave me brain damage."
"True. But still, ouch!"
"Anyways, tell me, how has Todd been treating you?"
Sylvia looked away from one moment. Talking about Todd was a rather touchy subject to her. She wanted Caroline to believe that she and he were only friends. A crush was something she wasn't going to let out so soon. It was rather difficult, "Fine, fine."
Caroline rolled her eyes, "How many dreams have you fantasized about him kissing you?"
"What!" Sylvia's faced turned an unpleasant shade of crimson and the hot bathwater wasn't helping to make her look calm.
"You know what I mean," her sneaky friend pried, "Every time I bring him up you blush. You used to sit with your arms folded. Now you sit with her hands together and fingers laced like you miss holding his hand. Every time he walks away for a moment, you look like you're about to chase after him. You like him. You like Todd!"
There was a moment of silence followed by the interruption of a loud snort from the sleeping woman on the other side of the bath.
Sylvia, looking down into the water with her head hung low, muttered her soft response, "It's true."
Caroline squealed, "I knew it! I just knew it!"
"Please don't tell him," Sylvia pleaded with bright hopeful eyes.
"I promise. Your secret is safe with me."
"Thanks Caroline."
Than the two friends sat in the warm water of contentment and watched the curling rise of steam from the smooth and lucid surface of the water.
The Maiden of Light: There you go. Well, exams are over, Coming Home has passed, and my mom isn't hogging the computer all the time. I think things are starting to look up from here. Read, review, and ruuuuumbbbblllleeee! heavy weight wrestlers jump out and tackle some guy in a lobster suit