Enjoy!
Song Inspiration: Till the Casket Drops by ZZ Ward
Our breaths came in ragged gasps, labored and heavy as we stood amidst a sea of carnage. Blood splattered across my face, mixing with the sweat and dirt, a reminder of the battle we had just fought. At our feet lay a lifeless pile of bodies, their wounds still oozing golden streams of glistening blood. In his hands, the sword gleamed with a deadly shine, its weight no longer a burden but an extension of his rage. We were both covered in scars and bruises, our bodies weary from the fight, but to any onlooker, we must have seemed like warriors worn down by years of battle and bloodshed.
We were only just beginning.
I am the Keeper. Last of my kind and first of one, my job is a solidarity one, I spend my time floating through the realms. My job was to protect the living realm from the gods that lurked just beyond the clouds. The bright sun rays, the dark blue night skies, the sparkling stars were all their doing.
I don't remember a time where I wasn't the Keeper… that's a lie, I remember the night I was given a choice. I had been running, I don't know how long but long enough to feel blood caking my feet. I remember the thunderous feet following me and I remember who I was running from.
"Keeper!" I hear before feeling a pang through my chest.
"Keeper!" I felt him shaking me before my body went limp and my mind faded into darkness.
Wake up.
Wake up.
Wake up.
"Wake up, Mercedes! We don't have all day!"
I jerked, breathing heavily. Sweat beading down my chest and my hands shaking. "It was just a dream." I said, running my hands through my hair.
"Jesus Mercedes! Moma has been shouting for the past twenty minutes, get up!" My sister Lena said after she burst through my door. I looked at her before realizing what she was saying.
"Sorry." I replied, scrambling out of bed. It was our oldest brother's Malik's wedding and I was dutied with the task of singing during both the ceremony and reception.
That was just one of the many tasks I had, let my mother tell it it was not the most important task. Cherise Jones was a woman of lists and all of her lists had strict time frames.
Dressing quickly, I entered the chaos that was our family kitchen. Momma was in the middle of it all: stirring the jambalaya, barking orders at the caterers, and adjusting and readjusting her sky blue hat for the ceremony. She looked at me with a raised eyebrow as I stumbled in, Lena hot on my heels.
"You look like you've seen a ghost, Mercedes," Momma said, her voice softening at my disheveled appearance. "Were you having those dreams again?"
I nodded wordlessly, grabbing an apple from the bowl on the counter. The dreams of being a warrior, a protector of realms, had been haunting me for weeks now, ever waking moment consumed by their vividness.
"Well," Momma continued with a sigh. "We'll figure it out after today. Just try to keep your head straight for Malik's wedding." She was trying to be understanding, I knew. But we both knew that the dreams were
becoming far more intense, more real, and harder to shake off.
"Just a dream," I whispered again. My voice felt small and distant even to my own ears. Lena eyed me with concern but didn't say anything. She knew better than anyone how the dreams had been affecting me.
"You both need to be getting to Unique's, she's not going to wait all day to do your hair, and Lena please for the love of everything get Char up from underneath that damn fool so she can get ready too."
I listened as my mother barked her orders before Lena grabbed me and we went to seek out our younger sister, Char. She was, per usual, madly in love with someone this week and hadn't come home in days. I let my sister tug me out of the house and push me into her car. I wanted to be present but there was a twinge in my lower abdomen.
The same place I was stabbed in the dream. placing my hand there, I winced. This has been happening for months now, wherever I was hurt in my dream, I was hurt in real life.
wake up.
wake up.
WAKE UP!
"Mercedes!" Lena spat and I blinked.
Looking over at her, I frowned. "What?"
Lena, with her flawless features and sharp intellect, always seemed to carry the weight of a third parental figure. Her presence commanded respect and admiration, as if she were a guardian angel watching over those around her.
She was not my angel though, she was the constant reminder that I was seemingly always stuck in dream land. She wasn't wrong… I did day dream more now that I'd been getting the nightmares.
"You need to focus, we have to get Char and our dresses and our hair done. Have you even rehearsed the song you're supposed to be singing?"
