Dream Catcher

Prologue: Ellison

“Crisp October leaves kissed the ground one after another as the lone windswept them across the mossy green floor. The sun, once high in the sky, slowly started to slip past the horizon letting the full moon take its rightful place on center stage.”

            “No! You’re doing it wrong!” Tracy whined. “It’s not a story unless you start it with ‘Once upon a time’. Start over!”

            I laughed pressing my lips to her forehead. “Oh my, I’m so sorry! You’re absolutely right! What was I thinking?” I pulled the covers up to her chin and sucked in a lung full of air, re-gathering my thoughts. She nodded approvingly at me, her little five-year-old frame tucked safely in the sheets of her bed. I licked my lips. “Once upon a time in place not unlike our own lived a girl, not too much older than you!” I said poking a finger at her stout button nose. She giggled to herself squirming deeper into her covers. “The girl lived in a small house, a peasant among kings and queens. All of her friends loved her dearly, and she loved them back. But one friend she loved just a little bit more than the others. His name was River.”

            “River!” She shrieked. “What a silly name! Are you sure? I think you’re making that up!”

            I shook my head no watching the goofy grin grow across her chubby cheeks. “No, I’m quite sure his name was River. Anyways, the girl and River were the very best of friends, which was weird considering he was the prince of the school and she was just a squirrely peasant girl.”

            “Squirrely!” She squealed. “Sissy, I think you’re being silly again.”

            I pressed my lips into a fine line. Story telling wasn’t exactly one of my strong suits, especially to kids younger than ten. I had a problem with watering down my vocabulary. For so long I’d been trained to speak properly and the more extensive my words, the better and smarter I sounded. To a five year old, the logic was reversed. The simpler the better. In other words, I had to dumb things down. I fixed my shorts and rolled my shoulders backwards trying to relax my body.

            “The girl never noticed how poor she was when she was with the boy, River. He was the best of the best! When he opened his mouth to sing it was like a choir of angels were pouring out of his throat. It was like fairies had showered him in magical talent and when the girl was with him, she hoped some of the fairy dust would rub off on her and maybe she’d be talented and loved as well.”

            “Was he handsome?” Tracy perked up. I smoothed her golden banana curls back down and gently pushed her back into her pillow.

            “Of course he was! What kind of story would it be if he wasn’t?”

            “Not a very good one.” She admitted. “So, what happened next?”

            “One night, just before Halloween, River and the girl went out into their favorite place in the world: the creek just behind River’s house. They had a tire swing attached to a tall, naked evergreen tree that sat next to the babbling creek bed. It was River’s favorite place to sit and sing. He claimed all of his best work came from that tire swing and girl loved being with him. She loved encouraging him and listening to him. He told her he was going to be famous, and she believed him.”

            “Did he get famous?” Tracy asked hopefully. A soft smile touched my lips as I clasped her hands in mine. The confusion was clear in her eyes, but I ignored it.

            “I’ll get to that later.” I whispered my voice a hushed lull. I cleared my throat. “That night seemed different, though. River wasn’t as excited and cheerful as he always was. On this night, he almost seemed sad. He wiggled up on top of the big, lumpy tire and clung to the rope for dear life. He looked at the girl with big sad eyes and her heart ached for him. She couldn’t quite bring herself to ask him what was wrong.”

            “What was wrong?” All the hope washed away from her voice and was replaced with concern. She propped herself up on her elbows letting her long, unruly hair bob around her clear blue eyes. “Was he dying?”

            A soft chuckled rolled off my chest. Her eyes widened in horror. I stopped laughing and tussled her hair. “No, my dear. He wasn’t dying. But he might as well have been. With a heavy heart River explained to the girl that he was moving far, far away and that he might not see her again. The girl was torn up, but she realized there was nothing she could do. She wanted River to stay. She hated the thought of him leaving, but what could she do? He had to go.”

            “I don’t like this story!” Tracy cried. “Did the boy leave? And what about the girl? What happened to her?”

            “The girl touched her neck tracing her fingers along the thick hemp necklace she was wearing. The girl didn’t have many talents, she was just a peasant, but one think she prided herself on was making necklaces, and this one in particular was her favorite. It was a dream catcher, one of a kind, handmade to perfection. Without thinking, the girl lifted the necklace off her head and handed it to the boy. She told him to keep it and to wear it always. The dream catcher would protect him. It would keep him safe always and forever. The boy leaped down from his perch on the swings and tackled the girl in the biggest and best hug. She was right, it was the last time she’d ever see him again. But she wasn’t sad. She was happy the boy had a little piece of her following him around forever and ever.”

            Tracy fell silent. She blinked twice letting her eyes dance along the small dim room. After a beat, she cleared her throat and tilted her head up to me. Her face seemed to soften with a certain wonder I couldn’t quite place.

            “Sissy?” She asked. “Who was the girl? What was her name?”

            My smiled widened as I pressed my lips to her head for a final time. “Ellison Hemmingworth.” I whispered. “That girl was me.”

Author's Notes:

Welcome, my little rays of sunshine! I hope you've enjoyed the prologue to my hopefully next big thing, "Dream Catcher". Now, this is an active story. Each chapter will have an external link where you can kind of interact and get more of a feel for the charcters as well as the overall mood of the story. Today we have the history of dreamcatchers. Oooh! Super exciting, right? Haha, don't worry, some chapters will have outfits, polls, and fun things YOU the reader can interact with. Anyhoo, see you on the flip side!

Peace, Love, Dreams,

Rachel