Chapter 2 : Dreams Unwind
Part 1
Azura
I awoke to the smell of coffee wafting into my bedroom. It was heavenly. I gradually sat up, and lifted the covers off to my side. I felt for my alarm clock and brought it to my sight. It read 5:41 AM. It seemed a bit early for my normal waking hours, but I decided to wake up anyway. I crawled out of bed and searched in my closet for clothes to wear.
Eventually, I found some decent-looking clothes, and walked in to my bathroom to shower and dress. As soon as I finished putting on makeup, I ran excitedly down the hallway to grab myself a cup of coffee. Strange as it was, I felt happier today. After pouring coffee into my cup and mixing cream in with it, I walked carefully to the table. My mom was in her own world when I sat down. My father was in the living room, checking on the weather before he left for work.
"Mom?" I started, more as a statement, letting her know I acknowledged her.
"Azura," she smiled, saluting me with her cup of coffee and then sipping from it, "Crazy weather, eh?"
"Yeah, it's definitely not California." I agreed.
"No, it's not," she smiled, "But I hope you're liking it so far."
"It's getting a little easier, I suppose." I laughed.
"I was thinking maybe next week we could go check out where I used to live with my parents?" she said, setting her cup down and watching me carefully.
"Umm, sure. If you want to.." I said.
We sat in silence for awhile, listening to the hum of the fridge, and the weatherman on the TV in the living room talking about the snowstorm that was about blow thing my mother and I had never really discussed before was her real reason for leaving Minnesota. Her father had hit her a lot, growing up, and her mother defended him. She was constantly fighting with them over small problems, and constantly getting hurt in the left her feeling alone and scared all the time. She always dreamed of getting as far away as possible from the two of them, and when she was accepted to California College of the Arts, she immediately packed her bags and left. My dad told me the gist of this story, and I never mentioned to her that I knew.
"Are you hungry?" she asked me, standing up with a smile on her face.
"Hmm," I thought for a second. We almost always skipped breakfast, "Sure. A little."
"Good, so am I. Let's make something. I'm starving." she complained, going through cabinets and looking for food.
"Do we even have anything for breakfast?" I asked her, laughing slightly.
" I dunno!" she said, mimicking my laugh.
Eventually, we found eggs in the fridge, which I refused to eat. We also found a can of sliced potatoes. The expiration date was far away in the future, so I settled for those. I let my mom fix the food while I sat down and drank my coffee and listened to her sing along to the radio. Oldies. She always loved listening to the oldies. She never had a CD of any older bands, except maybe a few from the 70s, but she always insisted on playing an oldies station on the radio. At the moment, she was shaking her hips and singing along to a Beatles song. I laughed along and sang occasionally when she yelled, "You know the words, Azura!"
Once the food was ready, I set plates and forks out. My father had already left by now, so I didn't set a plate out for him. We ate again in silence. Once in awhile, my mother would ask me about school-related things, which I tried to avoid. I hated the thought of school. I finished eating just as she was about to say something else, probably about how we needed to shop for supplies, and excused myself. I glanced at the clock and realized it was already 10:12 AM. I actually spent three hours with my mom. I expected cooking breakfast would have taken a bit long, but I didn't think just chatting with her would turn out to take three hours. I filled my cup with more coffee and cream and walked to my bedroom, wondering what on earth I could do now to pass the time. I opened my bedroom door and walked to my bed, careful not to spill any of the coffee. I set my cup down on the night table, and crawled into bed. I was about to pick my cup back up, when something caught my eye. I turned my head a bit to my left and, immediately, my jaw dropped. There, drawn onto my window in ice, was my name.
"AZURA"
My heart skipped more than just one beat. It seemed to have stopped for the longest time. I had to breathe just to allow it to beat again. Before I could even smile in wonder, tears began to show in fear. Either I really was going crazy, or I was communicating with an imaginary friend. In other words, I was going crazy. Plain and simple.