I let out a deep sigh and glance out the window, my eyes tracing the familiar sight of countless trees and houses that I've seen too many times to count. First, there's Mrs. Victoria's house with its perfectly manicured lawn and white picket fence. Then, The Pope's place, an old Victorian home that always seems to be shrouded in mystery. And finally, the creepy run split level at the end of the street, with its unkempt yard and boarded up windows.
But what catches my attention the most is Lynnwood kid's park. The playground equipment is rusted from years of use and neglect, but it still stands tall as a beloved childhood memory for me and my siblings. We spent endless summer days running through the grass and climbing on the monkey bars. If you look closely enough, you can still see our initials engraved into the old oak tree where the community treehouse used to be. It's a bittersweet reminder of simpler times and cherished memories.
I almost glanced away, but then I saw him. In those moments between sleep and wakefulness, he was always there with me in my dreams. He stood tall with his dirty blonde hair and piercing green eyes. To the version of myself that exists only in my dreams, he was someone cherished and loved. My dreams were not always filled with battles; sometimes they were more intimate and intense. In my journal, I had given him a title: my dream lover.
But that couldn't be him… he wasn't real. Was he? He was there on the corner, I saw him and I know he saw me too because he nodded before we passed him all to quickly and when I looked back he was gone.
"Did you see him?" I asked, looking at my sister.
She gave me a confused look before sighing and shaking her head. "No, you need to focus. momma and daddy are already stressed about making sure everything goes smoothly, and you keep getting lost in your thoughts. Meanwhile, Char is probably off somewhere getting herself into trouble and Malik is nowhere to be found."
That was news to me, the part about Malik not Char. "What? Since when? It's his wedding, why is everyone acting like this isn't the bigger issue?"
Malik was complex. He committed to just about everything and nothing, so it came as a complete and utter shock when he announced that he was marrying his girlfriend of six months. He was always like that, he wanted things in a hurry but never planned anything out. Courtney, our soon to be sister in law… maybe was steady and sweet and far too good for the likes of Malik and that is probably why he ran. He was pretty damn good at that too, let momma tell it, he's been running since the day he started walking.
"Because he has no choice but to show up. now what he does when he arrives is different but momma wants a unite front until the very end." Lena replied, parking her car outside of Houston's place. I shook my head trying to digest the information she'd just given me while wonder why in the holy hell Char was hooking up with Thomas Houston.
Lena turned to me, her usually black tresses dye a honey brown bouncing around her shoulders. "Rock, paper, scissors?"
I sighed, adjust and readying myself. "Okay but no cheating, glue is not apart of that equation."
Lena's lips twitched into a smirk, her dark eyes sparkling with mischief. "No promises, sis." She held out her hand, palm facing down, and began to rock it back and forth in rhythm with mine.
Rock.
"You better not cheat," I warned, trying my best to keep a straight face.
Paper.
"Would I ever?" Lena teased with a raise of her defined eyebrow.
Scissors.
She chose paper. I went with scissors. A triumphant grin spread across my face as Lena groaned, slumping back into the driver's seat dramatically. "That's cheating!" she protested but there was no real heat in her words.
"Stop being a sore loser, I'll go get her." I said with a chuckle as I opened the car door, stepping out onto the cracked asphalt of the Houston household driveway.
The Houston house was as unkempt as always, with chipped paint showing on the window frames and an overgrown lawn that looked like it hadn't been mowed in years. I made my way up the sagging front porch, its boards creaking under my weight. Everything about this place screamed neglect.
I knocked on the door, and moments later, the door creaked open revealing a yawning Thomas Houston, his disheveled hair standing in all directions and his t-shirt sporting a fresh coffee stain. Not surprising considering Char had chosen to run off with him.
"Morning, Thomas." I greeted, trying to hide my distaste.
He grunted in response, rubbing at his eyes as he moved aside to let me in. "She's upstairs."
The place looked worse than it did on the outside. Old newspapers and empty beer cans littered the floor. The couch was worn out and discolored from years of use with stuffing poking out in places.
"CHAR!" I shouted, refusing to go further than the living room.
Thomas walked over and plopped on the couch, "So Malik's finally getting hitched, huh?" He asked, digging around for what I assumed was a lighter for the cigarette he'd pulled from behind his ear.
