Burning Hope

Chapter 10: The Father I Dreamed Of

Talia had won. No one had even come close to beating her. Her skills were like something out of an action movie: complicated and fantastic. In the end, I was left sore, and tired, and completely out of it. Even worse, Talia had left bruises in otherwise questionable places. It would hurt to sit down for a while.

Otherwise, I legitimately had fun for the first time in a very long while. We played truth or dare—the dares surprisingly never going past anything weirder than eating a spoonful of mayonnaise or talking in the second person for the entire round—and binge-watched a bunch of anime. Hazu would always sing along to the opening themes quietly, and Talia would try to copy any of the fantasy style moves that went on. By about four-thirty in the morning, I felt like I had known these girls my entire life, but even this much fun had to eventually come to a stop.

Despite how energetic the girls had been when they first arrived, when the time rolled around six, everybody was exhausted. It was all I could do not to give into the tempting power of sleep.

"Should we take..." Kallan yawned and continued talking. "The Blue Moon berries now?"

Talia nodded. She looked over to Hazu, who got up and picked a couple of berries from a bush that grew in one corner of the room. She held out the purple fruit in her palm so I could see them clearly. I felt a twinge of suspicion.

"Those things aren't drugs...are they?" I asked.

"Well, by definition..." Kallan yawned again. "They are, but they're..." She was interrupted by another yawn. "...perfectly legal if that's what you mean." She explained, taking one. "Just eat it. It'll give you a...a full night's rest."

Talia took one and signaled for me to take one as well. I warily picked up a berry as the other girls around me popped one into their mouths and dropped like flies. I sniffed the fruit. It didn't smell dangerous. As far as I knew, in nature, berries of this color were perfectly edible. I took a leap of faith and popped the berry into my mouth.

A feeling of euphoria suddenly took ahold of my body. My eyesight was so blurry that I could only see the softest, faintest outlines of my surroundings. Whatever sight I had left doubled, then eventually went black. As expected, I promptly drifted out of consciousness.

* * *

I knew I was dreaming—I always knew when I was. I was sitting down in a wooden rocking chair, in a very cozy living room with a fire burning in the hearth. I was perfectly content, braiding long hair. I had no idea why I was doing it, but something about it was relaxing. The hair belonged to a young girl, maybe about seven or eight. I knew somehow she was connected to Luc. She had the same lanky figure and the same white hair. Somehow I knew her name. It was Solstice, but she liked to be called Sol.

I listened to her as she sang. It was beautiful and tranquil. Her voice was so light and airy, and she seemed so content as she sang it. I knew the lyrics were in French, and I recognized the melody as some sort of children's song.

"Alouette, gentile alouette. Alouette, je te plumerai."

I loved the song. It was so cute, and so simple. I hummed along as I continued braiding her hair. She continued singing the same song for a bit, then switched to Frere Jacques. I could have stayed like this forever.

But apparently, my dream had other plans.

The ground began to shake violently, and the foundation of the house began to crumble. I watched in horror as the girl looked back at me, staring with pleading red eyes, and just disappeared. The scene changed; revealing a new, more malicious one.