I had to hold back my gag, there was always something so sleazy about Thomas that made bile form in my stomach. He was not hard to look at, in fact he was very handsome but he was as my daddy would say,washed up fool with no direction.
"That's the plan." Finally say looking, up the stairs. "CHARLOTTE WE DO NOT HAVE ALL DAY!"
I feel Thomas looking at me and look back at him. "Why didn't you ever accept my hangout invites?"
I looked at him like he grew two heads. "Because Cedes, doesn't like the opposite sex." At the top of the stairs stood a disheveled-looking Char with her hair all over the place and last night's makeup smeared under her eyes. "In fact, she's not attracted to anything but her journal and weird dreams
"Yeah, sure if that gets me out of this conversation and us to Unique's on time then yes, what she said." I said, grabbing Char by the arm and tugging her outside.
She squinted at me in the morning light before rubbing her eyes and blowing a kiss over her shoulder at Thomas before I shoved her into the backseat of the car. "Can you not?"
"Drive." I say to Lena who was now sporting an amused expression.
The engine rumbled to life as Lena gave a swift nod, her hands taking their commanding position on the steering wheel. Char flopped against the backseat like a rag doll, groaning loud enough for the dead to hear, not that it bothered me too much. After all, we were all used to Char's melodrama by now.
"What time is it?" She mumbled into the seat, her voice muffled.
"Time for you to get your act together," Lena replied crisply, backing out of the driveway with an ease that I wished I had when we played our little game earlier. The car lurched forward and started down the street, passing the familiar houses once again.
Char groaned again but didn't respond, instead curling up against the window and closing her eyes. Her dark hair was tousled around her face like a wild mane, making her look like a rock star after a 48-hour bender.
I stared at her through the rearview mirror, my fingers tapping rhythmically against the leather-bound journal on my lap. The one that contained all my dreams and musings, including the mysterious guy with piercing green eyes. I let out a soft sigh, turning my head to look outside the window as we drove. The morning was still young, the sun low in a sky of pastels streaked with gold. It was beautiful, but it didn't hold my attention.
My thoughts were already wandering back to the dream from last night. To him. His face was so clear in my mind, a face I knew better than my own. Even now, his image continued to haunt me – his features sharp and defined, dimples showing when he smiled, those unforgettable green eyes that seemed to hold depthless stories...
"Earth to Cedes," Lena's voice cut through my train of thought, and I blinked back into reality.
"What?" I asked, surprised.
She rolled her eyes at me through the rearview mirror. "Just making sure you're still with us. We don't need any more disappearances today."
She was of course referring to Malik, who apparently had no intention of appearing at his own wedding. I shook my head, the air in the car growing tense.
"Where do you think he is?" Char's groggy voice chimed in from the backseat. Her eyes were still closed and her legs were crumpled beneath her skirt.
I shrugged, "Probably on a beach somewhere, living up his last few hours as a single man."
Lena huffed and shook her head. "If he's not at that chapel by noon, momma is going to have his head."
Char giggled then, but it was shallow and lacked its usual energy. The car fell back into silence for a moment, save for the sound of tires over pavement.
"I hope he shows," I found myself saying quietly. The green-eyed man in my dreams would never do something like this, I thought to myself. Lena snorted at my comment, but didn't say anything. She knew how important today was, not just for Malik, but for our whole family.
I shook away my thoughts as Lena pulled up to Unique's - a petite bridal boutique framed with lavenders and elegant white irises nested in an old French building.
"Alright ladies," Lena clapped as she shut off the ignition, "let's get ready for this wedding that may or may not happen."
I laughed as I stepped out of the car before freezing when I saw the green-eyed man standing in front of me. But I was no longer standing outside of Unique's shop, it was like I was standing in a white abyss.
"Wake up, Keeper!"
"Wake up!"
"Mercedes!" I blinked.
"Huh?" I looked at and saw my sisters looking at me before Lena pulled me away after instructing Char to go inside.
"Look, whatever you got going on in that head of yours you need to get it under control. You can trip out tomorrow but today, you need to be present!" She snapped.
"Lena, it's not like-"
She huffed, letting go of me. "Momma has coddled you long enough, get your shit together Mercedes! Now come on so we can get started." She said before walking inside the boutique.
"Keeper."
I really hope this isn't confusing